Article published In: Pragmatics: Online-First Articles
Nuanced elaboration as alignment reworking
Turn-final but in post-response design
Published online: 29 October 2026
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19009.hat
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19009.hat
Abstract
Alignment is not always settled when a response first becomes available. Speakers may produce an initially
‘good-enough’ response that makes progression relevant, even though its uptake remains under-specified as the sequence unfolds.
One post-response elaboration format ends with English turn-final but, re-specifying the response’s import for
the emerging trajectory and often followed by silence. This post-but silence provides a juncture that can be
treated as open-ended: participants may move on, pursue further specification, or let the talk lapse. Drawing on twenty-five
instances from approximately sixty-seven hours of interaction, this paper shows how alignment is reworked through these
but-ending elaborations. The findings contribute to conversation-analytic accounts of alignment as an
accomplishment achieved across turns rather than a single-turn outcome, and to research on turn-final but.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background
- 2.1Non-binarity in alignment
- 2.2Turn-final conjunctions and contingent completion
- 2.3The scope of this study
- 3.Data
- 4.Immediate post-response elaboration
- 5.Uptake-related/contingent nuanced elaboration
- 5.1Elaboration following recipient uptake rendering the prior response insufficient
- 5.2Elaboration following recipient doubt or stance trouble
- 5.3Elaboration following recipient assessment of informing
- 5.4Elaboration in the absence of recipient uptake: Stepwise transition and competitive expansion
- 5.5Notes on a hybrid elaboration design: Turn-initial well and turn-final but
- 6.Discussion
- 6.1Nuanced elaboration and alignment reworking
- 6.2Final but
- 6.3Embodiment and post-but silences: A methodological note
- 7.Concluding remarks
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
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