Conversation Analysis

Example 1

For example, in the following case, Ann's turn in line 1 is treated as an invitation by a response that 'accepts' it:

If, by contrast, Barbara had responded with an apology and an excuse:

Ann: Why don't you come and see me sometimes.
Bar: I'm sorry. I've been terribly tied up lately.

then it would have been apparent that Barbara had understood Ann's initial utterance as a complaint rather than an invitation (Heritage, 1984).

These two understandings are built into the design of the two different responses. They are apparent to observers but, and this is the important point, they are apparent to the participants: however the sequence plays out, Ann will find from Barbara's response how Barabara understood her and that, Barbara has, or has not, understood her correctly.

We can take this analysis a step further by recognizing that at this point, Ann knows how Barbara understood her turn, but Barbara does not know whether she understood it correctly. Continuation of the sequence allows Barbara to make this judgment (Schegloff, 1992):

Ann's 'accepting' response to Barbara's acceptance confirms Barbara in her belief that she understood Ann correctly. But it could have gone otherwise:

In this second scenario, Barbara would see that her understanding of Ann's first turn at talk as an invitation was mistaken. Ann's response, which renews and indeed escalates her complaint, conveys that her original utterance was in fact intended to have been just that.