This study makes a case for the conversational phenomenon the authors have named the comical hypothetical ( CH). The CH becomes discursively co-created during ongoing conversation when one or more speakers depart from the normal turn-taking system and engage in the interactional creation of an imaginary world. Data stem from ethnographic observations as well as from spontaneous recordings of social situations in three different locations. Out of 20 hours of taped conversations, 10 recognizable CH segments were analyzed for the present study. The authors present a macro-structure analysis of the comical hypothetical using Hymes's (1962, 1974) SPEAKING mnemonic, with an emphasis on the act sequence. A second-level micro-analysis uncovers the interactional properties of the CH using a conversation analytic approach. The examination reveals a distinct four-part act sequence of the CH made up of intricate and creative interactional turns. Lastly, the significance and functions of the CH are also discussed.

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To grasp criminal courts as truth spots, one needs to go beyond their symbolic applications to consider their interactional and epistemic implications. In this study, the authors compare the English Crown Court, German District Court, and U.S. State Court as “places on display” and as “places denied.” These perspectives comment on the courts in light of their different interaction orders and their different positions in knowledge processes. For the latter, the authors utilize Knorr's taxonomy of laboratory—experiment relations. The article arrives at one basic distinction: the procedural replacement of trial hearings by deal-oriented plea bargaining in the U.S. context. In contrast, the English and the German courts involve a preference for trial hearings and for fully developed cases, which, however, does not forbid but encourage forms of trial-oriented plea bargain.

In this article I examine the concept 'crystal-image,' as developed by Gilles Deleuze in the two volumes of Cinema . In these texts, Deleuze examines the ways in which phenomenality of time discloses itself through the semiotic dimension of cinema. Subsequently, Deleuze identifies three distinctly different senses of cinematographic time: (1) time as the movement of image; (2) the movement of time-image; and (3) the appearance of time itself. In this article I elaborate the latter via the concept of 'crystal-image'. The main objective behind my examination is two-fold: demonstrate that cinema can be approached as a special kind of phenomenological inquiry (semiotic phenomenology) and, on the strength of this hybrid method, further our understanding of memory and its materiality. An analysis of Andrey Tarkovsky's film Solaris provides an illustration.

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