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CONVERSATION ANALYSIS Adjacency pairs

• An adjacency pair is composed of two turns produced
• Sequencing – adjacency pairs, exchanges by different speakers which are placed adjacently and
where the second utterance is identified as related to
• Organisation – turn-taking, discourse markers, the first. Adjacency pairs include the following
filled pauses, backchannels… patterns: question/answer; complaint/denial;
offer/accept; request/grant; compliment/rejection;
• Cooperation challenge/rejection, and instruct/receipt.
• Adjacency pairs typically have three characteristics:
• they consist of two utterances;
• in most cases, the utterances are adjacent, that is the
first immediately follows the second; and
• different speakers produce each utterance.

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BLAME – DENIAL

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Adjacency pairs, exercises

1. "I really like your new haircut!"
→ "Oh, thanks.“
Compliment / Acceptance
2. "I really like your new hair colour!"
→ "Oh, you’re just saying that... I don’t believe you.“
Compliment / Refusal
3. "Your phone is over there."
→ “Oh, yes.“
Information / Acknowledgement

4. "Hiya!" → "Oh, hi!“ 8. "Is it OK if I borrow this book?"

Greeting / Greeting → "I'd rather you didn't, it's due back at the library
tomorrow.“
5. "Would you like to visit the museum with me Request / Rejection
this evening?" → "I'd love to!“ 9. ”Joe!”
Offer / Acceptance → "Joe: Sir? ”
Summons / Answer
6. "Would you like to visit the museum with me 10. ”Look! Look what you made me do! ”
this evening?" → “Sorry, I can’t make it.“ → “I made you do? I made you do? I wasn’t near you.“
Offer / Refusal Accusation / Denial
11. ”You scared her when you yelled. It was funny.”
7. "What does this big red button do?" → "It → “It was not yelling. I was warming up my voice. It
causes two-thirds of the universe to implode.“ was a voice exercise. “
Question / Answer Assertion / Disagreement

Insertion sequence Identify the insertion sequences:

1. Bob: What about my face? Linda: I’ll forget my lines.
Gage: What?
2. Gage: What? Linda: I’ll forget my lines.
3. Bob: My face! Nobody’s doing anything. Gage: No you won’t Linda. You’re just nervous.
……………
4. Joe: Oh, I’ll help you apply the lotion.
Bob: Mr. Gage would you please check my makeup?
Utterances number 2 and 3 are called insertion- Gage: Oh my, who did that?
sequences. Bob: I did.
Gage: Give me a tissue. We’ve got to get it off.

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A: I wanted to order some more paint.

A: I wanted to order some more paint. (Request)
B: Yes, how many tubes would you like, sir? B: Yes, how many tubes would you like, sir?
A: Um, what's the price with tax? (Question 1)
B: Er, I'll just work that out for you. A: Um, what's the price with tax? (Question
2)
A: Thanks.
B: Er, I'll just work that out for you. (Hold)
B: Three nineteen a tube, sir.
A: Thanks. (Acceptance)
A: I'll have five, then.
B: Three nineteen a tube, sir. (Answer 2)
B: Here you go.
A: I'll have five, then. (Answer 1)
B: Here you go. (Acceptance)

Insertion Sequences: two functions -

A: Can you do it?
clarification and delay
B: What?
A delay is an item used to put off a dispreferred second part.
A: Can you take care of it?
A dispreferred second part is a second part of an adjacency
pair that consists of a response to the first part that is B: Now?
generally to be avoided or not expected.
A: If that’s all right.
– A refusal in response to a request, offer, or invitation
– A disagreement in response to an assessment
– An unexpected answer in response to a question
B: Well, *pause+ I mean, no, I’m afraid not.
– An admission in response to blame

Pre-expansions
• Sometimes, an adjacency pair is inserted before b) Protect the speaker E.g. Pre-invitation
another (related) adjacency pair, in order to
A: Are you busy tomorrow night? Q1
a) Set the stage E.g. Pre-announcement B: No, no plans. A1
A: Did you hear the news? Q1 A: Shall we go to the movies? core: invitation
B: No, what? A1 B: Sure! acceptance
A : I’m engaged! core: announcement
B: WOW! reaction

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Post-expansions
c) Protect the listener E.g. Asking something
delicate
• Post-expansions are (related)APs that
A: Can I ask you something kind of personal? Q1 occur after another (core) AP. They may
B: Yeah, go ahead. A1
also be used for clarification.
A: Exactly how do you feel about Norman? Q2
(core: delicate question)
• A: Who was it that said you couldn’t go? Q1 (core)
B: I like him a lot, but there’s nothing between us,
• B: Steve. A1
if that’s what you mean. A2
• A: Who’s he? Q2
• B: He’s in charge of registration, he said they were full
up. A2

Exchanges
Adjacency pairs can also be extended into Sometimes, an adjacency pair will have a third
adjacency triplets. Commonly known as part to it. This is called the Sequence Closing
exchanges, they consist of three moves. Third (SC3):

– A: Could you do this for me? request

– B: Sure! acceptance
– A: Great! assessment / appreciation

This is a type of post-expansion.

• Initiation + response + follow-up/feedback:

Preferred/dispreferred responses
- How many brothers have you got? • A question is expected to complemented by
- Three! an answer. This is considered the preferred
- Oh so you've got three brothers! That's a big response. Not to answer a question, or to
family! answer at inappropriate length, either too
shortly or at excessive length, or to answer a
- What time is it? - Mark’s coming tomorrow. question with another question, are
considered dispreferred responses and tend
- 5.30. - Oh, yeah.
to interrupt the smooth flow of a
- Thanks. - Yes. conversation.

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• A preferred response is acceptance and is

usually short, without hesitation or D: I was thinking we could have fish.
elaboration J: Fine.
• A dispreferred response is refusal and is A: Well, actually, I’ve stopped eating fish now
usually performed hesitantly and elaborately because of you know the damage it does to
• The theory is very easy: If you ask someone to the ocean.
marry you, you hope a “yes”and you fear a “no”.
Anything that is not a “yes”, including “maybe” • J’s response is a preferred response; it is short
(which is uninformative), extra information, and not hesitant
being asked back something else, jokes, irony, • A’s response is a dispreferred response; it is
anything, is a dispreferred response. hesitant and elaborate

Table: Preferred and Dispreferred Second Parts to various First Parts:

Analyse the following in terms of the sequence
structure and decide whether the response is
SECOND FIRST PARTS:
PARTS: preferred or dispreferred:
Request Offer/Invite Assessment Question Blame

A: Can I have a bottle of whiskey?

Preferred: acceptance acceptance agreement expected denial? B: Are you over twenty-one?
answer
A: No.
B: No.
Dispreferred refusal refusal disagreeme unexpected admission ------------------------
: nt answer or ?
non-answer
Rose: Why don’t you come and see me
sometime.
Bea: I would like to.
Rose: Great.

• Do you need a lift? • A: May I please speak to Rodney?

• Thanks, but I’m waiting for my friend. • B: May I ask who’s calling?
------------------------------ • A: Alan.
• Hello. • B: Just a minute. I’ll get him.
• Goodbye. ---------------------------------
------------------------------ • A: Gimme a beer.
• I’m sorry.
• B: How old are you?
• That’s OK. Don’t worry about it.
• A: 21.
-------------------------------
• B: Okay. Coming up.
• I love you.
• Thanks.

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Turn-taking Turn-taking
• For the most part, two or more people take turns at • Completion point: the point which signals that
speaking. the speaker has finished speaking.

• Some features of conversational interaction: • Signalling end of turn:

– Typically, only one person speaks at a time.
– Usually, silence is avoided. 1. Completion of a syntactic unit.
– If two people talk at the same time, one of them stops. 2. Use of falling intonation.
3. Pausing.
4. Fillers (mm) (anyway).
5. Eye contact, body language and movement.

Turn-taking Turn-taking
• Holding on to a turn: Turn taking varies according to…
• The situation: in a classroom for example a teacher
1. Not pausing too long at the end of an nominates who can take a turn, a student may or may not
respond….
utterance, and starting straight away. • The topic : people take a turn when they have something to
2. Pausing during an utterance not at the end. say, or when they want to change the topic.
• Relationship: a child may be instructed not to speak with
3. Increase the volume by extending a syllable or adult guests unless spoken to…
a vowel. • Rank: To some degree, turn taking is by rank, the right to
talk is an indicator of the status of the speaker and the
4. Speak over someone else’s attempt to take degree to which all participants are from the same rank.
our turn.

Fillers
Speakers are permitted to talk in the
following situations: Fillers are sounds or words that are spoken
• nominated. to fill up gaps in utterances.
• self-selection. They include filled pauses and discourse
markers.

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Fillers Discourse markers

• End-of-turn fillers
A Discourse Marker (DM) is a word or phrase that functions
– DM ...and I went to the store, you know. primarily as a structuring unit of spoken language.
– FP ...and I went to the store um
To the listener, a DM signals the speaker's intention to mark a
• Fillers at the Start of a Turn boundary in discourse (framing move).
– See Ø my company has a much stricter policy than yours.
– Um the th the one thing I'm thinking is, that it might be hard DMs are active contributions to the discourse and signal such
to see the stage from way back here. (filler + disfluency) activities as change in speaker, taking or holding control of the
floor, relinquishing control of the floor, or the beginning of a
• Fillers as Complete Turns new topic.
– A: But it's just really bizarre, if you ask me.
B: Um
A: The whole criminal justice system.
B: Um Ø but I don't think, the police are the biggest system.

Discourse markers Discourse markers

Examples:
– That gets on my nerves, too. Anyway, tell me about your We consider as DMs only those instances that
new job. structure the discourse and do not carry
– A: So, how do you make this soup? separate meaning.
B: First you take a couple of carrots and chop them. Okay.
And then you fry them in butter.
It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish
when a word or phrase is functioning as a
discourse marker and when it is acting as a
content word.

Discourse markers Backchannels

Backchannels are words or phrases that provide
Some common DMs feedback to the dominant speaker by indicating that
the non-dominant speaker is still engaged in the
– actually – now conversation (though not actively participating at the
– basically – okay moment).
– anyway – see
– so All types of fillers can be used as backchannels (both
– and yeah
– yeah – well discourse markers and filled pauses).
– I mean – you know
– let's see – you see
– like – you know what I mean
– oh

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Backchannels Backchannels
Karen: Brent might learn a little lesson if his security
In the example below, okay is functioning as a camera got stolen.
backchannel rather than a DM: Hank: Yeah.
Karen: By someone.
A: I've lived in Friendship Heights for years. Hank: Hmm.
B: Okay. Karen: Someone he trusts.
A: But I'm thinking of moving a little further out . Hank: Yeah, I suppose.
Karen: Someone he would never suspect.
Hank: Yeah.
Karen: Plot the camera's motion and approach from a
blind spot. You could pull it off.

Exercise 1 Exercise 2
• Identify the first and second pair parts of the • Identify the adjacency pairs in the following
adjacency pairs: dialogues. Which are core? What role does the other
adjacency pair play in relation to the core pair? Are
A: Are you coming tonight? the second pair parts preferred or dispreferred?
B: Can I bring a guest? Name the function of the words in bold.
A: Male or female?
B: What difference does that make? A: OK. Do you have the spanner?
A: An issue of balance. B: Yes.
B: Female.
C: Can I have it please?
A: Sure.
B: [silence]
B: I’ll be there.

P: Martin, would you like to dance? A: Oh, hello Anne, what’s up?
M: Is the floor slippery? B: Nothing much.
P: No, it’s fine. A: There’s something I want to ask you.
M: Then I’d be happy to. B: Alright, go ahead.
A: I’m kind of broke. Could you lend me some
Mother: Do you know who’s going to that money by Friday?
meeting? B: You’re always broke, you should be more
R: Who? careful about your money.
Mother: I don’t know!
R: Um… probably Mr. Murphy and Dad said Mrs.
T. an’ some of the teachers, you know.

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Exercise 3 -When is the bus arriving?

• Identify the function of the first and second pair parts in the -In ten minutes.
following adjacency pairs: Q/A, Request for information / Grant

-Hello. -Do you need help with that?

-Hi. -Definitely!
Greeting / Greeting Offer / Acceptance

-Jimmy! -Chocolate?
-Coming, mother. -I’m on a diet, thanks.
Summons / Answer Offer / Rejection

-The room is a mess! Well, I have some stuff to do now.

-I was out! - Oh, before you go, what time do you want to meet tomorrow?
Complaint / Denial Degreeting / Degreeting

-It’s ten minutes past the hour? -Can I have some sugar?
-I’m sorry, my car broke down. -Sure.
Complaint / Apology Request / Grant

• Wow! So soon?
Exercise 4
• Identify the discourse markers and explain the • Wow, surprise
role they have. • OK, I'll do the database.
CONTEXT: We want to launch our web site by
Thursday. • Ok, acceptance
• Also, we need to optimize the site's speed. • So! What you are saying is that we have to
• Also, adding have everything ready by then.
• So… what needs to be done before that • Grabbing attention, my turn to speak
time? (=um…)
• So…, hesitation • Admittedly, he thinks it's better to be ready
• Okay, then you want all the details settled by before the weekend.
Wednesday midnight. • Admittedly, conceding
• Okay, summarising

3. I think he should be acquitted. …………………… he

Exercise 5 is too young to know the difference between
right and wrong.
• Choose the correct discourse marker: After all, Well, Honestly, I suppose
1. ……………………… nurses are overworked and After all
underpaid.
4. The man was sleeping soundly on the river bank.
In particular, Broadly speaking, For instance, Except …………………… a crocodile was creeping closer.
for
Despite this, As a result, Meanwhile, By contrast
Broadly speaking
2. I don’t believe in ghosts. …………………….. I haven’t
Meanwhile
seen one yet. 5. The child didn’t get any medical attention.
Thus, At least, In other words, That is to say ……………………, she died soon after.
At least Despite this, As a result, In this case, In spite of this
As a result

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Exercise 7
• Break down the following classroom conversation into
Exercise 6 exchanges. Use // to mark the boundaries between exchanges.

• Write down two three-part exchanges that T: Let's just have a look at these things here. Can you tell me first of
all what's this?
might occur in every-day conversation. P: Paper.
T: Piece of paper, yes. And hands up. What cutter will cut this?
P: The pair of scissors.
T: The pair of scissors, yes. Here we are the pair of scissors. And as
you can see it's going to cut the paper. Tell me what's this?
P: Cigarette box.
T: Yes. What's it made from?
P: Cardboard.
T: Cardboard yes. What will cut the cardboard?
P: Scissors.
T: Scissors yes. Here we are. The scissors is cutting the cardboard.

The Cooperative Principle

Conversational implicature
The ‘rules ‘ of conversation were first formulated by the Grice argues that although speakers, usually choose
Paul Grice (1975) as the Cooperative Principle. This
to co-operate, they can also refuse to abide by that
states that we interpret the language on the
assumption that a speaker is obeying the four maxims principle, or, in other words, flout it.
(known as Grice’s Maxims) of: If a maxim is deliberately broken, it is normally done
so to achieve a very specific effect and communicate
1 QUALITY (BEING TRUE) a specific meaning, known as a conversational
2 QUANTITY (BEING BRIEF) implicature, in other words, the special meaning
3 RELATION (BEING RELEVANT) created when a maxim is flouted.
4 MANNER (BEING CLEAR)

Which of the maxims is flouted? Is it

intentional or unintentional? What is
the implicature? 3. A: “So what color are you painting your house?”
B: “The walls are going to be off-white to contrast with the black sofa
1. A: “Would you like to go out with Beatrice?” and Regency aurmchairs that I inherited from my great-aunt. (Bless her
soul, she passed away last year after a long but distressing marriage to
B: “Is the Pope Catholic”? a man who really wasn’t able to appreciate her extraordinary love of
the visual and performing arts.) Then the trim will be peach except
Maxim of Relevance–Intentional near the door,which Alice said should be salmon because otherwise it
will clash with the yellow, black, and red Picasso print that I brought
back from Spain–I vacationed in Spain in August of, let’s see, 2002, and
I bought it then. Or was it July? I forget, actually, Gosh! Time goes fast,
2. A: “So tell me, do you like what I did to my don’t you think? Oh, never mind. And the stairway leading to the
bedrooms will be a pale yellow . . .”
hair? Maxim of Quantity–Unintentional
B: “Er . . . what’s on TV tonight?”
Maxim of Relevance–Intentional

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A: “Would you like to hear my rendition of

‘Feelings’?”
B: “Yes, of course. I’d love to.” *it’s actually the last
thing you want to hear] A: “How are your son and daughter doing?”
Maxim of Quality–Intentional B: “Cindy is in her second year of med school–she’s
doing fine.” *silence follows+
5. A: “Tony is one of the cheapest people I Maxim of Quantity-Intentional
know.”
B: “Yeah, he’s someone who never parts with a 7. A: I might win the lottery.
dime”
B: Yes, and pigs might fly.
Maxim of Quality–Intentional
Maxim of Quality, Maxim of Relevance–Intentional

8. A: “You’re soaked! It must be raining pretty hard outside.” 11. A: “Let’s stop and get something to eat. The kids must
B: “You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes.” be hungry.”
Maxim of Relevance, Maxim of Quality–Intentional B: “Okay, but not M-C-D-O-N-A-L-D-S.”
Maxim of Manner–Intentional
9. A: “Hmmmm, I thought I left my watch in my desk drawer
before I left for Spring Break.”
12. A: “Hey, Kenny! What are you reading?”
B: “Well I definitely didn’t take it. Absolutely not. There’s no way I
would take someone else’s property. Besides, I already have my own B: “A book.” *abrupt silence+
watch. And I would never steal from someone, never.” Maxim of Quantity–Intentional
Maxim of Quantity–Unintentional
13. A: “Kathy’s cooking tonight.”
10. A: “I wonder why Dave didn’t answer the phone. I know he’s
home.” B: “Better stock up on Alka Seltzer.”
B: “ER is on.” Maxim of Relevance–Intentional
Maxim of Relevance–Intentional
14. A: “So here we are–look up. That’s the Sear’s tower.”
B: “That’s an awfully small building!”
Maxim of Quality–Intentional

Suggested topics for further reading

• Backchannelling in everyday conversation
• Discourse markers in spoken interaction
• Common adjacency pairs
• Conversation analysis: three-part exchanges
• Conversation analysis: turn-taking
• Cooperative principle

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