Interjectional use of demonstratives: Anoo and sonoo as resources for interaction in Japanese conversation

Abstract

This study investigates the Japanese interjections anoo and sonoo, both of which are pragmaticized from adnominal forms of distal demonstratives, and have been often associated with speaker's internal difficulties in searching for appropriate words or expressions. Observing these two tokens in natural conversation, we find that the differentiated interactional work that each interjection performs go far beyond marking a momentary problem with one's own speech production.We demonstrate, instead, that by deploying anoo, speakers foreshadow an emerging shift in the interactional trajectory, i.e., what will follow is not a continuation of the immediately preceding context; while by deploying sonoo, speakers explicitly project that the following talk is in-line with what has been already established in the interaction, and should thus be construed as a non-deviation with reference to the existing or ongoing activity or project. Thus, while each of these two interjections work in halting the progressivity of the turn-at-talk, they are differentially used as resources to help participants orient to the emerging talk in its relation to the present context, and are thus useful linguistic resources that Japanese speakers employ to delicately navigate intersubjective orientation and understanding between participants.