Interpersonal Touch in Conversational Joking

ABSTRACT This study examines the uses of interpersonal touch in everyday interaction. An examination of everyday interactions among adult Mandarin Chinese speakers shows that sustained touch recurs in conversational jokings in two interactional and sequential environments: sequentially disaligned jokings (i.e., jokings that disrupt the speaker’s ongoing turn- and activity-in-progress) and jokings after extended disagreement. Sustained touch seems to perform several functions in the two environments. In sequentially disaligned jokings, the initiation of touch displays the speaker’s orientation to the concurrent talk as disaligned with the projected talk- and activity-in-progress. Sustained touch secures the recipient’s continuous participation in the sequentially disaligned jokings and requests the recipient’s appreciation of the jokings. After extended disagreement, sustained touch displays intimacy and invites the recipient into intimate interaction with the speaker. In both environments, sustained touch seems to delimit the boundaries of a joking. The data are in Mandarin Chinese with English translation.