Niemi2014

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Niemi2014
BibType ARTICLE
Key Niemi2014
Author(s) Jarkko Niemi
Title Two 'yeah but' formats in Finnish: The prior action engaging nii mut and the disengaging joo mut utterances
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, Conversation Analysis, disalignment, engagement, Finnish, responding, yeah but format, Interactional Linguistics
Publisher Elsevier B.V.
Year 2014
Language
City
Month
Journal Journal of Pragmatics
Volume 60
Number
Pages 54–74
URL Link
DOI 10.1016/j.pragma.2013.10.008
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
Series
Howpublished
Book title
Chapter

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Abstract

Finnish differs from English and some other languages in that it has two ‘yeah but’ formats, joo mut (‘yeah but’) and nii mut (‘yeah but’). Drawing on audio and videotaped talk-in-interaction between friends and relatives, and on conversation analysis as a method, I examine the extent to which these two formats share functions and to which extent they are used differently. This study argues that the basic difference between the two ‘yeah but’ formats in Finnish is that one disengages from the line of action that was projected by the prior speaker and one engages in it. The disengaging joo mut utterance implies that the participants’ perspectives on the topic are divergent. The speaker of a joo mut utterance thus excludes at least some part of the opinion or the viewpoint of the prior speaker from the on-going discussion and, in addition, often suggests a closure of the sequence. By contrast, the engaging nii mut utterance is used when the speakers share some overall action line. Furthermore, the speaker of a nii mut utterance implies that the opinion or the prior speaker's viewpoint is included in her/his own position and projects to expand the on-going sequence.

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