144 Advances in spoken discourse analysis
Example 14 act e.s move e.s exch
21 A: I mean you know it’s i h informin gI Inform
not (laugh) important
it’s
just er a peculiar physi-
cal fact that helium
yesterday was lighter
than air and today it’s
heavier
B: Really? m.pr h elicitin gR/I
A: Yeah (high key) conf h informin gR
isn’t that weird com post-h
Eliciting moves at I and R/I:
Example 15 act e.s move e.s exch
46 B: Sorry what was that? l h elicitin gIb Repeat
A: Can I—I’ll talk to you m.pr h elicitin gR/I
when I get there
B: Yeah (mid key) conc h informin gR
If the exchange is to have definable limits, however, there must be restrictions
on how these moves may be realized. We find Coulthard and Brazil’s rules
based on a distinction between e 1 , i 1 (seeking or asserting major information)
and e 2 , i 2 (seeking or asserting polarity) (Coulthard and Montgomery 1981:101)
unhelpful here, and we prefer to formulate the restrictions in terms of acts.
Basically we state that if there are two eliciting or two informing moves in
one exchange, their heads must be realized by different acts. (The only
exception is discussed below and exemplified in Example (18).) An Inform
exchange, for example, may begin with an informative and then have a
concur, confirm, qualify or reject realizing a later informing move head.
Example (14) above contains both an informative and a confirm. Similarly
an Elicit exchange beginning with, say, an inquire may also contain a neutral
or marked proposal. The following invented example illustrates the phenomenon:
Example 16 act e.s move e.s exch
A: (doing crossword inq h eliciting I Elicit
puzzle) What’s an ana-
gram of ‘clay paste’?
B: Could it be ‘catalepsy’? n.pr h elicitin gR/I
A: Yes that seems to fit conf h informin gR
Finally, a bound-Elicit exchange may have a return, loop or prompt realizing
the head of an eliciting move at Ib; a further eliciting move will be allowed
within the same exchange because its head will be realized by an inquire or
a neutral or marked proposal.
Example (15) above contains both a loop and a marked proposal. Examples
(14) and (15) above illustrate the most common occurrences of the structural