The Korean discourse particle ya across multiple turn positions: An interactional resource for turn-taking and stance-taking

Abstract

This paper investigates the Korean vocative interjection ya ‘hey’ in multiple turn-constructional unit (TCU) positions. A conversation analytic examination of telephone and face-to-face conversations shows that ya is an emerging discourse particle that plays an important role in the organization of turn-taking and stance-taking. At TCU-initial position speakers regularly use ya when departing from one topic to another or from one action/activity to another in a disjunctive manner. Here, speakers use ya to alert the recipient to the new topic or action they are pursuing. At TCU-final position, ya is used in turns that are not cohesive with another speaker's stance or with the speaker's own expectation. In this position the speaker retroactively marks their stance to the just-completed utterance with ya. Furthermore, the study finds that a ya which prosodically and syntactically belongs to both the prior TCU and the following TCU serves as a turn-constructional pivot extending the speakers' turn beyond the incipient point of possible completion. Overall, the findings illustrate the importance of understanding a form's usage as they occur through the progression of a turn and a sequence in naturally occurring talk, and contribute to our understanding of utterance (left/right) periphery phenomena.