Multimodal action formats for managing preference

Chais Pas ‘Dunno’ Plus Gaze Conduct in Dispreferred Responses to Questions

Bibliographic Data

ID7322248
AuthorsSimona Pekarek Doehler (0000-0002-3592-5076, University of Neuchâtel, corresponding author)
Year2022
Volume197
Pages81-99
Publication date2022-06-22
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Pragmatics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0378-2166 • E-ISSN: 1879-1387
PublisherElsevier BV (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1016/j.pragma.2022.05.010
OpenAlexW4283397714
LanguageEN
Citations received10
References cited38

This paper investigates speakers' use of the French epistemic expression je sais pas (JSP) 'I don't know' and its variants (e.g., chais pas 'dunno') in dispreferred responses to questions – i.e., responses that disagree or disalign with the terms set up by the prior speaker's action. Drawing on multimodal conversation analysis, I identify two distinct uses of the expression in the same sequential environment that systematically differ in terms of the respondent's gaze conduct and features of prosodic and morpho-phonological delivery: [JSP + gaze averted from recipient], comprising a semantically bleached and formally reduced JSP (chais pas), serves to project an incipient dispreferred response – JSP here works as a particle-like disagreement preface; [JSP + gaze on recipient], comprising a fully epistemic use that tends to be produced in fuller form (je sais pas), serves to accomplish a dispreferred response of the 'claiming lack of knowledge' type. The two multimodal assemblies hence represent two distinct social action formats, pertaining to two different practices involved in the management of preference organization. The findings deepen our knowledge of the type of turn-initial particles and of the multimodal practices pertaining to preference organization, and shed further light on how grammar and bodily conduct interface in social interaction

Action (physics · Cognitive psychology · Conversation · Conversation analysis · Expression (computer science · Gaze · Linguistics · Preference · Communication · Computer Science · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Linguistics and Discourse Analysis · Philosophy · Psychology · Social Psychology

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