Routledge Dictionary of Language and Linguistics
Engaging in talk implies that participants take turns. Various turn definitions exist. (a) A turn is determined by formal criteria, e.g. emphasizing the boundaries, i.e. a turn is delimited by pauses/silences, or it is identified as a syntactic unit, which allows for subsequent turn-taking. (b) A turn is determined by functional criteria, e.g. it coincides with at least one move (interchange); thus, back channel does not constitute a turn. (c) A turn is considered to be a turn-in-a-series, whose length and structure is determined interactively (recipient design, sequential organization, turn-taking); ideally, such a turn has a tripartite structure, as B’s answer to A: its first part establishes some relationship to the prior turn, its third part some relation to the following turn (cf. well and the tag question couldn’t I, respectively, in B’s utterance):
A: How can he get to the station?
B: Well, I could drive him, couldn’t I?
A: Oh, yes, please do.
References
Atkinson, J. and J.Heritage (eds) 1984. Structures of social action: studies in conversational analysis. Cambridge.
Boden, D. and D.Zimmermann (eds) 1991. Talk and social structure. Cambridge.
Edelsky, C. 1981. Who’s got the floor? LSoc 10.383–421.
Goodwin, C. 1981. Conversational organization: interaction between speakers and hearers. New York.
Goodwin, C. and J.Heritage. 1990. Conversation analysis. Annual Review of Anthropology 19.283–307.
Goodwin, M.H. 1990. He-said-she-said: talk as social organization among black children. Bloomington, IN.
Grimshaw, A.
1990. Conflict talk. New York.
Jaffe, J. & S.Feldstein. 1970. Rhythms of dialogue. New York.
Maynard, D. (ed.) 1987. Language and social interaction. Special issue of Social Psychology Quarterly 50.101–226.
Maynard, D. and S.Clayman. 1991. The diversity of ethnomethodology. Annual Review of Sociology 17.385–418.
Owen, M. 1981. Conversational units and the use of ‘well’. In P.Werth (ed.), Conversation and discourse. London. 99–116.
Sacks, H., E.A.Schegloff. and G.Jefferson. 1974. A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Lg 50.696–735.
Schegloff, E. 1979. The relevance of repair to syntax-for-conversation. In T.Givón (ed.), Syntax and semantics, vol. 12. Discourse and syntax. New York. 261–86.
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