Analysing everyday conversation 135It will be noted that the acts which realize the heads of opening and
answering moves are related to the exchange in which these moves occur.
When the head of an opening move is realized by metastatement or conclusion,
and of an answering move by acquiesce, the exchange is Structuring. When
the same structural elements are realized by greeting and reply-greeting, or
by summons and reply-summons, the exchanges are Greet and Summon
respectively. It would have been possible to remove this sort of act—exchange
link only by creating three ‘pairs’ of moves instead of one; we preferred not
to complicate matters in this way.
It is further evident that the heads of opening and answering moves form
complementary pairs, such that the realization of one predicts that of the
other: a summons is followed by reply-summons and so on. Only reject is
common to all three exchanges.
4 Eliciting: inquire, neutral proposal, marked proposal, return, loop, prompt
Its function is to elicit information, a decision between ‘yes’ and ‘no’,
agreement, clarification or repetition, depending on which act realizes its
head. A further link between act and exchange exists here. The head of an
eliciting move in an Elicit or Re-initiation exchange may be realized by inquire,
neutral proposal or marked proposal; in the case of a Re-initiation exchange
only, it may also be realized by prompt. In a Clarify exchange the head is
realized by return only, and in a Repeat exchange by loop only. (We note that
this sort of act-exchange link is present in the 1975 description also.)
5 Informing: observation, informative, concur, confirm, qualify, reject
Its function is to offer information, or to supply an answer appropriate to
a preceding eliciting move (or inappropriate, if a reject is used). The head
of an informing move at I (Inform exchange) may be realized by observation
or informative. The head of an informing move at R/I or R (Elicit exchange)
may be realized by informative, concur, confirm, qualify or reject; in other
words the last four are always answers. This link between act and exchange,
which in this particular case can be expressed in terms of elements of
exchange structure, is an inevitable consequence of abandoning the one-to-
one correspondence between move and element of structure (see p. 124).
6 Acknowledging: terminate, receive, react, endorse, protest
Its function is to provide positive or negative follow-up, its nature and
polarity depending on which act realizes the head.
7 Directing: directive
Its function is to request an immediate or future action.
8 Behaving: behave
Its function is to supply an action, either in accordance with a preceding
directive (in which case if it has a pre-head this will be realized by starter
or receive) or in defiance of it (in which case the optional pre-head will be
realized by reject).