Unfinished turns in French conversation: Projectability, syntax and action

Incomplete utterances as critical assessments

“…In this context, the delicate nature of imparting criticism may be further heightened as there exists an immediate need to promote social solidarity within the group. We propose that the participants use an incomplete utterance as an interactional resource to design their critical assessment as dispreferred; in doing so, they treat the articulation of overt criticism as delicate and work to maintain social solidarity among different participants in the community (cf., Chevalier and Clift, 2008; Fasulo and Monzoni, 2009; Lerner, 2013; Pillet-Shore, 2016). The syntactically systematic placement of the halt as well as the accompanying embodied actions allow the participants to convey their critical stance while withholding the articulation of overt criticism.…”

Linking Clauses and Actions in Social Interaction

“…the appropriate responses after unfinished turns in Chevalier 2008 andChevalier &Clift 2008). 17 The practice of completing a turn in a delayed fashion after an intervening response thus typically occurs in argumentative talk, even in disagreements.…”

“…The assertion here begins to summarize the point of the prior telling, and it ends with slight markers of hesitation (on hesitation and delayed completions, see Oloff 2014a; cf. also Chevalier 2008;Chevalier & Clift 2008). The intervening response comes right after the host and is not totally in alignment with the host, as it goes slightly beyond just-responding (cf.…”

“…For instance, Chevalier and Clift (2008;see also Chevalier 2008) found that unfinished turns in French conversation are regularly followed by appropriate responses, and Vatanen (2014) showed that in Finnish and Estonian talkin-interaction, speakers who start up a response to the ongoing turn at a place where the turn is not yet transition-ready (i.e., not at a transitionrelevance place (TRP)) appear to have recognized the gist of the turn and respond appropriately, and that they even use the non-TRP onset for specific purposes in interaction. In Chevalier and Clift's (2008) data, the initiating speakers typically cut off their turn once the response has set in, while in Vatanen's (2014) data, the overlapped speakers typically continue to produce their turn despite the response onset, which results in rather extended simultaneous talk. Another trajectory attested is one where the initiating speaker cuts off, and after hearing some parts of the response, continues and completes his/her turn.…”

Permanence et variation des unités prosodiques dans le discours et l'interaction

“…Ce dernier cas est illustré dans l'exemple 1 (section 1.5) qui met en évidence le principe crucial de coopération inhérent à toute conversation, et la mise en œuvre incessante, pour le satisfaire, de phénomènes d'alignement inter-locuteurs. Dans une étude récente, Chevalier et Clift (2008) s'intéressent à ces énoncés inachevés qui sont révélateurs, pour ces auteurs, d'une difficulté ou d'un problème dans le discours du locuteur. Ne pas compléter un tour apparaît alors comme une manière de rechercher une certaine ‘affiliation’ avec son interlocuteur.…”