Grammar in Everyday Talk Building Responsive Actions

• Main Authors: Thompson, Sandra A. (Author), Fox, Barbara A (Author), Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth (Author)
• Format: Manuscript Book
• Published: Cambridge, United Kingdom Cambridge University Press 2015
• Series: Studies in interactional sociolinguistics
• Subjects: English language > Grammar; English language > Usage; English language > Intonation; Conversation analysis; Speech acts (Linguistics); LANGUAGE ARTS & DISCIPLINES / Linguistics / General
• Online Access: Click Here to View Status and Holdings.
• Physical Description: xiv, 341 pages illustrations 23 cm
• Bibliography: Includes bibliographical references (pages 321-336) and index
• ISBN: 9781107031029

Drawing on everyday telephone and video interactions, this book surveys how English speakers use grammar to formulate responses in ordinary conversation. The authors show that speakers build their responses in a variety of ways: the responses can be longer or shorter, repetitive or not, and can be uttered with different intonational 'melodies'. Focusing on four sequence types: responses to questions ('What time are we leaving?' - 'Seven'), responses to informings ('The May Company are sure having a big sale' - 'Are they?'), responses to assessments ('Track walking is so boring. Even with headphones' - 'It is'), and responses to requests ('Please don't tell Adeline' - 'Oh no I won't say anything'), they argue that an interactional approach holds the key to explaining why some types of utterances in English conversation seem to have something 'missing' and others seem overly wordy.