bird song/conversation analysis

[Emanuel A. Schegloff]

Dear Shannon (if I may; we've not met, I think),

 From your colleague's description of his undertaking, and at the risk 
of self-promotion, may I suggest the possible relevance of: 
Schegloff, Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in 
Conversation Analysis I, Cambridge:CUP, 2007.  Tom Givon's 
characterization to the contrary notwithstanding ("Orthodox CA, alas, 
has always tended to emphasize the sociology of turn-taking and 
competition for the floor over the semiotics of collaborative 
accretion of information"), this book deals precisely with sequences 
of actions in talk-in-interaction, though it offers compact accounts 
of turn-taking, repair, etc., for the reader unexposed to the now 
substantial literature on these topics.  Whether or not this will be 
of use to your colleague will best be assessed, I daresay, by someone 
with expertise in the conduct of birds.  If your colleague finds it 
of use, he can find all of my papers that might be relevant available 
at my web site (see below).

Best wishes,

Manny Schegloff

Emanuel A. Schegloff
Distinguished Professor
of Sociology and
Applied Linguistics

e-mail: schegloff at soc.ucla.edu
phone: 310-825-1719
fax:     310-206-9838
web:    <http://www.sscnet.ucla.edu/soc/faculty/schegloff/>