Question-answer Sequences Research Articles

‘Have you insured yourself in any way?’ Salespersons’ mapping questions and their follow-ups in insurance sales negotiations

This study examines how insurance salespeople employ a mapping question to promote life insurance as an additional service to their customers. The mapping question serves a double function, asking about the customer’s situation and creating a context in which transaction-related negotiation is projected to occur. Applying conversation analysis to study video-recorded insurance meetings in Finland, we explore how the mapping question is designed according to the customer’s estimated fit with the target group criteria and their assumed level of understanding of life insurance. We also discuss the trajectories of the negotiation after the customer’s response that expresses interest, conveys hesitation, or rejects the offer. It was found that only a customer’s justified blocking response forestalls further life insurance promotion. The study contributes to the research on questions as agenda-driving actions in institutional interaction and to the literature on question-answer sequences in service encounters.

Question Typology in Kenyan TV Argumentative Talk Shows

The argumentative talk on radio and TV has become a popular feature of media discourse in Kenya. Question-answer sequences as the talk unfolds through the joint participation of co-participants in the talk have emerged as a means to put argumentative talk into effect. Yet, the nature of questions and their categorization remain little understood. Given the recursive nature of question-answer sequences, this paper investigates question typology that sets apart argumentative talk shows from other types of talk. The data consists of transcripts from two Kenyan TV argumentative talk shows: Checkpoint on KTN and Opinion Court on Citizen TV. A question classification scheme by Schirm [2008] was used to discuss the incidence and usage of questions in argumentative talk shows. Findings revealed that clashing, rhetorical, classic clarifying, and opinion-eliciting questions were the most frequently used types in the data sets. It was also noted that different question types served unique rhetorical purposes leading to the conclusion that argumentative talk shows on TV exhibit recursive interactional resources qualifying it as a genre.

An action-specific examination of the role of answerers’ gaze orientation in managing transition relevance

ABSTRACT We use conversation analysis to both qualitatively and quantitatively demonstrate that, in a specific action context, an answerer’s gaze orientation at the end of their answer’s first verbal turn-constructional unit (TCU) is one cooperating element of a multi-resource gestalt for managing the answer-turn’s transition relevance. Specifically, gazing at (vs. away from) a questioner claims that the initial TCU is (or is not yet) transition-relevant. Findings suggest that an additional resource is prior context in the form of the amount of delay (in milliseconds) of an answer relative to its question. Other potential resources, such as the TCU’s type conformity generally and its specific status as a “Yes”- or “No”-type answer, were not associated with transition relevance. Data are 274 polar, question–answer sequences—representing the very delimited social action of relatively genuine information-seeking—drawn from videotapes of completely unstructured, face-to-face interactions between dyads of native English-speaking, adult close friends.

Investigating question-answer sequences in child mental health assessments: Engaging children and families through declarative question design

ObjectiveIn mental health settings, before a child can be diagnosed with a mental health condition, they must initially be assessed. These assessments are characterised by question-answer sequences with the child and family members, and our objective is to explore the function of declarative questions. MethodsVideo recordings of mental health assessments from 28 families were collected, each being approximately 90 min. Referred children were aged 6–17-years. Data were transcribed using the Jefferson approach and conversation analysis was used. ResultsAttention to question-answer sequences identified that one common type was the declarative question. We focus on three identifiable forms: clean language short declaratives, declaratives with extreme case formulations, and reformulation declaratives. ConclusionsThe response to these three types of declaratives formed the basis for subsequent question-answer elaboration sequences. The question functioned both to engage the child directly and align with other family members. Practice implicationsImplications for practitioners are that these types of declarative questions offer a resource to engage in fact-checking in a way that is non-face-threatening. Conversation analysis provides a methodological tool for practitioners to engage in reflective practice to enhance their clinical skills in relation to question design.

Ultrasound measurements of interactive turn-taking in question-answer sequences: Articulatory preparation is delayed but not tied to the response.

We know that speech planning in conversational turn-taking can happen in overlap with the previous turn and research suggests that it starts as early as possible, that is, as soon as the gist of the previous turn becomes clear. The present study aimed to investigate whether planning proceeds all the way up to the last stage of articulatory preparation (i.e., putting the articulators in place for the first phoneme of the response) and what the timing of this process is. Participants answered pre-recorded quiz questions (being under the illusion that they were asked live), while their tongue movements were measured using ultrasound. Planning could start early for some quiz questions (i.e., midway during the question), but late for others (i.e., only at the end of the question). The results showed no evidence for a difference between tongue movements in these two types of questions for at least two seconds after planning could start in early-planning questions, suggesting that speech planning in overlap with the current turn proceeds more slowly than in the clear. On the other hand, when time-locking to speech onset, tongue movements differed between the two conditions from up to two seconds before this point. This suggests that articulatory preparation can occur in advance and is not fully tied to the overt response itself.

Asking about self-harm during risk assessment in psychosocial assessments in the emergency department: questions that facilitate and deter disclosure of self-harm.

Emergency departments are key settings for suicide prevention. Most people are deemed to be at no or low risk in final contacts before death. To micro-analyse how clinicians ask about suicidal ideation and/or self-harm in emergency department psychosocial assessments and how patients respond. Forty-six psychosocial assessments between mental health clinicians and people with suicidal ideation and/or self-harm were video-recorded. Verbal and non-verbal features of 55 question-answer sequences about self-harm thoughts and/or actions were micro-analysed using conversation analysis. Fisher's exact test was used to test the hypothesis that question type was associated with patient disclosure. (a) Eighty-four per cent of initial questions (N = 46/55) were closed yes/no questions about self-harm thoughts and/or feelings, plans to self-harm, potential for future self-harm, predicting risk of future self-harm and being okay or keeping safe. Patients disclosed minimal information in response to closed questions, whereas open questions elicited ambivalent and information rich responses. (b) All closed questions were leading, with 54% inviting no and 46% inviting yes. When patients were asked no-inviting questions, the disclosure rate was 8%, compared to 65% when asked yes-inviting questions (P < 0.05 Fisher's exact test). (c) Patients struggled to respond when asked to predict future self-harm or guarantee safety. (d) Half of closed questions had a narrow timeframe (e.g. at the moment, overnight) or were tied to possible discharge. Across assessments, there is a bias towards not uncovering thoughts and plans of self-harm through the cumulative effect of leading questions that invite a no response, their narrow timeframe and tying questions to possible discharge. Open questions, yes-inviting questions and asking how people feel about the future facilitate disclosure.

Speech Rate and Turn-Transition Pause Duration in Dutch and English Spontaneous Question-Answer Sequences

The duration of inter-speaker pauses is a pragmatically salient aspect of conversation that is affected by linguistic and non-linguistic context. Theories of conversational turn-taking imply that, due to listener entrainment to the flow of syllables, a higher speech rate will be associated with shorter turn-transition times (TTT). Previous studies have found conflicting evidence, however, some of which may be due to methodological differences. In order to test the relationship between speech rate and TTT, and how this may be modulated by other dialogue factors, we used question-answer sequences from spontaneous conversational corpora in Dutch and English. As utterance-final lengthening is a local cue to turn endings, we also examined the impact of utterance-final syllable rhyme duration on TTT. Using mixed-effect linear regression models, we observed evidence for a positive relationship between speech rate and TTT: thus, a higher speech rate is associated with longer TTT, contrary to most theoretical predictions. Moreover, for answers following a pause (“gaps”) there was a marginal interaction between speech rate and final rhyme duration, such that relatively long final rhymes are associated with shorter TTT when foregoing speech rate is high. We also found evidence that polar (yes/no) questions are responded to with shorter TTT than open questions, and that direct answers have shorter TTT than responses that do not directly answer the questions. Moreover, the effect of speech rate on TTT was modulated by question type. We found no predictors of the (negative) TTT for answers that overlap with the foregoing questions. Overall, these observations suggest that TTT is governed by multiple dialogue factors, potentially including the salience of utterance-final timing cues. Contrary to some theoretical accounts, there is no strong evidence that higher speech rates are consistently associated with shorter TTT.

Toward a Grammar of Danish Talk-in-Interaction: From Action Formation to Grammatical Description

ABSTRACT Is it possible to develop a comprehensive grammar of talk-in-interaction for a specific language based on descriptions of social actions? This is the question we will try to answer in this article. The article is based on the work of the project The Grammar in Everyday Life, which aims to build a systematic grammatical description of Danish talk-in-interaction based on descriptions of social action formats within three domains: question–answer sequences, commissive–directive sequences, and the negotiation of participation during longer spates of talk. Our ambition is to build a grammar that takes into consideration how talk is used in the real-time unfolding of interaction to do actions and to negotiate relationships. Through a presentation of three formats, we discuss how a grammatical description can be organized, how granular it should be, if and how traditional grammatical categories can be used, and how prosodic and embodied features could be included. Data are in Danish.

Constructing mediator identities through questioning in Chinese televised mediation

This study, integrating poststructuralist discourse analysis and conversation analysis, analyzes how the question-answer sequences construct mediators’ dynamic identities during Chinese televised mediation. The research shows that different mediators in the team tend to employ different types of questions at varying stages; that questions serve not only to elicit information but also to manage the multilateral talk, to make assertions, to persuade, and to construct different identities; that different mediators’ identities include the manager, the reality tester, the moral educator, the facilitator, and the entertainer. Instead of remaining neutral, they might step out of the neutralistic circle and adhere to the golden mean. The complex representation of these identities is deeply rooted in China’s cultural and socioeconomic background. This study provides a thorough understanding of the interplay between questioning and identity in institutional contexts and the mechanism of Chinese televised mediation.

The competence in little words

AbstractL2 frameworks, such as the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, describe expected linguistic abilities at different levels of L2 development. These frameworks, and the assessment rubrics they inform, only peripherally address how L2 speakersrespondto informings in interaction. Through responses interactants show their understanding of, and stance toward, a previous informing. In question-answer sequences in which a participant requests new information, the response to the answer may additionally reveal the questioning participant’s orientation to the answer in terms of its fit with the question. Responses to informings are thus a site of important interactional work. In our paper, we draw on the notion of ‘Interactional Competence’ and propose a conversation-analytic approach to assessing L2 speakers’ responses to elicited informings in German in question-answer sequences. We analyze L2 speakers’ use of tokens (e.g.,oh, okay, wirklich) in sequentially third position in dyadic, video-mediated everyday conversations with L1 speakers, as, in the turns following the third-position token, participants make visible their understanding of the token. We thereby attempt to describe how competent an L2 speaker’s use of a third-position token is. We end our paper by using our findings to make recommendations for language assessment frameworks and rubrics.

LINGUISTIC STRATEGIES FOR AGE-INCLUSIVITY: ANALYSIS OF HAIKU-BASED INTERGENERATIONAL INTERACTION

Abstract Many studies have examined communicative and linguistic strategies helpful to the interactional inclusion of persons living with dementia (PLwD) and the promotion of an age-inclusive society (e.g., Wray, 2020; Stickle, 2020). Building on this existing body of research, our study examines question-answer sequences in conversations (Schegloff &amp; Sacks, 1973) among younger adults and PLwD using discourse analysis methodology to illuminate effective communicative practices for facilitating more inclusive and meaningful interactions between these individuals. Findings from this methodology are complemented by analysis of post-interaction interviews. The data set for this study consists of audio-video recordings of (1) intergenerational conversations around haiku poetry in English between older adults with mild cognitive impairments (MCI) and college students, and (2) post-interaction interviews that assess participants’ feelings about the experience. The data was collected as part of a larger study designed to promote social inclusion of individuals of all ages and cognitive conditions, particularly during the pandemic, via an online intergenerational haiku-making activity. The audio-video recordings were transcribed for qualitative analysis. Findings from the analysis demonstrate the effectiveness of open and emotion-focused questions (Matsumoto, Liao, Xue, 2020; Worley, 2005) in encouraging persons with MCI to express themselves on their own terms and promoting their interactional participation. By presenting the benefits of this type of question and related linguistic strategies, this study hopes to provide a basis for developing more inclusive communicative environments for people of all ages and PLwD to help improve quality of life and well-being across all stages of life.

Approximation elicitors and accomplishing response-ability in amount questions

In this paper we analyze how amount answers are elicited when initial efforts to elicit them fail. When a response is not forthcoming, ‘approximation elicitors’ can be used to elicit a response. The work of this device is threefold.It reissues the question (in modified form) thereby sustaining the question as something that must reasonably be answerable and answered.It accounts for the ‘persistence’ in pursuit of an amount answer, i.e., the questioner is less likely to be seeable as ‘badgering’ the respondent with the same question, because the question's parameters have been adjusted and loosened.It implies an account for the initial failure to provide a reasonable answer and maintains the social expectation that the respondent ought to be able and willing to answer this question.Approximation elicitors work to preserve and maintain the accountability of both the questioner and respondent, as well as to provide for the progression of the question-answer sequence. By analyzing this device's work to manage the production of ‘reasonable’ questions, as well as the ability and requirement to respond to a reasonable question, this paper makes evident an interactional basis of epistemic ‘responsibility.’

A social practice theory approach to exploring the ubiquity of quizzes in dementia care settings

AbstractQuizzes are a ubiquitous part of the dementia social care landscape. This article explores why. Using an ethnographic approach which draws on close analysis of communication, we examine dementia quizzes as a ‘social practice’, and what such a lens can tell us about their popularity in social care settings. Vignettes of real interactions drawn from ten different quizzes recorded in four different group settings attended by 28 people living with dementia and 15 staff members are presented to highlight particular issues. We show that the conditions of post-diagnosis dementia social care are uniquely well suited to an activity such as quizzes which are malleable, requiring little preparation or materials, and impose a communication framework which can help to organise the interactional space. Quizzes also draw on previously forged interactional competences, such as turn-taking and question–answer sequences, a skill that has been shown to persist even as dementia progresses. Finally, we argue that themeaningof quizzes with people with dementia feeds into wider societal values and associations attached to memory, dementia and personhood. The extent to which quizzes are akin to a ‘test’ or a fun and enjoyable social activity rests in how they are enacted. We suggest that practice can be adapted, developed and made more inclusive through input from people living with dementia themselves.

Analyzing Collaborative Talk in a Student Managed Task-based Fine Art Activity

Objectives This is a qualitative study of the fine art group activity in the eyes of sociolinguistics. Using conversation analysis, this study aims to scrutinize how the actual collaborative talk dynamics take place in a student managed task-based art activity.&#x0D; Methods In order to have a close look at the collaborative talk, we focused directly on face-to-face talk-in-interaction of four students’ during their two hour group activity in a college art class, ‘understanding of contemporary art’. The student managed task-based group activity was a part of liberal arts course especially in the 11th week of spring semester, 2022 at a university in Seoul, Korea. The data was collected via video recording of the two hour group discussion, and the recorded talk was all transcribed for conversation analysis which is the main tool of analyzing students’ talk.&#x0D; Results The procedure of students task-based activity included the following four steps: (1) sharing and choosing an agreed task topic to work on, (2) cooperative opinion sharing for making the art work, such as materials and method (3) actual making and art work completion, (4) wrapping up and cleaning. Conversation analysis is a study of turn-taking organization of talk-in-interaction to find how the participants manage and display intersubjectivity in talk. In the students’ talk occurred in the process of the student managed group task, we found several turn-taking types resulting reciprocal support in order to develop the task product: (1) topic change, (2) other-initiated second turn repair, (3) reactive tokens, and (4) other question-answer sequences with mutually supporting verbal and nonverbal moves.&#x0D; Conclusions This study is quite valuable in terms that it addressed the naturally occuring process of turn-taking sequences by analyzing students’ talk-in-interaction in depth when the students were engaged in collaborative task-based activity to complete an act work. As noted in the result, most of the various types of turn-taking lead mutual support and agreement of each other’s thought in order to produce the collaborative task completion rather than aggressive debate and disagreement.

REALIZATION OF IMPLICIT WARNING IN POLITICAL INTERVIEW

The topic of the present article concerns the ways of expressing the speaker's communicative intent and highlighting the perlocutionary effect of the discursive move in political discourse. The aim of the research is to study the ways of making an impact on the audience in the communicative context of mass media communication. For the purpose of analysis the transcript of a political interview published on the website of the news program Democracy Now is taken. The language material is analysed with the application of contextual-semantic and pragmatic methods of analysis. The study of the dialogic moves of the partners in the question-answer sequences provides ample grounds to suggest that the conversational unit under analysis can be interpreted as a case of macro-warning which creates the perlocutionary effect of alarming. Furthermore, both participants contribute to creating the integrative communicative intent of the interview.

Guiding Children to Respond: Prioritizing Children’s Participation Over Interaction Progression

ABSTRACT When adults select young children to answer questions, children’s delays and troubles in responding may lead to a tension between child participation and the preference for progressivity that normally applies to conversations among adults. Drawing on everyday adult-child conversational data, this study focuses on question-answer sequences in which the selected child does not respond in a timely or adequate manner and examines how co-present, nonselected adults balance between progressivity and the need to facilitate child participation. The analysis shows that adults tend to manage this balance by prioritizing child participation over progressivity, thereby socializing children to achieve interactional autonomy. This ordering of preferences in adult-child interaction is in contrast with previous findings in adult conversation. This study provides empirical evidence of the ways adults prioritize child participation and socialize children into active responsive participation in conversation. Data are in Mandarin and English.

Non-serious answers to (improper) questions in talk shows

While answers are constrained by the formal, functional and sequential properties of questions, this does not mean that those answering questions do not seek to respond in ways that resist or push back against those constraints. In this paper, we examine instances where guests on Iranian talk shows respond to a preceding information-seeking question with an incongruous or irrelevant answer that is framed as nonserious. We suggest that non-serious answers are a means by which respondents construe the prior question as improper, but also inoculate themselves against a (potential) charge of being overly-sensitive or too easily offended. However, while nonserious answers construe a prior question as improper, they do not forestall that question-answer sequence. It is only when the question-recipient proffers a subsequent non-answer response that the host admits to the potential impropriety of their line of questioning and moves to close the sequence. In cases where the question-recipient provides a serious answer following the initial non-serious response, the question-answer sequence is extended. We conclude that non-serious answers strike a delicate balance between drawing attention to the impropriety of someone else's question without completely forestalling the overall progressivity of social interaction.

AN ANALYSIS OF ADJACENCY PAIRS ON CONVERSATION IN BLACK PANTHER MOVIE

This research investigated about adjacency pairs in conversation of the &lt;em&gt;Black Panther &lt;/em&gt;movie from five main characters in the movie. This research used qualitative research by applied content analysis as a research design. The data obtained from transcript of &lt;em&gt;Black Panther &lt;/em&gt;movie which has 134 minutes duration. The researchers transcribed the data in written form and analyzed by using theory of adjacency pairs. The researchers found 71 data of the conversation five main characters in the movie. Based on the research, there are 71 data of conversation that consist of thirteen types of adjacency pairs. From 71 data of conversation, there are 2 pairs of greeting-greeting sequence, 2 pairs of summons-answer sequence, 2 pairs of apology-minimization sequence, 24 pairs of question-answer sequence, 2 pairs of request-acceptance/refusal sequence, 4 pairs of offer-acceptance/refusal sequence, 2 pairs of blame-admission/denial sequence, 3 pairs of invitation-acceptance/refusal sequence, 8 pairs of assessment-agreement/disagreement sequence, 11 pairs of commands-compliance/incompliance sequence, 2 pairs of suggestion-acceptance/refusal sequence, 3 pairs of assertion-agreement/disagreement sequence and 6 pairs of announcement-acknowledgement sequence. From the research finding it can be concluded that question-answer was mostly-appeared type of adjacency pairs in the conversation by five main characters in the movie

The Interactive Functions of Questions in Embodied Collaborative Work.

Researchers have been interested in the investigation of the interactive functions of questions in conversational contexts. However, limited research has been conducted on the interactive functions of questions in embodied collaborative work, that is, work that involves the manipulation of physical objects. This study aimed to identify the interactive functions of questions in embodied collaborative work. To do so, we conducted a systematic qualitative analysis of a dataset of 1,751 question-answer sequences collected from an experimental study where pairs of participants (N = 67) completed a collaborative food preparation task. The qualitative analysis enabled us to identify three functions of questions: anticipation questions, exploration questions, and confirmation questions. We have discussed in this study how the types of questions identified are associated with: (i) the accomplishment of interactional goals and (ii) complementary temporalities in the collaborative activities.

Are Narrow Focus Exhaustivity Inferences Bayesian Inferences?

In successful communication, the literal meaning of linguistic utterances is often enriched by pragmatic inferences. Part of the pragmatic reasoning underlying such inferences has been successfully modeled as Bayesian goal recognition in the Rational Speech Act (RSA) framework. In this paper, we try to model the interpretation of question-answer sequences with narrow focus in the answer in the RSA framework, thereby exploring the effects of domain size and prior probabilities on interpretation. Should narrow focus exhaustivity inferences be actually based on Bayesian inference involving prior probabilities of states, RSA models should predict a dependency of exhaustivity on these factors. We present experimental data that suggest that interlocutors do not act according to the predictions of the RSA model and that exhaustivity is in fact approximately constant across different domain sizes and priors. The results constitute a conceptual challenge for Bayesian accounts of the underlying pragmatic inferences.