Turn-constructional Units Research Articles

Tu sais ('you know') and t'sais ('y'know') in spoken French

This article examines how French tu sais (you know') is used in everyday talk-in-interaction. In standard grammar, savoir ('to know') is described as a transitive verb. In spoken language, however, the complement of savoir in 2nd person singular is often not realised. Without its complement, tu sais can occur in various positions within a turn-constructional unit. Prior research has shown that the change in position entails a change in function. I adopt the approach of Interactional Linguistics to demonstrate that position is not the only relevant factor when it comes to tu sais. Analysing 43 French conversations, I show that the activities speakers are involved in and the degree of morpho-phonological reduction of tu sais may also be decisive factors for how tu sais contributes to the organization of social interaction. The non-reduced forms occur in activities where knowledge is negotiated whereas the reduced forms occur during assessment activities.

The Implementation of Communication Strategies to Exchange and Negotiate Meanings in a Simulation of Job Interview

Students of English as a foreign language find it difficult to initiate a talk and exchange meanings in an interaction. They find it hard to break the iceberg and act by asking, commanding and answering to make the speakers or listeners’ intention fulfilled. As such they do not have medium to exchange experiences. The present study aims to explain the way meanings are negotiated and exchanged in the implementation of communication strategies in a simulation of a job interview. The subjects of this qualitative study are students of Indonesian Vocational College. The object of the study is the students’ utterances in the interview. Functional semantic reinterpretation of turn-constructional units of conversation analysis is implemented to explain how the students exchange and negotiate meanings. The findings suggest that the realization of exchange and negotiation of meanings is influenced by moves assigned to speech functions classes and the types of meanings implemented in the act of production and comprehension of the whole communication. The subjects of the present study can be categorized into productive speakers. The students negotiate feelings and attitudes more than that of the content of the proposition.

Características interaccionales de algunos marcadores secuenciales del español: un estudio conversacional de partículas lingüísticas

El presente artículo utiliza datos provenientes de conversaciones cotidianas y aplica el método del análisis conversacional para reportar algunas características interaccionales de seis partículas lingüísticas (no, pues, oye, o sea, ah y ay) o marcadores secuenciales, como se les define aquí. Los marcadores secuenciales tienen una función deíctica y de inicio, i.e., hacen referencia al habla anterior o bien inician una nueva actividad interaccional. Por sí mismos, los marcadores constituyen unidades de construcción de turno ya que proyectan momentos pertinentes para la transición del turno. Los marcadores realizan y constituyen acciones sociales interaccionales. El estudio conversacional de estos elementos lingüísticos muestra aspectos lingüístico-culturales de los hablantes. Se sugiere que este tipo de partículas lingüísticas puede ser parte de la “mecánica” universal de la interaccional humana.

An initial description of syntactic extensions in spoken Czech

AbstractThis paper aims to describe different patterns of syntactic extensions of turns-at-talk in mundane conversations in Czech. Within interactional linguistics, same-speaker continuations of possibly complete syntactic structures have been described for typologically diverse languages, but have not yet been investigated for Slavic languages. Based on previously established descriptions of various types of extensions (Vorreiter 2003;Couper-Kuhlen & Ono 2007), our initial description shall therefore contribute to the cross-linguistic exploration of this phenomenon. While all previously described forms for continuing a turn-constructional unit seem to exist in Czech, some grammatical features of this language (especially free word order and strong case morphology) may lead to problems in distinguishing specific types of syntactic extensions. Consequently, this type of language allows for critically evaluating the cross-linguistic validity of the different categories and underlines the necessity of analysing syntactic phenomena within their specific action contexts.

Eye Blinking as Addressee Feedback in Face-To-Face Conversation

ABSTRACTDoes blinking function as a type of feedback in conversation? To address this question, we built a corpus of Dutch conversations, identified short and long addressee blinks during extended turns, and measured their occurrence relative to the end of turn constructional units (TCUs), the location where feedback typically occurs. Addressee blinks were indeed timed to the end of TCUs. Also, long blinks were more likely than short blinks to occur during mutual gaze, with nods or continuers, and their occurrence was restricted to sequential contexts in which signaling understanding was particularly relevant, suggesting a special signaling capacity of long blinks.

Tensions in the epistemic domain and claims of no-knowledge: A study of Swedish medical interaction

This article analyzes the halts in sequential progressivity that are caused by claims of no-knowledge in Swedish medical interaction. The focus is on responsive turns and turn-constructional units that are prefaced by the epistemic disclaimer jag vet inte ‘I don’t know’. We argue that this use of epistemic disclaimers does not primarily display the speaker's lack of knowledge, but that their presence signals interactional problems that are contingent on epistemic asymmetries between the participants. Patient replies that contain an epistemic disclaimer are nonconforming responses and they therefore resist something about the question: the presupposed access to knowledge or the rights to knowledge. The present analysis demonstrates that epistemic tensions, especially in lay–professional interaction, are handled by the lay party using epistemic disclaimers. These can initiate a shift in epistemic posture toward a more independent, more personally accurate formulation of knowledge that somehow contrasts with the professional party's assumptions.

A Relevance Rule Organizing Responsive Behavior During One Type of Institutional Extended Telling

ABSTRACTMore research is needed on the organization of mid-telling sequential environments wherein the normal turn-taking rules for speaker transition are typically suspended. While there is research on the type, function, and consequences of recipients’ vocalized responses, we know less about bodily responsive behavior (e.g., nodding) and even less about how responses (or lack thereof) are organized around turn constructional unit boundaries. Using conversation analysis of face-to-face data captured by multiple, participant perspective camera angles, this article addresses these issues by documenting a relevance rule that organizes responsive behavior during international students’ problem presentations to university advisors. Data are in American English.

Collaboratively organized stancetaking in Japanese: Sharing and negotiating stance within the turn constructional unit

Stancetaking is one of the fundamental properties of human interaction (cf. Du Bois and Kärkkäinen, 2012; Englebretson, 2007b; Goodwin, 2007; Goodwin and Goodwin, 1992, 2004; Jaffe, 2009). It is pervasive, intersubjective, and collaborative, emerging in response to local contingencies in interaction. While a number of studies have investigated stance in English, little has been done in Japanese. Using Conversation Analysis (CA) frameworks, this paper explores how participants in Japanese conversation employ, or exploit, linguistic and multimodal resources to create opportunities for stance negotiation within the formulation of a turn in progress through strategically suspending the progressivity of a “turn-constructional unit (TCU)” (Sacks et al., 1974; Schegloff, 1996). Rather than treating stance as a static category relating to the speaker, this study views stancetaking as a dynamic, emergent and interactive characteristic of language in social interaction. In this paper stancetaking is conceptualized through the social interactional processes of alignment and affiliation among participants and viewed as an embodied interactive activity.

Co-authorship of Joint utterances in Japanese

The paper introduces a type of joint utterance construction in Japanese, in which two independent sentential-level units are amalgamated, which has hitherto received little attention in the literature. Unlike traditional joint utterance construction where one speaker maintains authority over the syntactic structure of the forthcoming continuation and the other accedes to this, thereby constituting a single TCU (turn constructional unit), our examples demonstrate that both speakers can have authority over the syntactic design of joint utterances. We call such collaborative utterances ‘co-authored joint utterances’ in this paper.The uniqueness of co-authored joint utterances lies in their syntactic architecture. While syntactic and semantic continuity are successfully achieved in constructing co-authored joint utterances, they represent a co-joined structure in which two sentential-level units are involved with their shared part constituting a point of amalgamation, and because of this, the structure of a co-authored joint utterance can no longer be parsed with extant grammar.In analysing co-authored joint utterances, we examine how they can be treated in relation to the distinction between TCU (Turn Constructional Unit) continuation and new TCUs. Due to the particularities of the syntactic architecture of co-authored joint utterances, their existence raises questions about the way in which this distinction is currently operationalised, because despite being syntactically an incremental continuation, and so seemingly a TCU continuation, the co-authored joint utterance implements an action beyond what was initially instantiated by the antecedent of that joint utterance, and so arguably constitutes a new TCU.

Finnish particles mm, jaa and joo as responses to a proposal in negotiation activity

Negotiation activity, as a form of social interaction, is founded on a proposal sequence. A proposal projects an acceptance or a rejection as the possible next action, and response particles occurring in this position may be heard accordingly. In some languages, response tokens have been identified as weak agreements, and in some cases they may even function as pre-rejections. This study examines Finnish response particles as a resource in negotiation. Using conversation analysis, we analyse the particles mm, jaa and joo which form whole turn-constructional units as responses to proposals. Our data come from psychological interaction tests and encompass 119 sequences with a proposal and an accompanying particle response. The study shows that, despite sharing some functions on a general level, the particles are not interchangeable as far as accepting and committing oneself to a proposal are concerned. Indeed, they constitute a continuum with mm at one end as the least encouraging response particle and joo at the other end as the most encouraging. However, even the most encouraging particle joo is not sufficient to accomplish acceptance of the proposal on its own, but an explicit acceptance or further development of the proposal is needed after the joo.

Extending Prior Posts in Dyadic Online Text Chat

This study explores whether chat users are able to extend prior, apparently completed posts in the dyadic online text chat context. Dyadic text chat has a unique turn-taking system, and most chat softwares do not permit users to monitor one another's written messages-in-progress. This is likely to impact on their use of online extensions as an interactional resource. For example, intonation is one interactional device used in spoken conversation to indicate imminent turn closure and project a response from interlocutors, thus creating a possibly complete turn-constructional unit (TCU) and transition relevance places (TRP). The speaker, however, may add further talk to that TCU, thus producing an extension and redoing the TRP. If prosody and monitorability of recipients' online talk production are unavailable as interactional resources, can participants still extend prior posts during online textual interaction? The analysis of chat logs of geographically dispersed speakers of Italian provides new evidence on the fundamental role of semantics, pragmatics, syntax, and punctuation in users' deployment of extending devices with various forms and interactional functions in dyadic textual online chat, as resources for social action.

On the place of turn and sequence in grammar

This study elaborates the concept of a positionally sensitive grammar with respect to the sequentiality of turns and the turn constructional units in conversation. The linguistic object of the analysis is clausal constructions in Swedish that are initiated by the finite predicate verb: Polar questions, receipt questions (news receipts), conditional protases and pro-drop declaratives. These constructions share potentially the same syntactic surface pattern but are constrained by different sequential conditions of use. The study proposes an integrated interactional linguistic analysis which takes into account both syntactic and sequential aspects of turn construction. A grammatical attribute-value matrix, based on the framework of construction grammar (CxG), is introduced. The analysis shows that regularities of sequential organization may provide robust distinctive constructional features while a pure syntactic analysis remains less distinctive. The decisive constructional features are systematically captured by a notation designed for sequential and syntactic organization.

Turn organization and bodily-vocal demonstrations

The study focuses on turns in interaction that involve a bodily-vocal demonstration: an embodied demonstration that is accompanied by a non-lexical vocalization. It shows how the temporal organization of these demonstrations contributes to participant treatment of them as a part of a turn-constructional unit, mostly as its completion. It is also suggested that a bodily-vocal demonstration may function as a separate turn-constructional unit, with a transition relevance point before it, and other participants refraining from action before its completion. Vocalizations, occasionally with coherent pitch contours of intonation units, are argued to render bodily displays vocal space within turns-at-talk. After a bodily-vocal demonstration, the turn-constructional unit can be recompleted with verbal devices, displaying further similarity to verbal-only turns. The analysis calls into attention the relevance of embodied behavior to the emergence of units in conversation.

Phonetic practices for action formation: Glottalization versus linking of TCU-initial vowels in German

Pronunciation guides for German frequently state that glottal stops must be inserted before word-initial vowels. This paper reports on a study of naturally occurring German talk in which the phonetic properties of word-initial vowels were investigated. The focus was on the beginning of new turn-constructional units by the same speaker, which was hypothesized to be a default location for glottal stop insertion. The data show that 42% of vowel-fronted TCUs do not show glottal stop insertion; instead vowels are joined directly to the final sound of previous TCUs. In contrast to previous research, speakers’ regional variety seems to play no role in the distribution of word-initial glottal stops at TCU boundaries, as a glottalization/linking distribution of roughly 60/40 is relatively consistent across speakers and conversations. The main factor affecting the contrast between glottalization and linking seems to be the management of conversational actions. Speakers make use of glottalization of TCU-initial vowels in their design of next TCUs as new actions; whereas vowel linking contributes to the design of continuing actions-in-progress. In a small number of cases, participants use linking to integrate new, socially dispreferred actions into preferred actions. The findings do not support an earlier pilot study of broadcast interaction.

Clicks and percussives in English conversation

Clicks are known to occur in English conversation, and have traditionally been assumed to convey affective meaning, generally negative. This is indeed the lay interpretation of clicks. In this paper, we build on the work of Wright (2011a, b), who shows that clicks are also used in the management of sequences of talk. Firstly, we consider similarities and differences in the production of clicks and percussives. We consider some distributional properties of clicks in one variety of English. Drawing on a wide range of conversational data from Britain and the USA, we show some of the functions of clicks and percussives in conversation, which include stance-taking and sequence management (projection of a turn constructional unit and word-search), and handling aspects of timing between turns. We also consider some of the visual behaviours that may accompany clicks. The meaning or function of clicks and percussives, it is argued, must be considered in a fuller interactional context.

Responding and Clarifying

This paper utilises the methodology of Conversation Analysis (CA hereafter) to report on the Spanish particle pues in Mexican Spanish talk. Two general sequential contexts are examined: 1) pues-prefacing in the second pair-part of an adjacency pair, i.e., in the second pair-part of an assessment sequence and in response to questions; and 2) turn-final pues and pues at the end of a turn-constructional unit. The analysis of assessment sequences shows that pues is used to treat the previous assessment as obvious and index epistemic independence; in addition, pues can be one of the elements used to formulate a delicate disagreement. In response to questions, pues either signals unstraightforwardness in answering or indicates that the answer is obvious which challenges the relevance of the question. Similarly, pues, in response to challenges, prefaces the obvious actions to fulfil the request, making the response a riposte. Turn-final pues and pues at the end of the turn constructional unit mark repair after interactional trouble. Finally, in a news delivery sequence, sí pues treats the previous talk as not news for the recipient.

The Wor(l)d is a Collage: Multi‐Performance by Chinese Heritage Language Speakers

ABSTRACTThis study examines the simultaneous use of English and Chinese by speakers of Chinese as a heritage language (CHL). It focuses on spontaneous, dynamic, and high‐density mixing of the two languages within the smallest building block of a speaking turn: the turn constructional unit (TCU). Drawing upon data from different age and proficiency groups, it shows that CHL speakers migrate between and mingle the two language systems freely and frequently at multiple and nested levels of phonemes, morphemes, syllable structures, tones, noun and verb phrases, and clauses. It reconsiders existing syntactic descriptions, sociopragmatic taxonomies, and conversation‐analytic accounts concerning codeswitching and concludes that rather than being governed by fixed, a priori linguistic constraints, sociopragmatic meaning, or conversation‐sequential contingency, this type of ad hoc, intra‐TCU codeswitching is accomplished with a full range of verbal resources from both languages that are simultaneously accessible to the speaker and might be accounted for by a type of rationality characterized by fuzzy logical conditions. It further suggests that, pushing and breaking perceptible linguistic boundaries, CHL speakers celebrate their multi‐competence, traverse invisible cultural and identity boundaries, and employ and enjoy both languages at all ages and proficiency levels in transient and transcendent multi‐performances, which in turn can become a rich resource for heritage language socialization across the lifespan.

The Interdependence of Bodily Demonstrations and Clausal Syntax

Units in interaction are emergent real-time phenomena that can be accomplished by the coordinated deployment of language and the body. Focusing mostly on data from dance classes, this study looks at how incomplete syntax projects a continuation realized by the body and systematically accounts for clausal syntax that can incorporate an embodied demonstration. It is argued that the classic list of types of turn constructional units by Sacks et al. (1974) needs to be expanded with a syntactic-bodily one and that the syntax of embodied demonstrations has to be included in the grammatical description of language.

NOW or NOT NOW: Coordinating Restarts in the Pursuit of Learnables in Vocal Master Classes

During the pursuit of learnables in vocal master classes, masters frequently produce lengthy clusters of directives, while students and accompanists orient to early opportunities for putting directives into practice. Participants are therefore faced with a continuous necessity to negotiate whether a directive is to be put into practice “now” or “not now.” Accompanists typically initiate musical (re)performances and are therefore the first to respond to a master's instruction completion, often preempting it early on in a master's potentially final turn constructional unit. Master class participants have to coordinate two action types: masters orient to giving instructions through talk; students and pianists orient primarily to restarting the musical performance.

Turn Continuation and Clause Combinations

This article explores the viability of the analytic distinction between “turn-constructional unit (TCU) continuation” (i.e., continuing a turn beyond a point of possible completion with grammatically dependent material) and “new TCU” (i.e., continuing a turn with grammatically independent material) when hypotactic clause combinations are involved. The focus is on causal clause combinations, which may be either lexico-syntactically marked (e.g., as in English with because) or lexico-syntactically unmarked but prosodically cohesive. Based on data from ordinary conversation, it is found that both marked and unmarked forms are used in turn continuation, with the unit containing the account (the causal clause) being delivered after the completion of a unit implementing the accountable action. Both marked and unmarked forms of causal clause combination, when used in turn continuation, allow for intervening talk after the accountable; both prioritize the account in establishing relevancies for what happens next. Yet, in current conceptualizations of turn continuation, they would be classified differently, with marked forms counting as “TCU continuation” and unmarked forms as “new TCU.” The implications of this unsatisfactory state of affairs are discussed in the conclusion.