In:OKAY across Languages: Toward a comparative approach to its use in talk-in-interaction
Edited by Emma Betz, Arnulf Deppermann, Lorenza Mondada and Marja-Leena Sorjonen
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 34] 2021
► pp. 175–204
Chapter 6Rising OKAY in third position in Danish
talk-in-interaction
Published online: 17 March 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.34.06sor
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.34.06sor
Abstract
Earlier investigations claim that there are two
OKAY types in Danish: okay1, with falling pitch,
occurring mainly in third position, indicating sufficient
understanding, and okay2, with rising pitch,
indicating so-far understanding and that a projected trajectory may
continue. We have examined 235 cases of OKAY used in contexts where
understanding is at issue, and it turns out that a substantial
number of okay2 tokens occur in
“okay1 environments,” that is, in third
position following answers to questions. Our analyses of these cases
reveal that in this environment, okay2 is used to
indicate (1) that the answer could or should be expanded, or (2)
that there are still unresolved matters that the answer did not deal
with in full.
Keywords: Danish, understanding, news receipt, sequence closing, continuer, question-answer sequences, tellings, pitch, intensity, stress
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Background: Danish OKAY
- 3.Data and method
- 4.Analysis
- 4.1Distribution of tokens across positions
- 4.2 Okay1 as a receipt in third position
- 4.3 Okay2 as a “continuer”
- 4.4 Okay2 indicating that an answer was the beginning of a telling
- 4.5 Okay2 dealing with other unresolved matters
- 5.Rising OKAY tokens as a way of keeping the interaction open
Acknowledgements Notes
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