Turn-initial position

Encyclopedia of Terminology for CA and IL: Turn-initial position
Author(s):	Aino Koivisto (University of Helsinki, Finland) (https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9380-5953)
To cite:	Koivisto, Aino. (2023). Turn-initial position. In Alexandra Gubina, Elliott M. Hoey & Chase Wesley Raymond (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Terminology for Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics. International Society for Conversation Analysis (ISCA). DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/QBGM7

Elements in turn-initial position have been broadly defined as ”any token or formulaic phrase that begins and prefaces a turn (and thus a TCU)” (Kim & Kuroshima 2013: 269). On a general level, elements in turn-initial position project the type and shape of the upcoming turn, and show how the turn relates to the previous talk (Heritage & Sorjonen 2018b; Kim & Kuroshima 2013; Schegloff 1987, 1996: 81–82). However, a distinction can be made between elements that begin a TCU (i.e. TCU constituents that project the turn type such as a wh-word for a question) and those beginning a turn (i.e. pre-beginning elements that only project the onset of a turn) (Kim & Kuroshima 2013; Schegloff 1996). Most of the research focuses on the latter. The studied elements include audible preparations for speech (Schegloff 1996), management of gestural, postural and gaze orientation (e.g. Deppermann 2013; Goodwin 1980, 2000; Keisanen & Rauniomaa 2012; Mondada 2007, 2009; Streeck 2009; Streeck & Hartge 1992), and syntactically non-integrated linguistic objects such as turn-initial particles (see Heritage 2013 for an overview).

In terms of action projection, turn-beginning can project what has been called ‘unmarked nextness’ in which the current speaker continues a sequence in a way that aligns with the expectations set by the previous turn (e.g., ‘Are you going to the movies’ → ‘Yes’) or, alternatively, they can index some kind of departure from that expectation (e.g., ‘Are you going to the movies’ → ‘Well I wasn’t planning to...’) (Heritage 2013). Turn-initial particles – such as English well (Heritage 2015) – are a key resource for indicating such departures (see chapters by Bolden 2018, Heritage 2018, Kim 2018, Mushin 2018, and Raymond 2018 in Heritage & Sorjonen 2018a).

Additional Related Entries:

• Discourse marker
• Multi-unit turn
• Preface
• Single-unit turn
• Turn-Constructional Unit (TCU)
• Turn-taking

Cited References:

Bolden, G. B. (2018). Nu-prefaced responses in Russian conversation. In J. Heritage & M.-L. Sorjonen (Eds.), Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages (pp. 23-58). John Benjamins.

Deppermann, A. (2013). Turn-design at turn-beginnings: Multimodal resources to deal with tasks of turn-construction in German. Journal of Pragmatics 46, 91–121.

Goodwin, C. (1980). Restarts, pauses, and the achievement of mutual gaze at turn-beginning. Sociological Inquiry, 50, 272–302.

Goodwin, C. (2000). Action and embodiment within situated human interaction. Journal of Pragmatics, 32, 1489–1522.

Heritage, J. (2013). Turn-initial position and some of its occupants. Journal of Pragmatics 57, 331–337.

Heritage, J. (2015). Well-prefaced turns in English conversation: A conversation analytic perspective. Journal of Pragmatics, 88, 88–104.

Heritage, J. (2018). Turn-initial particles in English: The cases of oh and well. In J. Heritage & M.-L. Sorjonen (Eds.), Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages (pp. 155-190). John Benjamins.

Heritage, J. & Sorjonen, M.-L. (2018a). Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages. John Benjamins.

Heritage, J. & Sorjonen, M.-L. (2018b). Introduction. Analyzing turn-initial particles. In J. Heritage & M.-L. Sorjonen (Eds.), Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages (pp. 1-22). John Benjamins.

Keisanen, T. & Rauniomaa, M. (2012). The organization of participation and contingency in pre-beginnings of requests sequences. Research on Language and Social Interaction, 45 (4), 323–351.

Kim, S. (2018). Two types of trouble with questions: A comparative perspective on turn-initial particles in Korean. In J. Heritage & M.-L. Sorjonen (Eds.), Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages (pp. 97-118). John Benjamins.

Kim, S. & Kuroshima, S. (2013). Turn-beginnings in interaction: An introduction. Journal of Pragmatics, 57, 267–273.

Mondada, L. (2007). Multimodal resources for turn-taking: pointing and the emergence of possible next speakers. Discourse Studies, 9, 194–225.

Mondada, L. (2009). Emergent focused interactions in public places: A systematic analysis of the multimodal achievement of a common interactional space. Journal of Pragmatics, 41, 1977–1997.

Mushin, I. (2018). Diverging from 'business as usual': Turn-initial gala in Garrwa. In J. Heritage & M.-L. Sorjonen (Eds.), Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages (pp. 119-154). John Benjamins.

Raymond, C. W. (2018). Bueno-, Pues-, and Bueno-Pues-Prefacing in Spanish Conversation. In J. Heritage & M.-L. Sorjonen (Eds.), Between Turn and Sequence: Turn-Initial Particles across Languages (pp. 59–96). John Benjamins.

Schegloff, E. A. (1987). Recycled turn beginnings: A precise repair mechanism in conversation’s turn-taking organization. In G. Button & J. R. E. Lee (Eds.), Talk and Social Organization (pp. 70–85). Multilingual Matters.

Schegloff, E. A. (1996). Turn organization: One intersection of grammar and interaction. In E. Ochs, E. A. Schegloff & S. A. Thompson (Eds.), Interaction and Grammar (pp. 52-133). Cambridge University Press.

Streeck, J., (2009). Forward-gesturing. Discourse Processes, 46, 161–179.

Streeck, J., & Hartge, U. (1992). Previews: gestures at the transition place. In P. Auer & A. di Luzio (Eds.), The Contextualization of Language (pp. 135–157). John Benjamins.

Additional References: