ABSTRACT
The competent system of organizational items that is productive of congeniality and consensus is only one of a number of competent systems of interaction which are found in desert Aboriginal society. Other systems include interfamilial con troversy, the diatribe, and a number of other highly formalized interactional systems. There are also more personalized varieties of discourse in ordinary conversations. The system I have investigated was chosen because it is exemplary of much that is distinctive about Aboriginal social life.
