Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters

On occasions, 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 conversatio...

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Main Author: Chevalier, Fabienne HG
Format: Article
Published: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/694/
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author Chevalier, Fabienne HG
author_facet Chevalier, Fabienne HG
author_sort Chevalier, Fabienne HG
building Nottingham Research Data Repository
collection Online Access
description On occasions, 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 (CA), 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 upon the context that the sequences that house them have so far provided.
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spelling nottingham-6942020-05-04T20:27:22Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/694/ Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters Chevalier, Fabienne HG On occasions, 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 (CA), 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 upon the context that the sequences that house them have so far provided. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates 2008-03 Article PeerReviewed Chevalier, Fabienne HG (2008) Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 41 (1). tbc-tbc. (In Press) Conversation Analysis (CA) turn organization sequentiality context French http://www.leaonline.com/loi/rlsi
spellingShingle Conversation Analysis (CA)
turn organization
sequentiality
context
French
Chevalier, Fabienne HG
Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters
title Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters
title_full Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters
title_fullStr Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters
title_full_unstemmed Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters
title_short Unfinished Turns in French: How Context Matters
title_sort unfinished turns in french: how context matters
topic Conversation Analysis (CA)
turn organization
sequentiality
context
French
url https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/694/
https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/694/