Overlapping as final-item completion in Mandarin conversation
This study locates as its focus the site for the final item in a sentence-in-progress as a late but systematic
opportunity space for co-completing sentences by another speaker, and as a systematic site for brief overlaps. A second speaker
may supply a version of the final item as projected by the grammatical structure of the sentence-so-far in given contexts to offer
assistance for the searched-for final item upon the current speaker’s displayed delivery trouble, or to show an early recognition
of what the current turn is doing and what it takes for its completion in the absence of any display of delivery trouble. The
overlap in the first case may be ‘accidental’ when the first speaker is able to produce his/her own final item a moment later, or
it may be an ‘achieved’ early start in the second case. The same opportunity space may also be ‘exploited’. Final items proposed
by the second speaker may generate a local sequence where its acceptability becomes relevant. Post-overlap responses by the first
speaker often show acceptance, sometimes with qualification. We argue that overlapping final-item completion is a result of
speakers’ active participation and high involvement, and is motivated by the fundamental baseline of cooperation and collaboration
in human social interaction.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Overlapping and co-completion
- 3.Interactional functions of final-item completions produced in overlap
- 3.1Supplying the final item when it is due but absent
- 3.2Displaying understanding
- 3.3Opportunistic final-item co-completion
- 4.Post-overlap management in collaborative turn sequences
- 5.Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- Gloss symbols are
-
References