In:Emergent Syntax for Conversation: Clausal patterns and the organization of action
Edited by Yael Maschler, Simona Pekarek Doehler, Jan Lindström and Leelo Keevallik
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 32] 2020
► pp. 25–54
Chapter 2Nel senso (che) in Italian conversation
Turn-taking, turn-maintaining and turn-yielding
Published online: 17 February 2020
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.32.02ste
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.32.02ste
Abstract
This chapter examines nel senso (che) ‘in the sense (that)’ in present-day conversational Italian.
Speakers can use the resource to start a turn, to extend a turn-in-progress, or to yield a turn to a next speaker. In TCU-beginnings,
it is describable as a projector construction, allowing speakers to display continuation of their turn (with a new
clause). When extending a turn with nel senso (che), speakers display orientation towards a potential problem of
understanding which they prevent by elaborating on their prior talk. In turn- and TCU-initial positions, both nel senso
che and nel senso are observed; in turn-final positions only the latter format occurs. The chapter
analyzes the syntactic, prosodic, embodied, and praxeological corollaries of the resource.
Keywords: turn position, projector construction, Italian, syntax
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Previous studies
- 3.Data and method
- 4.Turn-initial nel senso (che) in responsive actions
- 5.Nel senso (che) and turn-construction
- 5.1Turn-extensions after other-speaker’s talk
- 5.2Turns-in-progress
- 5.2.1Elaborating on a previous action
- 5.2.2Initiating a new action
- 5.3Self-repair
- 6.Turn-yielding
- 7.Discussion and conclusion
Notes References
References (45)
Auer, P. (1996). On the prosody and syntax of turn-continuations. In E. Couper-Kuhlen, & M. Selting (Eds.), Prosody in conversation (pp. 57–100). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Bazzanella, C. (1990). Phatic connectives as interactional cues in contemporary spoken Italian. Journal of Pragmatics 14, 629–647.
(1994). Le facce del parlare: Un approccio pragmatico all’italiano parlato. Scandicci: La Nuova Italia.
(2006). Discourse markers in Italian: Towards a ‘compositional’ meaning. In K. Fischer (Ed.), Approaches to discourse particles (pp. 449–464), Amsterdam: Elsevier.
Couper-Kuhlen, E. (2012). Turn continuation and clause combinations. Discourse Processes 49, 273–299.
Couper-Kuhlen, E., & Selting, M. (2018). Interactional linguistics: Studying language in social interaction. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Dal Negro, S., & Fiorentini, I. (2014). Reformulation in bilingual speech: Italian cioè in German and Ladin. Journal of Pragmatics 35, 1069–1093.
Deppermann, A., & De Stefani, E. (2019). Defining in talk-in-interaction: Recipient-design through negative definitional components. Journal of Pragmatics 140, 140–155.
De Stefani, E. (2016). ‘Niente’ nel parlato conversazionale: Pratiche interazionali e processi di grammaticalizzazione di un segnale
discorsivo. Zeitschrift für romanische Philologie 132(1), 206–231.
De Stefani, E. & Horlacher, A.-S. (2008). Topical and sequential backlinking in a French phone-in program: Turn shapes and sequential
placements. Pragmatics 18(3), 381–406.
Fiorentini, I. & Sansò, A. (2017). Reformulation markers and their functions: Two case studies from Italian. Journal of Pragmatics 120, 54–72.
Goodwin, C. (1979). The interactive construction of a sentence in natural conversation. In G. Psathas (Ed.), Everyday language: Studies in ethnomethodology (pp. 97–121). New York: Irvington Publishers.
Günthner, S. (2011). ‘N be that’-constructions in everyday German conversation: A reanalysis of ‘die Sache ist/das Ding ist’ (‘the thing
is’)-clauses as projector phrases. In R. Laury, & R. Suzuki (Eds.), Subordination in conversation (pp. 11–36). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Heritage, J. (1984). A change-of-state token and aspects of its sequential placement. In J. M. Atkinson, & J. Heritage (Eds.), Structures of social action: Studies in conversation analysis (pp. 299–345). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Jefferson, G. (1972). Side sequences. In D. Sudnow (Ed.), Studies in social interaction (pp. 294–338). New York: The Free Press.
(1983). On a failed hypothesis: ‘Conjunctionals’ as overlap-sensitive. Tilburg Papers in Language and Literature 28, 1–33.
(2004). Glossary of transcript symbols with an introduction. In G. H. Lerner (Ed.), Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation (pp. 13–31). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Kangasharju, H. (2002). Alignment in disagreement: Forming oppositional alliances in committee meetings. Journal of Pragmatics 34, 1447–1471.
Keevallik, L. (2003). From interaction to grammar: Estonian finite verb forms in conversation. Uppsala: Acta Universitatis Upsaliensis.
Koivisto, A. (2010). Discourse patterns for turn-final conjunctions. Journal of Pragmatics 44, 1254–1272.
Lee, Y.-A. (2006). Respecifying display questions: Interactional resources for language teaching. Tesol Quarterly 40(4), 691–713.
Lindström, J. (2006). Grammar in the service of interaction: Exploring turn organization in Swedish. Research on Language and Social Interaction 39(1), 81–117.
Local, J., & Kelly, J. (1986). Projection and ‘silences’: Notes on phonetic and conversational structure. Human Studies 9(2/3), 185–204.
Local, J., & Walker, G. (2004). Abrupt-joins as a resource for the production of multi-unit, multi-action turns. Journal of Pragmatics 36, 1375–1403.
Maynard, D. W. (2013). Defensive mechanisms: I-mean prefaced utterances in complaint and other conversational sequences. In M. Hayashi, G. Raymond, & J. Sidnell (Eds.), Conversational repair and human understanding (pp. 198–233). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Mondada, L. (2016). Conventions for multimodal transcription. [URL] [Link accessed April 24, 2019].
Ochs, E., Schegloff, E. A., & Thompson, S. A. (Eds.). (1996). Interaction and grammar. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ogden, R. (2001). Turn transition, creak and glottal stop in Finnish talk-in-interaction. Journal of the International Phonetic Association 31(1), 139–152.
Pekarek Doehler, S. (2011). Clause-combining and the sequencing of actions: Projector constructions in French talk-in-interaction. In R. Laury, & R. Suzuki (Eds.), Subordination in conversation (pp. 103–148). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
(2016). More than an epistemic hedge: French je sais pas ‘I don’t know’ as a resource for the sequential
organization of turns and actions. Journal of Pragmatics 106, 148–162.
Raymond, G. (2003). Grammar and social organization: Yes/no interrogatives and the structure of responding. American Sociological Review 68(6), 939–967.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. A., & Jefferson, G. (1974). A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking in conversation. Language 50(4), 696–735.
Schegloff, E. A. (1996). Turn organization: One intersection of grammar and interaction. In E. Ochs, E. A. Schegloff, & S. A. Thompson (Eds.), Interaction and grammar (pp. 52–133). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
(2016). Increments. In J. D. Robinson (Ed.), Accountability in social interaction (pp. 239–263). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
Selting, M. (1996). On the interplay of syntax and prosody in the constitution of turn-constructional units and turns in
conversation. Pragmatics 6(3), 371–388.
(2005). Syntax and prosody as methods for the construction and identification of turn-constructional units in
conversation. In A. Hakulinen, & M. Selting (Eds.), Syntax and lexis in conversation: Studies on the use of linguistic resources in talk-in-interaction (pp. 17–44). Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Selting, M., & Couper-Kuhlen, E. (2001). Studies in interactional linguistics. Amsterdam: Benjamins.
Stivers, T., & Rossano, G. (2010). Mobilizing response. Research on Language and Social Interaction 43(1), 3–31.
Stoenica, I. M., & Pekarek Doehler, S. (this volume). Relative-clause increments and the management of reference: A multimodal analysis of
French talk-in-interaction.
Thompson, S. A., & Couper-Kuhlen, E. (2005). The clause as a locus of grammar and interaction. Discourse Studies 7, 481–505.
Cited by (4)
Cited by four other publications
De Stefani, Elwys
2023. Displaying a negative stance by questioning meaning. Interactional Linguistics 3:1-2 ► pp. 40 ff.
Deppermann, Arnulf & Elwys De Stefani
Helmer, Henrike
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 december 2025. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.