Beyond Answering: Repeat-Prefaced Responses in Conversation
Author:
Galina B. Bolden - Galina B. Bolden (PhD, University of California-Los Angeles) is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Communication, Rutgers University. Her research focuses on studying everyday talk-in-interaction in English and Russian languages, both in ordinary and institutional settings
DOI:
10.1080/03637750902828446
Publication Frequency:
4 issues per year
Subject:
Communication Studies;
Formats available:
HTML
(English)
:
PDF
(English)
View Article:
View Article (PDF)
View Article (HTML)
Abstract
The article presents a conversation analytic investigation of one technique for responding to questions in naturally occurring social interactions: repeating the question verbatim in part or as a whole before providing a required response. A close examination of production features of repeat prefacing in Russian demonstrates that it is used by conversationalists to resist agendas and presuppositions generated by questions and other sequence initiating actions. The study shows that some repeat prefaces characterize questions as problematic by contesting or outright rejecting its presuppositions or implications. Depending on how precisely repeat prefaces are articulated, they may also display the speaker's difficulty in retrieving requested information. The study extends our understanding of devices conversationalists can deploy to resist, sidestep, or curtail the constraints imposed by questioners' interactional agendas, thereby providing an insight into how communicative goals are discerned, responded to, and negotiated in social interaction.
|
| Keywords: Questions and Answers; Conversation Analysis; Russian Language; Intonation |
| view references (32) |

Download Citation
CiteULike
Del.icio.us
BibSonomy
Connotea