Lists as embedded structures and the prosody of list construction as an interactional resource
- After giving an overview of the treatment of lists in the literature, I describe lists in German talk-in- interaction. I show that, apart from the preference for three-part lists described by Jefferson (1990), lists are embedded in a larger three-component structure that the list is the middle part of. For lists proper, I suggest to differentiate between closed and open lists that are produced with different kinds of practices. It is the prosody that is used to suggest the list as made up of a closed or an open number of list items, irrespective of its syntactic embedding. I then concentrate on open lists, in particular their intonation. Open lists may be produced with different kinds of, albeit similar, intonation contours. But it is not so much the particular intonation contour that is constitutive of lists, but a variety of similar contours plus the repetition of the chosen contour for at least some or even all of the list items. Furthermore, intonation is deployed to suggest the interpretation of a potential final list item asAfter giving an overview of the treatment of lists in the literature, I describe lists in German talk-in- interaction. I show that, apart from the preference for three-part lists described by Jefferson (1990), lists are embedded in a larger three-component structure that the list is the middle part of. For lists proper, I suggest to differentiate between closed and open lists that are produced with different kinds of practices. It is the prosody that is used to suggest the list as made up of a closed or an open number of list items, irrespective of its syntactic embedding. I then concentrate on open lists, in particular their intonation. Open lists may be produced with different kinds of, albeit similar, intonation contours. But it is not so much the particular intonation contour that is constitutive of lists, but a variety of similar contours plus the repetition of the chosen contour for at least some or even all of the list items. Furthermore, intonation is deployed to suggest the interpretation of a potential final list item as either a designed list completer or as another designed item of the list. The design of this final list item as a completer or as another list item is used as a practice to signal the non-completion or completion of the list proper. But even after completing the list proper, the larger three-component structure also has to be closed in order to embed and accommodate the list into the surrounding sequential interaction. For the analysis of the practices of list construction I am concentrating on the role of prosody, especially intonation, giving evidence to show that intonation is indeed one of the methodically used constitutive cues that makes the production and structuring of lists recognizable for recipients.…
