1887
image of Tentative questioning turns and their responses

Abstract

Abstract

This conversation-analytic study takes as its focus one kind of adjacency pair, comprising a first pair-part that is a tentatively (i.e., provisionally and/or approximately) formulated questioning turn, and a second pair-part that supplies an answer (or sometimes a non-answer response). Such tentative questioning turns, through a range of turn design features, are routinely built to (1) relax the expectations for any particular mentioned candidate answer to be confirmed by the answerer, (2) display difficulties with finding an optimal wording of the question, (3) treat the prospective answerer as better placed for setting the terms in which the answer will be framed, and (4) defer to the prospective answerer some rights to shape the topic and/or action agenda. Qualitative and quantitative evidence is provided showing that answerers orient to this tentativeness by usually beginning to answer in overlap with the questioning turn. The answers themselves also attest that TQTs set only loose constraints for the response turn.

Available under the CC BY 4.0 license.
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1075/il.25006.per
2026-02-17
2026-03-17
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/10.1075/il.25006.per/il.25006.per.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1075/il.25006.per&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

References

  1. Chevalier, F., & Clift, R.
    (2008) Unfinished turns in French conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Clayman, S. & Heritage, J.
    (2002) Questioning presidents. Journal of Communication, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Couper-Kuhlen, E.
    (2012) Some truths and untruths about final intonation in conversational questions. InJ. P. de Ruiter (Ed.), Questions: Formal, Functional and Interactional Perspectives (pp.–). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. de Ruiter, J. P.
    (Ed.) (2012) Questions: Formal, Functional and Interactional Perspectives. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. De Stefani, E.
    (2021) Embodied responses to questions-in-progress. Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. de Vos, C., Torreira, F., & Levinson, S.
    (2015) Turn-timing in signed conversations. Frontiers in Psychology, , .
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Deppermann, A., Mondada, L., & Pekarek Doehler, S.
    (2021) Early responses: An introduction. Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Deppermann, A., & Schmidt, A.
    (2021) Micro-sequential coordination in early responses. Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Fónagy, I., & Bérard, E.
    (1973) Questions totales simples et implicatives en français parisien. InA. Grundstrom & P. Léon (Eds.), Interrogation et intonation (pp.–). Montreal: Didier.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Ford, C., & Thompson, S.
    (1996) Interactional units in conversation. InE. Ochs, E. Schegloff, & S. Thompson (Eds.), Interaction and Grammar (pp.–). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Hayano, K.
    (2013) Question design in conversation. InJ. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp.–). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Heinemann, T.
    (2006) `Will you or can’t you?’. Journal of Pragmatics, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Heritage, J.
    (2003) Designing questions and setting agendas in the news interview. InP. Glenn, C. LeBaron, & J. Mandelbaum (Eds.), Studies in Language and Social Interaction (pp.–). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. (2012) Epistemics in action. Research on Language and Social Interaction, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Heritage, J., & Raymond, G.
    (2012) Navigating epistemic landscapes. InJ. P. de Ruiter (Ed.), Questions: Formal, Functional and Interactional Perspectives (pp.–). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Jefferson, G.
    (1983) Notes on some orderlinesses of overlap onset. Tilburg Papers in Language and Literature, , –.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. (1990) List-construction as a task and resource. InG. Psathas (Ed.), Interaction Competence (pp.–). Washington: IIEMCA & University Press of America.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. (2004) Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. InG. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation Analysis: Studies from the First Generation (pp.–). Amsterdam: Benjamins.10.1075/pbns.125.02jef
    https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.125.02jef [Google Scholar]
  19. Kendrick, K., & Torreira, F.
    (2015) The timing and construction of preference. Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Koivisto, A.
    (2024) Enabling elaboration and offering candidate understandings. Contrastive Pragmatics, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Lerner, G.
    (2002) Turn-sharing. InC. Ford, B. Fox, & S. Thompson (Eds.), The Language of Turn and Sequence (pp.–). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Levinson, S., & Torreira, F.
    (2015) Timing in turn-taking and its implications for processing models of language. Frontiers in Psychology, , .
    [Google Scholar]
  23. Lindström, A.
    (1999) Language as social action. Uppsala: Uppsala University.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Linell, P., Hofvendahl, J., & Lindholm, C.
    (2003) Multi-unit questions in institutional interactions. Text, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Mondada, L.
    (2021) How early can embodied responses be?Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Mosegaard Hansen, M.-B.
    (2001) Syntax in interaction. Studies in Language, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Pekarek Doehler, S.
    (2021a) How grammar grows out of social interaction. Open Linguistics, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  28. (2021b) Word order affects response latency. Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  29. Persson, R.
    (2017a) Fill-in-the-blank questions in interaction. Research on Language and Social Interaction, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  30. (2017b) La prosodie comme ressource pour l’organisation de l’interaction. Revue Française de Linguistique Appliquée, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  31. Pomerantz, A.
    (1988) Offering a candidate answer. Communication Monographs, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  32. Portes, C., Bertrand, R., & Espesser, R.
    (2007) Contribution to a grammar of intonation in French. Nouveaux Cahiers de Linguistique Française, , –.
    [Google Scholar]
  33. Robinson, J.
    (2020) Revisiting preference organization in context. Research on Language and Social Interaction, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  34. Sacks, H.
    (1987) On the preferences for agreement and contiguity in sequences in conversation. InG. Button & J. Lee (Eds.), Talk and Social Organisation. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
    [Google Scholar]
  35. Sacks, H., Schegloff, E., & Jefferson, G.
    (1974) A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  36. Schegloff, E.
    (2007) Sequence Organization in Interaction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
    [Google Scholar]
  37. Selting, M.
    (2007) Lists as embedded structures and the prosody of list construction as an interactional resource. Journal of Pragmatics, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  38. Steensig, J., & Drew, P.
    (2008) Introduction: Questioning and affiliation/disaffiliation in interaction. Discourse Studies, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  39. Stivers, T., & Enfield, N.
    (2010) A coding scheme for question–response sequences in conversation. Journal of Pragmatics, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  40. Stivers, T., Enfield, N., Brown, P., Englert, C., Hayashi, M., Heinemann, T., Hoymann, G., Rossano, F., de Ruiter, J. P., Yoon, K.-E., & Levinson, S.
    (2009) Universals and cultural variation in turn-taking in conversation. PNAS, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  41. Stivers, T., Enfield, N., & Levinson, S.
    (Eds.) (2010) Question-Response Sequences in Conversation Across Ten Languages. [Special issue]. Journal of Pragmatics, ().
    [Google Scholar]
  42. Stivers, T., & Robinson, J.
    (2006) A preference for progressivity in interaction. Language in Society, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  43. Vatanen, A.
    (2018) Responding in early overlap. Research on Language and Social Interaction, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  44. Vatanen, A., Endo, T., & Yokomori, D.
    (2021) Cross-linguistic investigation of projection in overlapping agreements to assertions. Discourse Processes, (), –.
    [Google Scholar]
  45. Walker, G.
    (2013) Phonetics and prosody in conversation. InJ. Sidnell & T. Stivers (Eds.), The Handbook of Conversation Analysis (pp.–). Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1075/il.25006.per
Loading
/content/journals/10.1075/il.25006.per
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Research Article
Keywords: timing ; turn-taking ; overlap ; questions ; conversation analysis
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was successful
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error