ABSTRACT
This chapter provides some transcribed talk as data and attempt a brief demonstration of how such materials may be analyzed in a sociologically relevant way so as to elucidate commonplace and recurrent activities. The development of a mechanical procedure for the extraction of performative utterances from a transcript, and hence the mechanical identification of a set of activities, depends upon both the “listable” character of performative verbs and the ability to generate an unambiguously identifiable formula from any item in the list. Recall that the issue is the possibility of locating members of a class of performative utterances on the basis of developing some formula providing for their recognition. It is increasingly recognized as an issue for sociology that the equipment that enables the “ordinary” member of society to make his daily way through the world is the equipment available for those who would wish to do a “science” of that world.
