Ordinary talk is tightly organized even when it feels spontaneous. Conversation analysis is the empirical study of the structure and sequential organization of everyday interaction, based on detailed transcripts of recorded talk.

Researchers examine turn-taking, repair, sequence organization, and preference structures. Small features—pauses, overlaps, in-breaths—turn out to carry systematic interactional meaning. The method grew from sociological concerns with social order and now informs linguistics, anthropology, and communication studies.

Findings show how people negotiate meaning moment by moment without a fixed script. Applied work uses conversation analysis in medical consultations, classrooms, and technology design. The commitment to naturally occurring data distinguishes the approach from invented examples.

• Study of the organization of natural talk
• Based on recorded, closely transcribed interaction
• Analyzes turns, repair, and sequences
• Applied in institutional and everyday settings