In search of missing pieces: reconstructing meaning via inference submission in conversation

Session: Repair across ModalitiesInternational audienceIn this presentation, we focus on conversational sequences where a participant submits an inference to interlocutors in search for confirmation, that is offering some ‘missing pieces’ (henceforth MPs) in order to clarify a previous trouble-source. This type of sequences has a repair-like sequence structure: it is other-initiated by a first turn displaying an inference based on previous talk, and makes a (dis)confirmation of the inference relevant in second position. Assembling the MPs in this way belongs to the actional domain of ‘articulating the unsaid’ (Bolden 2010), and features well-studied conversational objects such as candidate understandings (Heritage 1984) and candidate answers (Pomerantz 1988). Firstly, in our study, we investigate how inference submissions are sequentially linked to previous talk. We thus consider the sequential connection between the inference turn and the trouble-source, which relies on turn-initial particles (i.e. discourse markers) and semantic cues (e.g. expressing a consequence). Secondly, we focus on the formal characterization of initiating turns by considering their lexical and syntactical features. More precisely, we show that the link between previous talk and the MP-turn can be accomplished by repeats as well as by coreferent items. Two types of turns emerge from the data: on the one hand, turns partly repeating previous talk and substituting the problematic constituent by a ‘tentative MP’, and, on the other hand, turns presenting more directly a MP, without repeating. Finally, the main aim of inference turns being to bring light on particular pieces of information, it appears relevant to consider in detail their information packaging, which strongly relies on prosodic shape. In doing so, we show that the constituent indicating the MP presents a piece of information as ‘new’ (versus ‘given’). The study of this conversational environment, through both sequential and structural features, contributes to shed light to the co-construction of shared knowledge in interaction.-- References -- BOLDEN G. (2010). 'Articulating the unsaid' via and-prefaced formulations of others’ talk. Discourse Studies, 12(1), 5-32. HERITAGE J. (1984). A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement. In J. Atkinson & J. Heritage (Eds), Structures of Social Action. Cambridge: CUP, 299-345. POMERANTZ A. (1988). Offering a candidate answer: An information seeking strategy. Communication Monographs, 55(4), 360-373