LINGUIST List 24.3262
Tue Aug 13 2013
Diss: English, Discourse Analysis: Raclaw: 'Indexing Inferables and Organizational Shifts ...'
Editor for this issue: Xiyan Wang
<xiyanlinguistlist.org>
Date: 13-Aug-2013
From: Joshua Raclaw <raclaw
colorado.edu>
Subject: Indexing Inferables and Organizational Shifts: 'No'-prefaces in English conversation
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Institution: University of Colorado at Boulder
Program: Department of Linguistics
Dissertation Status: Completed
Degree Date: 2013
Author: Joshua Raclaw
Dissertation Title: Indexing Inferables and Organizational Shifts: 'No'-prefaces in English conversation
Dissertation URL:
http://www.academia.edu/4065145/Indexing_Inferables_and_Organizational_Shif
Linguistic Field(s):
Discourse Analysis
Subject Language(s):
English (eng)
Dissertation Director:
Barbara Fox
Cecilia Ford
Andrew Cowell
Karen Tracy
Kira Hall
Dissertation Abstract:
This dissertation uses conversation analysis to examine three
non-disagreeing functions of the token 'no' when it prefaces a turn at
talk. In the first function, 'no'-prefaces index and respond to an
inferential component of a prior turn. This practice entails a number of
sub-practices, in which speakers use 'no'-prefaced responses to deny
face-threatening actions produced through 'off-record' formulations,
display affiliation with a recipient by managing incongruent stance
displays, manage inferences regarding the speaker's epistemic stance or
rights, deny an inference conveyed through a prior polar question, or
produce a preferred response to delicate formulations that index a
recipient's accountability, blame, or guilt. In the second function,
'no'-prefaces mark a shift in how the turn is organized with regard to the
speaker's footing. In this practice, speakers employ 'no'-prefaced turns to
shift between non-serious and serious interactional frames, or
retroactively assert the serious footing of a prior utterance. In the third
function, 'no'-prefaces mark a shift in how the turn is organized with
regard to the surrounding talk. In this practice, 'no'-prefaced turns may
be used to mark a unit of talk as hearably 'misplaced', connect back to a
prior segment of talk, or close an extended telling sequence. As a study
situated within the framework of interactional linguistics, this
dissertation examines these functions of 'no'-prefaces in the context of
naturally-occurring English conversation.
Page Updated: 13-Aug-2013