Abstract
On occasion, speakers do not complete their turns in conversation. Such syntactically incomplete turns are not treated with repair or misunderstanding. The responses that they receive display a clear understanding of the actions that the unfinished turns embodied. In this article, using conversation analysis, I describe the systematic occurrence of unfinished turns in French conversation. I show that context is necessary to the understanding of this type of turn, and I describe the nature of that context. Data analysis reveals that unfinished turns are understandable primarily by reference to their sequential position. I conclude that unfinished turns are a locally managed resource fitted to the particulars of the talk in progress and built on the context that the sequences that house them have so far provided.
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