Blackwell Reference Online

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Speakers’ PRAGMATIC COMPETENCE includes the knowledge of who speaks when. Other things being equal, English shows a preference for avoidance of pauses and overlapping speech between turns. Turn-taking is highly structured and speakers signal when they are prepared to give up the floor, often ‘nominate’ the next speaker (verbally or non-verbally) and the next speaker can- nominate him- or herself simply by starting to speak. Some linguistic sequences are not complete without the participants taking turns ( adjacency pairs) , e.g. greetings, sequences of compliments-compliment responses. In problematic talk, an extra turn ( repair ) may occur, e.g. A: I want ice-cream. B: What? A: I said that I want ice-cream. ( 1987 ). Describing Language . Milton Keynes : Open University Press . [ Chapter 6. ]. ( 1974 ). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking in conversation . Language , 50 , 696 – 735 . ... log in or subscribe to read full text