抄録
The present study is a qualitative discourse analysis of small talk on ski lifts at North American ski resorts. To date, and to my knowledge, this is the first study completely devoted to small talk on ski lifts. An analysis of 53 cases of tape-recorded spontaneous conversations reveals that skiers participate in conversations on a variety of topics（e.g., weather, quality of snow, ski runs, life style）. Furthermore, in many cases, participants use various strategies to engage in these conversations, such as story-telling, giving details in the story, and repetition （Tannen 2007）1）. This study suggests that small talk may not be “small,” uninteresting, aimless, or irrelevant for participants, who find enjoyment of talking via mutual sense-making. Small talk has an important interpersonal function. It fulfills a human need to interact with others and to build social relationships. Furthermore, by examining the virtually unexplored type of talk of winter sports, this study makes a contribution to the field of small talk studies, which contains data mostly from service encounters and workplaces.
