wp2 : Interaction

Projecting turn extension:

The temporality of clause-combining practices

Overview

By analysing naturally occurring conversational Italian, we focus on the temporal and sequential dimension of turn-construction, hence examining clause combining as an emerging, intersubjective achievement. More specifically, we study a recurrent phenomenon in language-in-interaction, whereby an interactant (pre-emptively) completes a speaker’s turn-in-progress (“collaborative turn sequences”, Lerner 1987, 1991, 1996; “co-constructions”, Lerner 1991; “collaborative turns”, Bolden 2003; (other)-“increments”, Ono & Couper Kuhlen 2007; Schegloff 2016). Using Conversation Analysis (Sacks, Schegloff & Jefferson 1974) and Interactional Linguistics (Selting & Couper-Kuhlen 2001; Couper-Kuhlen & Selting 2018), we analyse video data of multi-party interactions taking place in ordinary (dinners) and institutional (business meetings) settings, zooming in on the relationship between the emergent (Hopper 1987), online (Auer 2009), embodied grammar and the social action speakers accomplish with other-completions. Our research is a contribution to the analysis of clause-combination from an interactional and multimodal perspective.

selected references

  • Auer, P. 2009. On-line syntax: Thoughts on the temporality of spoken language. Language Sciences 31: 1-13.

  • Bolden, G. B. 2003. Multiple modalities in collaborative turn sequences. Gesture 3: 187-212.

  • Couper-Kuhlen, E., & Selting, M. (2018). Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

  • Hopper, P.J. 1987. Emergent grammar. Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics Society 13: 139-157.

  • Lerner, G. H. 1987. Collaborative Turn Sequences: Sentence Construction and Social Action. University of California, Irvine. [Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation]

  • Lerner, G. H. 1991. On the syntax of sentences-in-progress. Language in society 20(3): 441-458.

  • Lerner, G. H. 1996. On the ‘semi-permeable’ character of grammatical units in conversation. Conditional entry into the turn space of another speaker. In Ochs, E., Schegloff, E., Thompson, S. (Eds.). Interaction and Grammar. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 238-276.

  • Ono T., & Couper-Kuhlen, E. 2007. ‘Incrementing’ in conversation: A comparison of practices in English, German and Japanese. Pragmatics 17(4): 513-522.

  • Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. 1974. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking in conversation. Language 50(4): 696-735.

  • Schegloff, E. A. (2016). Increments. In J. D. Robinson (Ed.), Accountability in social interaction. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 239–263.

  • Selting, M., & Couper-Kuhlen, E., (Eds.). 2001. Studies in Interactional Linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.

Virginia Calabria

Elwys De Stefani

Promoter & Supervisor

Simona Pekarek Doehler

Supervisor