Extending the notion of pragmatic completion: The case of the responsive compound action unit

An important rule of turn taking is that, once a person gains the right to speak they are normally entitled to produce a single unit of talk, such as a single word, phrase, clause, or sentence. Conversation analysis has long recognized that, and attempted to describe how, this normal entitlement can be modified by pragmatic exigencies. Along these lines, this article demonstrates that a particular type of initiating action (referred to as a status inquiry) makes conditionally relevant a particular type of compound action unit (Lerner, 1991) that minimally contains two ordered pieces of information, each of which occupies at least one sentential unit. Data are audiotapes of 193 calls between one of five customer-service representatives and customers calling an electronics organization to check on the status of equipment that they have previously sent in for repair. This article contributes to our understanding of how pragmatic concerns can uniquely structure participants’ understandings of what constitutes a possibly complete ‘unit’ of talk, as well as ‘allowable’ places for speakership.

► We extend the conversation-analytic notion of pragmatic completion.
► We describe the structure of a responsive compound action unit.
► We analyze customer-service interactions.