Observing naturally occurring talk-in-interaction in Japanese, this book examines how Japanese speakers segment their talk into relevant interactional units and use particles such as ne and sa to accomplish local pragmatic work. The study provides a conversation analytic, action-oriented account for the ubiquity of such particles in Japanese talk. The study argues that such particles are important resources for Japanese speakers to negotiate and fine-tune particular conversational contingencies within the emerging sequential environment of the talk. Various examples show that prospective alignment and the negotiability of conversational next action are ever-present issues for Japanese conversationalists and are handled at the precise moment of their relevance through interlocutors' deployment of ne and sa. This study thus adds to the literature on Japanese conversational interaction a novel understanding of particle use in its synthesis of functional linguistics and conversation analysis.

Table of contents

Acknowledgments xi–xii Transcript conventions xiii–xiv Abbreviations used in the interlinear gloss xv 1. Introduction 1–24 2. Review of previous research: Aspects of Japanese Particles 25–48 3. Interactionally-relevant units 49–93 4. Interactional particle Ne 95–151 5. Interactional particle Sa 153–209 6. Concluding remarks 211–222 References 223–236 Index 237–240

"Morita provides a most original analysis of how the Japanese particles ne and sa are used to explicitly mark the way in which the context of an utterance is attended to and constructed. Using actual conversations as data, she demonstrates how precise placement of these particles enables speakers to formulate the status of what is being said, their stance toward it, and to negotiate such issues with hearers in the midst of emerging utterances. This is a most original and important contribution to the analysis of how Japanese grammar and the organization of talk-in-interaction mutually shape each other." Charles Goodwin, UCLA