Transmodal messenger interaction–Analysing the sequentiality of text and audio postings in WhatsApp chats

Abstract

The emerging field of digital conversation analysis is concerned with the study of practices with which participants accomplish shared meaning in different forms of digital communication. Methodologically, it is rooted in the sequential analysis of their coordinated conduct in digital environments, which takes into account the ways in which interlocutors make use of the semiotic resources the platforms provide. Based on messenger chats with text and voice messages from the Mobile Communication Database (MoCoDa) and a private collection, the paper develops the notion of ‘transmodal interaction’ as a new conceptual perspective on the microanalysis of temporally unfolding digital communication while also discussing methodological challenges the sequential integration of speech and writing poses to methods of data collection and processing. Subsequently, the paper showcases an interactional analysis of practices for introducing text and audio postings to transmodal discourse, which shows that voice messages are designed as rather personal postings participants can choose to contribute but which are rarely made relevant explicitly. Thus, a sequential perspective on transmodal messenger interaction offers valuable insights into participants’ perception of the semiotic potentials associated with different contribution modalities.