`Look'-prefaced turns in first and second position: launching, interceding and redirecting action

2007/06/01 by Jack Sidnell · 1 voice · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Psychology · #Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies #Discourse Analysis in Language Studies #Language, Metaphor, and Cognition

paper · doi:10.1177/1461445607076204

openalex publication_date 2007/06/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/06

Abstract

This article examines turns prefaced by `look'. Analysis indicates that `look'-prefaced turns in first position (e.g. a sequence initiating question) are used to launch (or relaunch) a course of action. In second position, prefacing by `look' serves to mark a disjunction and redirection of the talk away from the conditionally relevant next action and towards some alternative. Examples from recorded conversations and news interviews reveal participants' own orientation to these functions of `look'-prefaced turns. Moreover, comparison with turns prefaced by `listen', which also launch courses of action, suggests that `look'-prefaced turns have an intercessionary function.

Citations

• Constituting and maintaining activities across sequences:And-prefacing as a feature of question design

Cited by

• Vision verbs dominate in conversation across cultures, but the ranking of non-visual verbs varies

Discussions

• Another interesting remark in hindsight: "I haven't studied interaction until recently." Mentions 'Look' as a turn-initial attention-getter. #EMCA #IPRA2019 folk will know that this exact process is d [bsky, 0 points, 1 comments]