Location
Northwestern College, Rowenhorst Student Center
Abstract
What is small talk, and why is it important for human relationships? Small talk is sometimes perceived as marginal to actual conversations: perfunctory, mundane, and inconsequential. Based on six weeks of observation at a local breakfast joint, this study reveals how “small talk” took on a much deeper importance to a group of elderly men who gathered for coffee each day. I found that small talk, though produced in brief, often chopped up segments, was the main focus in conversations. And while discussion around small talk seldom becomes intimate or reciprocated, discussions are unique in the fact that interruptions and group additions fail to hinder them from continuing in later discussion. Small talk exhibits a Start/Interrupt/Resume Structure which allows periodic interruption with little to no effect on the topic’s continuation. While groups met weekly, intimacy was rarely reached in discussion. I attributed this to two reasons: lack of reciprocation within the group, and desire to remain comfortable.
Included in
Just Making Small Talk?: A Fresh Look Inside Mundane Conversation
Northwestern College, Rowenhorst Student Center
What is small talk, and why is it important for human relationships? Small talk is sometimes perceived as marginal to actual conversations: perfunctory, mundane, and inconsequential. Based on six weeks of observation at a local breakfast joint, this study reveals how “small talk” took on a much deeper importance to a group of elderly men who gathered for coffee each day. I found that small talk, though produced in brief, often chopped up segments, was the main focus in conversations. And while discussion around small talk seldom becomes intimate or reciprocated, discussions are unique in the fact that interruptions and group additions fail to hinder them from continuing in later discussion. Small talk exhibits a Start/Interrupt/Resume Structure which allows periodic interruption with little to no effect on the topic’s continuation. While groups met weekly, intimacy was rarely reached in discussion. I attributed this to two reasons: lack of reciprocation within the group, and desire to remain comfortable.