Unit construction and action - how units get constructed and recognized as actions in Danish talk-in-interaction

Panel: P41 - Units of Talk-in-Interaction
Author: Steensig, Jakob
Abstract:
Units in talk-in-interaction are, inevitably, actions. This study investigates the construction of action-units in second position, after questions. In this position, there is a limited set of options: preferred and dispreferred responses (Schegloff 2007), type conforming or nonconforming (Raymond 2003). Additionally, recipients can initiate other activities, ask clarifying questions, initiate repair etc.

These options have recognizable formats, which are partly overlapping. Here is one example:

A:  Er det noget du ha:r °øhm:°
    is it something you ha:ve uhm

A:  (.) overvejelser om
    (.) considerations about

A:  en uddannelse inden for det
    an education within that

A:  elle[:r;
    o:r
B:      [Jeg har overvejelser om
         I have considerations about

B:  uddannelse inden for det ja.
    education within that yes

A asks a yes/no question and B gives a confirming answer but in a nonconforming format. B's first word, jeg (‘I’), sounds like the yes token ja. So when and how can it be decided that this is a version of a confirming answer? How do “modalities” (phonetics, morpho-syntax, prosody, visual) contribute to constructing the type of unit and action in question?

There is a limited number of shapes that actions in this position can take. The paper presents the logic of this and demonstrates how unit construction can be seen as constrained by, and building on, these limitations.

The study builds on a datacorpus of some 30 hours of Danish interactions from different settings.