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Article published In:
Pragmatics
Vol. 32:2 (2022) ► pp.246–273

“How was your day?”

Development of Interactional Competence located in Today Narrative sequences

ORCID logo | University of Macau
ORCID logo | University of Macau
Based on longitudinal conversation data between a father and child collected over the period of eighteen months, this study examines “today narrative” where the father asks the child “how was your day” when they meet after being apart during the day. The routine provides a recurrent sequential structure, which is both located within and itself occasions further talk. Examining the talk between this father and child longitudinally reveals how the initial sequential structure, where the child lists activities in short run-on sentences, goes through transformation and elaboration. Indices for development include the emergence of three-part structure in the child’s list construction, more details incorporated in the list, story prefaces, and the emergence of assessment response (or personal voice). The overall sequential organization of the routine moves from heavy reliance on the father’s questions to more volunteered talk by the child. This paper considers the generalizability of longitudinal conversation analytic data.
Keywords: longitudinal CA, Interactional Competence, today narrative, bilingual acquisition, list construction, parent-child interaction, assessment response, story prefaces
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Interactional Competence
  • 3.Longitudinal CA research on development of interactional competence
  • 4.Data and methods
  • 5.Analysis
  • 6.Providing candidate answers
  • 7.Emergence of three-partedness in list construction
  • 8.Providing more details, which leads to volunteering unsolicited stories
  • 9.Providing an assessment response
  • 10.Discussion
  • 11.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References
Available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial (CC BY-NC) 4.0 license.
Published online: 16 August 2021
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/prag.19043.kim
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