Chapter 13
Turn-initial voilà in closings in French
Reaffirming authority and responsibility over the
sequence
French has several ways of responding positively to a previous turn, such as oui, ouais, d’accord, tout à fait, exactement, bien sûr, voilà, etc. This chapter deals with voilà, offering a general overview of its uses in interaction before focusing on voilà in turn-initial position in closing environments. Analyses reveal that voilà is not equally used by all of the participants in social interaction, but rather by speakers whom the co-participants recognize as experts and/or responsible for the on-going activity. Stand-alone voilà achieves sequence closing in unproblematic ways and retrospectively asserts the speaker’s epistemic, organizational and moral authority over the sequence. By contrast, turn-initial voilà often occurs in a context where the co-participants disalign with the projected closing. The use of voilà addresses a possible emerging competition by further expanding the on-going action and thereby controlling possible next sequential slots. In these competitive contexts, stand-alone voilà and turn-initial voilà are used by speakers to re-affirm their authority over the sequence. Turn-initial voilà followed by a new turn constructional unit (TCU) orients to the possible progressivity of the activity, whereas turn-initial voilà with a continuation within the same TCU expands the on-going sequence and creates new opportunities for the co-participants to realign with it.
Article outline
- 1.
Introduction
- 1.1
Why voilà?
- 1.2Previous literature on voilà
- 1.3Data and focus of this study
- 2.Overview: Varieties of voilà
- 2.1Within the TCU, in self-repairs and word searches
- 2.2
At the end of unfinished turns
- 2.3At the end of complete turns
- 2.4At the completion of larger units, after other particles and
responding to no uptake
- 2.5As a response to requests for information and
confirmation
- 2.6At sequence completion, as a stand-alone particle
- 3.Turn-initial vs. stand-alone voilà in three
sequence closing environments
- 3.1
Voilà after a collaborative completion
- 3.1.1Stand-alone voilà
- 3.1.2
Voilà + repetition of the collaborative
contribution in the same prosodic unit
- 3.1.3
Voilà + partial repeat of the collaborative
contribution in a new TCU
- 3.2
Voilà after response tokens/acknowledgements by
the co-participants
- 3.2.1Stand-alone voilà after an
acknowledgment by the co-participant (oui,
d’accord)
- 3.2.2Turn-initial voilà followed by a new TCU
in a polemic environment: Moving to the next new
sequence
- 3.2.3Turn-initial voilà with a continuation
in the same TCU
- 3.3
Voilà after a competitive exchange
- 3.3.1Multiple stand-alone voilà in expanded
and delayed closings
- 3.3.2Turn-initial voilà in a context of
epistemic competition
- 4.Conclusion
-
Notes
-
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Cited by
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