On the Preference for Remembering: Acknowledging an Answer With Finnish Ai Nii(n) (“Oh That's Right”)

Abstract

This article identifies a phenomenon called “the preference for remembering.” This is conversationalists’ orientation to their epistemic responsibilities to remember and to take into account things from the past that are relevant to the here-and-now interactional moment. The focus is on the Finnish particle cluster ai nii(n) (“oh that's right”) that a speaker may use when they hear their recipient's answer to their question. Through ai nii(n), the speaker claims that she actually already had independent access to the information requested—but did not remember it until hearing the answer. The article will show that these claims of only-now-remembering are used as accounts for asking (what turn out to be) inapposite questions.

Acknowledgments

Several people have commented on the earlier versions of this article. I am deeply grateful to Trine Heinemann, Marja-Leena Sorjonen, John Heritage, and the two anonymous reviewers for their valuable input. My warm thanks also to the members of the FiDiPro project in the University of Helsinki (Ritva Laury, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen, Anna Vatanen, Mai Frick, Katariina Harjunpää, Saija Merke, and Heidi Vepsäläinen) for discussing this work with me. The research was conducted in the Centre of Excellence in Research on Intersubjectivity in Interaction, University of Helsinki, funded by the Academy of Finland (Project Number 250099).

Notes

¹However, asking something that one already knows may be used for strategic purposes such as challenging the recipient or making a complaint (Heinemann, 2009, p. 161).

²In most cases, the final n of the particle niin is not produced. That is why I will refer to the particle as nii from this point forward (see also Sorjonen, 2001, p. 32).

³I thank Marja-Leena Sorjonen for introducing this idea to me.

⁴The idea of the “specialized” meaning of ai nii is supported by the fact that Finnish has also other lexical resources for claiming realization. These include the particle cluster nii joo (see Sorjonen, 1996) and the interjection/sound object aa (see Koivisto, 2013). These items seem to lack the capacity of claiming recollection, or at least the source of realization is more opaque.

⁵Consider the following case of the English oh that's right (from Heritage, 1984b, p. 338):

	S: ´hhh So if you guys want a place tuh sta:y,
	(0.3)
	G: oh well thank you but you know we ha- yihknow Victor.
	S:-> ↑OH that's ↑RI:GHT.=
	G:=That's why we were going [(we)
	S:->           [I FERGOT. Completely.