Flirting: A Designedly Ambiguous Action?

ABSTRACT

Flirting is typically regarded as an ambiguous social action, which, in the absence of members’ orientations, is subject to multiple interpretations and hard to pin down analytically. This article demonstrates a methodological technique for identifying the interactional practices that constitute vehicles for “possible flirting” by examining instances that contain (a) “endogenous” orientations to flirting, (b) orientations to flirting that are “exogenous” and post hoc, and (c) no orientations. Analyses suggest that flirting practices are often not ambiguous to members and involve the flirting party claiming epistemic rights to greater familiarity or intimacy with the flirt recipient than the interactional context, or the status of the speakers, might otherwise make procedurally relevant. Data are in British English.

Notes

¹ I am grateful to Elizabeth Stokoe for referring me to Derek Edwards’s notion of “designedly ambiguous” actions (Edwards, personal communication, cited in Stokoe, 2012).

² I am grateful to Ruth Parry for suggesting I use the terms “endogenous” and “exogenous” here.

³ These broadcast data ensure access to the “original” interactional episode containing the action(s) that have been categorized as flirting post hoc.