Conversational structures

Question 1

Typical adjacency pairs

Answer 1

• Greeting followed by greeting
• Question - answer
• Congratulations - thanks
• Apology - acceptance
• Leave-taking - Leave-taking

Question 2

Adjacency pairs

Answer 2

form the building blocks of conversations.

Failure to conform in this can result in conversational breakdown or speaker appearing rude.

Question 3

Discourse markers (adjacency pairs)

Answer 3

Act as signals to the listeners to change direction

E.g. ‘too right (1) so (.) shall we get that coffee now’

Question 4

Three-part exchange (adjacency pairs)

Answer 4

Speaker 1 - Question
Speaker 2 - Response
Speaker 3 - Feedback

Question 5

Ending conversation

Answer 5

Pre-closing followed by closing sequence