Latching/Rush-Through as a Turn-Holding Device and Its Functions in Retrospectively Oriented Pre-Emptive Turn Continuation: Findings from Mandarin Conversation

Abstract

This article offers an interactional account of turn continuations in Chinese conversation, which are characterized as (a) being effected by latching/rush-through, (b) being clauses with predicates, either main or adverbial, and (c) taking a retrospective orientation in the kind of interactional work they do. Close examination reveals that while, in general, these continuations provide explanation, specification, or elaboration, they serve to address aspects of immediate prior talk as deemed inadequate in given interactional/sequential contexts. Findings show that a turn's possible completion point is an organizationally consequential place around which one can indicate turn continuation, should the need come up later in the turn. A prime way to bid for turn continuation at this place is the use of prosody.

Notes

¹“Next bit of talk” includes the possibility that what follows a just-completed unit may not be a new unit, but an extension of that just-completed unit.

³Yuan's original utterance is produced in code mix: ta shuo research shi continuous work ‘he said research is continuous work’.

⁴While “rush-through” occurs within a same speaker's turn, “latching” can happen either between two turns by separate speakers or within a same speaker's turn. The study reported here addresses rush-through and the second type of latching (i.e., latching within a same speaker's turn).

⁶I thank one of the reviewers for clarifying my thoughts on latching and rush-through.

⁷Having an English flavor in one's Mandarin can be taken as a compliment for a Chinese in China, as ability in English is associated with one's education level and language competence.

⁹What Jiang has done through continuation may be taken as doing “face” work (i.e., saving Yuan's face if her initial pursuit of response has put him in a potentially face-threatening situation).

¹⁰Li and Yu are from the mainland, their hometowns being in the central part of China.

¹¹As Hong Kong borders Shenzhen, a common way to travel is by train. However, there is also ferry service to a more remote area in Shenzhen.