Repeating a Searched-For Word With an Agreement Token in “Challenged Interaction”

Abstract

ABSTRACTWhen one is searching for a word, another person may provide it. This article is about what happens next—specifically, what happens when the first speaker repeats the offered word and adds an agreement token, before or after. We analyze this practice across three data sets of “challenged interaction” (second language interaction in Danish, and English and Danish atypical interaction). When a “challenged” search initiator (e.g., a person with dementia) puts the agreement token after the repeat, that claims epistemic authority and demonstrates competence; conversely, if they put the agreement token before the repeat, that seems to defer to others’ claims of epistemic authority and competence. The article contributes to conversation analytic studies of atypical interaction and deviance by describing how speakers in “challenged interaction” deal with competence as a practical problem. Data is in English, Arabic, and Danish with English translations.