caa a22 4500 386349479 CHVBK 20180307111824.0 cr unu---uuuuu 161130e198909 xx s 000 0 eng 10.1017/S0047404500013634 doi S0047404500013634 pii (NATIONALLICENCE)cambridge-10.1017/S0047404500013634 Besnier Niko Department of Anthropology, Yale University Information withholding as a manipulative and collusive strategy in Nukulaelae gossip [Elektronische Daten] [Niko Besnier] This article examines the organization and function of information-withholding sequences, a conversational strategy used by participants in gossip interactions on Nukulaelae, a Polynesian atoll of the Central Pacific. A withholding sequence is a three-turn sequence whereby a piece of information is withheld in the first turn, an other-repair is initiated in the second turn, and the withheld material is provided in the third turn. Information-withholding sequences thus involve moves that in other contexts would be construed as face-threatening. They have a dual function: they provide speakers an opportunity to manipulate their audiences into becoming coproducers of the gossip, and they reinforce the status of their initiator as controller of the floor. Withholding sequences illustrate how ambiguity and repairs can be exploited to meet the communicative demands of particular interactional contexts. They also illustrate how gossip may be framed simultaneously as group-cohesive behavior and self-serving behavior. (Conversation analysis, ethnography of speaking, gossip, conversational repair, Polynesia, Nukulaelae Tuvaluan) Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1989 Language in Society Cambridge University Press 18/3(1989-09), 315-341 0047-4045 18:3<315 1989 18 LSY https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500013634 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1017/S0047404500013634 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 100 1- Besnier Niko Department of Anthropology, Yale University NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Language in Society Cambridge University Press 18/3(1989-09), 315-341 0047-4045 18:3<315 1989 18 LSY CC0 http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0 nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-cambridge