Participant structure and the on-line production of discourse context

Abstract This paper presents the micro-analysis of one interrupted and unfinished Dutch 'sentence' that was heard in a popular Dutch Talk Show called 'Sonja op Zaterdag'.¹ It contains a self-correction that is produced as a change in 'footing' (Goffman 1979). The issue is raised whether the abandonment of the sentence-under-construction should be considered a random, 'performance' type phenomenon or whether it can be accounted for systematically in terms of discourse-level constraints on the interruptability of sentences (cf. Schegloff 1979). I will argue that the latter seems to be the case. Analyses of the data and hypothetical alternatives to it reveal that observed differences can be articulated in a dynamic discourse model in which utterances may themselves produce contextual updates (Polanyi and Scha 1983; Polanyi 1988; applied to classroom data by van Dam van Isselt 1993). It is suggested that the model should be extended to acknowledge 'defective' sentences.

Published online: 31 August 1995
https://doi.org/10.1075/avt.12.08dam