Finding "Face" in the Preference Structures of Talk-in-Interaction

Abstract

This article connects the concept of face to interactionally characterizable locations in conversation and to a specific speaking practice used there. I consider the relevance of the self/other distinction for the organization of some action sequences in order to locate face concerns in interactional terms. In conversation, next speakers ordinarily begin speaking at or near a place where the current speaker could be finished. Occasionally, however, participants do not wait for the current speaker to finish, but complete the current turn themselves. One systematic basis for this relaxation of turn-taking practices is found in a preference organization for alternative actions in conversation. The anticipatory completion of speaking turn by another speaker can be used to preempt an emerging dispreferred action and change it into the alternative preferred action. This preference structure includes a preference for agreement over disagreement, a preference for self-correction over other-correction, and a preference far offers over requests. A recipient's anticipatory completion of an ongoing speaking turn is one conversational practice that makes possible a preference relationship between asymmetrical (i.e., differently valued) action types, and furnishes a basis for the recognizability offace concerns.