ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews conversation analytic research on the main analytical focus of the empirical study, indirect complaining. The chapter first presents the core features of complaints as identified in prior literature on L1 talk-in-interaction and discusses distinguishing features of complaining vis-?-vis related interactional phenomena. It then reviews and exemplifies empirical findings about the interactional organization of complaint sequences (how these are initiated, developed, and closed) and about the actions and multisemiotic (verbal, non-verbal, and paraverbal) resources people typically deploy in complaints. The chapter also discusses the very limited existing literature on L2 indirect complaining. It closes with a summary and identification of research gaps.
