View source for Pre-pre

{{Infobox cite
| Authors = '''Nathalie Bauer''' (Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, Germany) (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8501-8079)
| To cite = Bauer, Nathalie. (2023). Pre-pre. In Alexandra Gubina, Elliott M. Hoey &amp; Chase Wesley Raymond (Eds.), ''Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics''. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA). DOI: [https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/F4W5N 10.17605/OSF.IO/F4W5N]
}}

'''Pre-pre''''s (short for '''preliminaries to preliminaries''') are a practice with which speakers project an action that is not to follow immediately but will be preceded by further preliminaries first (Schegloff 1980: 116, 1990: 61, 2007: 44). Thus, pre-pre’s “serve to exempt what directly follows them from being treated as ‘produced in its own right.’ They make room for, and mark, what follows them as ‘preliminary’” (Schegloff 1980: 116). They are referred to as “pre-pre’s” since they “are not only a preliminary to the announced-to-come action”, but also a preliminary to further preliminaries (Schegloff 2006: 150). The turn design of pre-pre’s usually provides criteria for recognizing the projected main action (Schegloff 2007: 44), as the following extract from Liddicoat (2007: 140) illustrates:

 (Liddicoat 2007: 140)
 
 01   Carol:  ->  Can I ask y'a question.
 02   Joe:        Yeah.
 03   Carol:      Yihknow Sally Smith? 
 04   Joe:        Yeah.
 05   Carol:      An yih know that she's changed jobs. 
 06   Joe:        yeah.
 07   Carol:      Well I want tuh get in touch with her but I don't know where   
 08               she is working now.
 09               do you have her phone number¿
 10   Joe:        I think so. just a moment while I check.

In this extract, the pre-pre in line 1 provides both interactional space for further preliminaries and information about the nature of the projected main action (cf. Schegloff 1980: 116). Pre-pre’s frequently appear in this form of “Can I X?” (also as “Let me X”), with the projected action explicitly specified by “X” (Schegloff 2007: 44; see also Hoey 2020). In their function of projecting an action that is not to follow imminently, speakers use pre-pre’s to prepare the recipient for the projected main action, for example, by providing background information or introducing key referents, as in the above example (Schegloff 1980: 115, 2007: 236). The structurally preferred response to a pre-pre is a '''[[Go-ahead|go-ahead]]''' in second position (Schegloff 2007: 44), as opposed to a '''[[Blocking|blocking]]''' response.

In specific sequential environments, pre-pre’s are also used to frame a subsequent, potentially delicate action as such and to introduce it accordingly (see Schegloff 1980: 149, on 'pre-delicates').  


'''Additional Related Entries''': 

* '''[[Pre-expansion (sequence)]]'''
* '''[[Blocking]]'''
* '''[[Preference]]'''
* '''[[Sequence]]'''
* '''[[Go-ahead]]'''


'''Cited References''':

Hoey, E. M. (2020). Self-authorizing action: On ''let me X'' in English social interaction. ''Language in Society'', 51, 95–118.	

Liddicoat, A. J. (2007). ''An Introduction to Conversation Analysis''. Continuum.

Schegloff, E. A. (1980). Preliminaries to Preliminaries: ‘Can I Ask You a Question?’. ''Sociological Inquiry'', 50, 104–52.

Schegloff, E. A. (2007). ''Sequence Organization: A Primer in Conversation Analysis (Volume 1)''. Cambridge University Press.


'''Additional References:''' 

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=== EMCA Wiki Bibliography items tagged with 'pre-pre' ===
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