The Japanese response token Hee for registering the achievement of epistemic coherence

This article employs conversation analysis to explore the use of the ubiquitous non-lexical response token Hee by recipients in informing sequences in Japanese for the embodiment of epistemic stance. An examination of the sequential contexts in which Hee is featured suggests that the token may be deployed by recipients to register the achievement of 'epistemic coherence'-namely, that the newly acquired information is seen to be coherent in relation to information available from other sources of cognition, such as one's pre-existing knowledge, presuppositions, orientations or reasoning. This is demonstrated primarily through scrutiny of the public display of cognitive processes culminating in the production of Hee. Some deviant cases are considered, in which informants treat recipients' production of Hee to be premature or non-transparent, thereby reinforcing the notion that the production and reception of response tokens such as Hee are collaborative, interactional achievements.