ABSTRACT
The vision of human action embraced by social communication theory (Leeds-Hurwitz, 1989; Sigman, 1987) is one in which ongoing behavioral productions are structured by, and therefore held accountable to, a repertoire of historically given paradigmatic and syntagmatic constraints. However, behavioral productions are not limited by, nor identical to, these a priori constraints. Social communication theory’s essential problem is accounting for ongoing communication as simultaneously the adherence to a priori programs (Scheflen, 1968) and the performance of a unique event. The fact that productions are not completely limited by prior expectations, idealizations, and grammars, and are not identical to such community guidelines for behavior, is why we are able to argue for the consequentiality of the communication process.
