Issues in Applied Linguistics

Attention to multi-party' talk has revealed that shifts in participation frameworks can be used to serve social functions in interaction. This paper gives a sequential analysis of a videotaped interaction from an organizational meeting, where participants use a particular interactional exchange to display and even create the personal relationships that exist between them. This is done by using a particular participation framework in what I call a triadic exchange in accomplishing particular social acts that are potentially face-threatening. I argue that this display contributes to how in-group membership is developed in these organizations. The use of triadic exchanges makes public the display of the participants' relationships to each other, making participation more accessible to a general audience and building in-group memberships that can develop over time through interaction.