Special issue: Conversation analysis - Introduction

There are a growing number of investigations of aphasia using ethno-methodological conversation analysis (CA). This introduction outlines the importance of investigating aphasic conversation and the potential attraction of CA as a method of analysis. CA is defined and its main areas of analytic investigation outlined. The distinctive methodology of the approach is summarized and discussed in terms of four principles: analysis is participant-driven; assumption that conversation is orderly; importance of sequential context; and wariness of quantification.