No abstract

The human ability to anticipate upcoming behavior not only enables smooth turn transitions but also makes early responses possible, as respondents use a variety of cues that provide for early projection of the type of action that is being performed. This article examines resources for projection in interaction in three unrelated languages-Finnish, Japanese, and Mandarin-in sequences where speakers make evaluative assertions on a topic. The focus is on independently agreeing responses initiated in early overlap. Our crosslinguistic analysis reveals that while projection based on the ongoing turnconstructional unit relies on language-specific grammatical constructions, projection based on the larger context seems to be less languagedependent. A crucial finding is that in the target sequences, stances taken toward the topic already during earlier talk, as well as other structural patterns, are among the resources that recipients use for projecting how and when the ongoing turn will end.

Agency refers to the capacity to act and act upon, to initiate and carry out actions either for their own sakes or to influence and affect others. The concept is often invoked in music studies, but the nature and types of actions and agents are defined differently in various research frameworks. This study integrates sociocultural and metaphorical approaches to investigate the interactions between work and performer agencies in the verbal communication and gestural exchanges that take place during ensemble rehearsal. The chapter begins with an overview of current theories of musical agency and traces their implications for research on ensemble music-making. Next, using conversational segments drawn from two empirical case studies of professional string quartets as illustrations, the chapter considers agential roles and ascriptions that are not accounted for in current paradigms. In closing, the chapter explores the theoretical implications of the research outcome and proposes a new critical perspective.

Speakers in conversation do not always produce utterances smoothly. Among the various ways of deferring utterance production, this chapter focuses on three kinds of self-addressed questions (SAQs) in Japanese conversation: nan-daroo ‘what would it be,’ nan-te-yuu-no ‘what do you call it,’ and nan-da-kke ‘what was it again.’ Through quantitative analyses, we argue that the SAQs should be treated as fixed expressions for marking the epistemic stance of the speaker. We then qualitatively examine how these SAQs are used in conversation and discuss that the use of the different types of SAQs, each of which indicates a specific type of trouble, contributes to the management of progressivity of the interaction and intersubjectivity between participants.