Turn-Constructional Practice in Korean Conversation: Organization of Turn Increments

Abstract

This paper examines from a conversation analytic perspective various aspects of the interactional work performed by the turn-incrementing practice in Korean conversation. Turn increments are defined as bits of increments tagged onto the immediately prior turn segment that is recognizably complete as a turn. Turn increments are analyzed in terms of (i) their function of retroactively modulating the action of the prior turn unit geared to soliciting recipient uptake and (ii) their role in elaborating the elliptically constructed prior turn unit marking the general upshot and in achieving contiguity with the preceding turn. These interactional features of the turn-incrementing practice are further analyzed with reference to their bearing upon the subsequent context, i.e., in terms of how increments serve as a resource for constructing the next turn. The serial organization of increments is noted to manifest a pattern in which bits of 'clues' are offered in a step-wise fashion. The clue-like features of increments are sequentially exploited by speakers for addressing problems in talk, e.g., for deleting out the other speaker's turn raising a problem of hearing/understanding or for repairing a trouble source 'obliquely' by way of constructing the repair turn with a bit of information incremented on the trouble-source turn. In such contexts, increments are constituted as a minimal cue or a pointer with which the speaker leads the other speaker to grasp the solution to the problem.