Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
In conversation analysis, the term (introduced by Schegloff) characterizes participants’ expectations with regard to the sequential organization of turns in conversations. The production of a token of an utterance type A establishes the expectation (or relevance) of a token of a particular type B by the next speaker. If B fails to occur, its absence will be noticed; for example, A may be repeated until B is provided. A and B may be parts of an adjacency pair or may be sequences as in mutual greetings (A) and the first topic (B).
References
Goffman, E. 1976. Replies and responses. LSoc 5. 257–313.
Grice, H. 1975. Logic and conversation. In P.Cole and J.Morgan (eds), Syntax and semantics, vol. 3: Speech acts. New York. 41–58.
Merritt, M.
1976. On questions following answers in service encounters. LSoc 5. 315–57.
Schegloff, E. 1968. Sequencing in conversational openings. AA 70.1075–95. (Repr. in J.J.Gumperz and D.Hymes (eds), Directions in sociolinguistics. New York, 1972. 346–80.)
Schegloff, E. and H.Sacks. 1973. Opening up closings. Semiotica 8. 289–327.
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