De la parole plurielle au polylogue effectif. Les relèves inter-équipes à l’hôpital

The analysis of multi-participant talk in workplace settings raises questions which are linked to the intricate connections between talk and working activity. The actions and transactions, objects and cognitive artefacts, status, functions and social rules that organize activity in the workplaces play a key role in the structuring of this multi-participant talk. Based on data from meetings between the leaving shift and the in-coming shift, collected from three French hospital wards, the article compares different types of structuring in multi-participant talk, switching from basic participation structure (symetrical dilogue between leaving nurse and in-coming nurse, or between a leaving ‘party’ and an in-coming ‘party’) to a genuine polylogue which occurs at specific moments. We attempt to determine what triggers such a phenomenon. By way of conclusion, the resulting comparative study allows us to emphasize not only the role of local norms (talk and activity organization, use of cognitive artefacts), but also the role of professional status and production format in constructing participation frameworks during shift changeovers.