Truncated Intonation Units in English Conversation

Abstract

The prosodically-defined notion of the intonation unit (IU) has provided a new way of analyzing spoken discourse data. Chafe (1994) classifies IUs into three types: substantive, regulatory, and fragmentary. Among these, fragmentary IUs are truncated units which speakers break off before the completion of their projected intonation contour. The present research investigates the questions of in what contexts truncated IUs occur and what interactional factors are responsible for the occurrence of truncated IUs. Examination shows that major interactional factors responsible for the occurrence of truncated IUs are: (i) self-initiated repair, and (ii) overlapping of simultaneous speeches. It also shows that the outcomes of self-motivated truncated IUs are: (i) speakers perform an action of self-repair, doing a word search, recycling, repeating, or revising what they have said in the truncated IUs, and (ii) speakers abandon what they have said, and start a new intonation unit. In addition, this research shows that when overlapping occurs, current speaker dominantly stops his/her turn, and that overlapping is mainly motivated by next speaker's collaborative efforts, displaying affiliative attitudes. Finally, this research suggests that interaction-based research on truncated IUs in their sequential contexts can provide a new way of understanding discourse units and turn-constructional units in conversation.