Indexing Uncertainty: The Case of Turn-Final Or

Abstract

Using conversation analysis and interactional linguistics as the methodology and drawing from naturally occurring American English interaction, this article investigates the practice of ending polar questions with or as in Does that bring up jealousy for you or. This practice is generally considered to be ungrammatical, yet occurs regularly in spoken interaction. This article argues that turn-final or functions as an epistemic downgrade by (a) making possible an unproblematic disconfirmation next, (b) gesturing toward an unverbalized alternative, and (c) being oriented to as a question format that requires an elaboration. By investigating the sequential environment and the interactional work or accomplishes, this study advances our understanding not only of how speakers encode linguistically and use socially turn-final or but also of how linguistic units are adapted for interaction. My work contributes to several major areas of conversation analytic research, mainly grammar in interaction and epistemics. Data are in American English.