Adjacency PairsAdjacency Pairs（（相邻语对）相邻语对） Conversation•Anna-Brita Stenstrom defines conversation as a social activity involving two or more participants who talk about something (Stenstrom,1994). •Saks defines it as a string of at least two turns; or in other words, conversation is a sequence of utterances between two interlocutors (Coulthard, 1985). •Conversation means an activity where two or more people are talking something with each other for the purpose of socializing with others. •Conversation is usually preceded in an organized manner. An utterances produced by a certain speaker has to be responded by another utterance from another speaker.•Consequently, a proper conversational organization or structure will be created. Definition•Tsui defines adjacency pairs as a class of sequences of turns in which an utterance made by one speaker is responded by another utterance from another speaker•Adjacency pairs one of the most important parts in conversation analysis in which an utterance made by one speaker responded by another utterance from another speaker (Coulthard, 1985) •姜望琪（2003：221）认为，相邻语对是日常会话中的一种普遍现象。
有问有答”、“你有来言，我有去语”是说话人和听话人之间共同遵守的一条普遍规律. •The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics. Two successive utterances by different speakers, where the second is of a type required or expected by the first. E.g. a question followed by an answer; a greeting followed by a greeting in return. . Examples1.A: Hi, good morning → (Greeting) First pair part adjacency pairs B: Morning → (Greeting) Second pair part2.X: Have you done your homework? → (Question) First pair part adjacency pairs Y: Of course. → (Answer) Second pair part 3.A: Bill? → (attention) First pair part adjacency pairs B: What? → (reply) Second pair part4.A: Excuse me → (disturb) First pair part adjacency pairs B: Yes? → (response) Second pair part Features According to Sacks and Schegloff, adjacency pairs , which is the most important part of conversational structure, consist of two main parts: first pair parts and second pair parts (Coulthard, 1985). Sacks and Schegloff•Adjacent•Different speakers•Arrange in a first-second order•Corresponding (e.g. greeting—greeting; offer—acceptance) (Levinson，1983 ) Insertion sequence•e.g.A: Do you want the early flight? (=Q1)B: What time does it arrive? (=Q2)A: Nine forty. (=A2）B: Yeah-that’s great. (=A1）•The sequence take the form of Q1-Q2-A2-A1. The middle pair (Q2-A2) is called Insertion sequence. It is one adjacency pairs within another for clearer understanding. Why is there Insertion sequence?•Not the same anticipation•Unavailability of the immediate expected answer•Distance between what is expected and what is provided•Meaningful interpretation Preference Structure(偏好结构/组织） DialogueA: What does Tom do for a living?B: (a) He runs a factory. (b) Do you need to know? (c) I’ve no idea. You may ask David. (d) What’s that got to do with it? (e) He doesn’t. •The five different answers refers to the second part pair • preferred 偏好的/期待的 dispreferred 非偏好的/非期待的 （胡壮麟，1988） •the preferred is the structurally expected next act; the dispreferred is the structurally unexpected next act. (Yule,1996) General patternsFirst part Second part . Preferred Dispreferred .Assessment agree disagreeInvitation accept refuseOffer accept refuseProposal agree disagreeRequest accept refuse ( Levinson, 1983) Another examples（1） A：Could you put on the light for my room? B: Yeah. （索振羽, 2000）（2） A: If you’d like to come and visit a little while this morning，I’ll give you a cup of coffee. B: Hehh. Well, that’s very kind of you, I don’t think I can make it this morning. –uhm I’m running an ad in the paper and –and uh I have to stay near the phone. （姜望琪，2003）• （1）— preferred （2）—dispreferred The dispreferred(1) A: So chiropodists do hands I guess. B: Em—well— out there — they they mostly work on people’s feet. em (delay, indicating dispreferred) well (preface, appealing to the views of others) out there ( non-personal view) they-they (repetition, stumble) mostly (making less challenging to the claim in the first part) • the overall effect is that B is presenting having difficulty and is unwilling to have to say what is being stated. How to do a dispreferred examplesa.delay/hesitate pause; er; em; ahb.Preface well; ohc.Express doubt I’m not sured.Token Yes that’s great; I’d love toe.Apology what a pity; I’m sorryf.Mention obligation I must do sth.;g.Appeal for understanding you see; you knowh.Make it non-personal out there; everybody elsei.Use mitigators mostly; really …… (2) A: Come over for some coffee later. B: Oh—eh— I’d love to — but you see —I— I’m supposed to get this finished— you know. oh (preface) er (hesitation) you see ﹠you know (invoke understanding) I’m supposed to (obligation)•Without saying “no” → the expression of a refusal (a dispreferred second) （3）A: But I’m sure they’ll have a good food there. B: (1.6 seconds no response when he would have had to produce a dispreferred response) A: Hmm—I guess the food isn’t great. B: Nah—people mostly go for the music.•Non-response communicates that the speaker is not in a position to provide the preferred response.•Silence as a response is an extreme case, risking the impression of non-participation in the conversational structure. •Indicate sth. marked to express the dispreferred (polite principle) Conclusion•A dispreferred is more overwhelming than a preferred because more time and more language are used in a dispreferred than in a preferred.•Pragmatic perspective (e.g. an offer of in invitation) a preferred—closeness and quick connection a dispreferred—distance and lack of connection•Social perspective participants in a conversation who might try to avoid creating contexts for dispreferred can applying pre-subsequence instead of saying “no”. • the amount of talk in a particular conversation is a pragmatic indicator of the relative distance between the participants. 。