Transitioning between activities with the Danish change-of-state token nå

Abstract

In this paper I demonstrate that the Danish change-of-state token nå, which is ordinarily employed to register a shift in a speaker's state of information, can also be used to propose and mark a transition between activities. While nå is indexical by nature, both its sequential position (after a topic or activity has been potentially closed down) and its composition (of being imbued with other – both lexical and physical – properties) mean that the co-participants have no trouble understanding when a nå indexes a shift in orientation and thus embodies a proposal to transition between activities, rather than serving as a simple receipt of information.