Sequential ambiguity in telephone openings: ‘What are you doin’

Abstract

Near the beginning of many telephone conversations parties exchange initial inquiries and responses, such as: ‘How are you'?/'fine’. The present essay describes how speech acts in this initial inquiry slot signal and resolve problems. Previous research has demonstrated that some responses to initial inquiry act to premonitor problems. The present essay builds on these analyses beginning with data from telephone “call‐waiting.”; In call‐waiting, a recipient of a phone call puts one partner on hold to answer a second call. This second Caller is notified about the call‐waiting problem in response to the initial inquiry ‘What are you doin’. The Caller's inquiry, ‘What are you doin’, is shown to be sequentially ambiguous, and to provide an especially apt opportunity for notification of the call‐waiting problem. These analyses show how ambiguity may provide resources for problem resolution.