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Part of
Enabling Human Conduct: Studies of talk-in-interaction in honor of Emanuel A. Schegloff
Edited by Geoffrey Raymond, Gene H. Lerner and John Heritage
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 273] 2017
► pp. 145–166

Interactional uses of acknowledgment tokens

‘ung’ and ‘e’ as responses to multi-unit turns in Korean conversation

In this article we explore the situated meanings of two acknowledgment tokens, ung and e, in Korean conversations. We demonstrate how ung and e, which may seem interchangeable at first sight, can actually be deployed for distinct interactional functions by marking different interactional orientations the speaker has toward the turn-so-far. Specifically, ung is used as a typical continuer that treats the turn-so-far as an in-progress multi-unit turn, whereas e is used to provide the speaker’s appreciation which has been made relevant by the turn-so-far, e.g., in response to the prior assessment, the newsworthiness of the preceding talk, or particularly emphasized telling. This article thus adds evidence that acknowledgment tokens do not behave in interaction as an undifferentiated class.

Keywords: ung, e, acknowledgment tokens, response tokens, continuers, Korean, multi-unit turns
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Analysis
  • 3.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
  • Abbreviations
Published online: 24 May 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/pbns.273.08oh
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