Abstract
<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title> <jats:p>In early sociological work Simmel (1902) first approached the relationship between group size and the possibility of different kinds of affiliation and opposition. Later, Goffman (e.g. 1961) explored how in groups of varying size diverse sorts and degrees of participation are possible. Seminal to later conversation analytic (CA) research has been Goffman's concept of “situation” or “participation framework” as “an environment of mutual moni‐toring possibilities, anywhere within which an individual will find himself accessible to the naked senses of all others who are ‘present’, and similarly find them accessible to him” (Goffman, 1972/1964, p. 63). CA has examined the interactional activities in participation frameworks in which the number of participants is related to the interactional outcome, depending on whether a person is in interaction with another person, in a triad, or in a participation framework with four or more persons.</jats:p>