Openings

1. Openings

2. Openings in telephone conversations • Telephone openings in English have a regular format through which the beginning of conversation is achieved. • The basic format is: • Summons-answer • Identification work • Greetings • How are you? sequences

3. Summons-answer • The summons-answer sequence consists of the ringing of the telephone and the response hello. • The ringing works to attract the attention of an interlocutor and the hello response indicates that an interlocutor is available.

4. Identification • Telephone calls begin with differential access to information. • The caller knows both his/her own identity and the likely identity of the answerer. • The answerer knows only his/her identity and the identity of the caller is usually unknown. • It is important to confirm the identities of the parties in the conversation • The first possible place that identification work can be done is in the first caller’s turn.

5. Identification • Identification is achieved when one party recognizes the other. • Identifications are achieved through solution: • a recognitional source: the voice sample provided by the answerer in the answerer’s first turn, • a recognitional solution is the naming of the answerer by the caller.

6. Identification • Answers’ first turns provide a voice sample for recognition to callers. • Callers’ first turns provide a voice sample for recognition to answerers. • Greeting tokens imply recognition has been achieved.

7. Identification • There a preference for recognition by the other over self-identification in English. • Requests for a self-identification are not frequent. • Failure to recognise is usually prefaced by a pause or other devices delaying a request for recognition.

8. Identification • Problems of recognition may be performed through “try marked” recognitions. • In institutional contexts, voice recognition is not possible and explicit self-identification may be used.

9. Greetings • Greeting produced after recognition work function as conversation openers. • Greetings they serve to put the participants in the conversation into a state of ratified mutual participation.

10. ‘How are you?’ sequences • How are you? sequences are typically exchange sequences; once the first question is launched and answered, it is reciprocated.

11. ‘How are you?’ sequences • How are you? questions receive different responses: positive (e.g. terrific); negative (e.g. awful); neutral (e.g. okay) . • These have different sequential outcomes. • Neutral responses are closure relevant and are typically followed by talk on a next subject, a reciprocal how are you? or a sequence closing third. • Neutral responses pass up opportunities to talk. • Highly positive and negative answers to the question lead to sequence expansion and talk on the topic.

12. ‘How are you?’ sequences

13. Openings in face-to-face interaction • In face-to-face interaction the issues involved in opening a conversation are similar to those found in telephone openings, but • the resources are not exclusively limited to voices. • the ordering may be different

14. Openings in face-to-face interaction • Summons-answer and recognition • Some face-to-face interactions begin with a summons, e.g. knocking or ringing a doorbell. • Recognitional work may be done before the summons: participants can use sight to recognise others.

15. Openings in face-to-face interaction • Summons-answer and recognition • Sighting a potential interlocutor involves two actions. • it does the work of identifying someone as known and • it identifies the other as someone whom one wishes to greet. • Interaction cannot begin until mutual sighting has occurred. • If the participant is not aware of the potential interlocutor, a summons may be produced. • This summons can be verbal or non-verbal (e.g., waving a hand or a head gesture) ( • The response may also be verbal or non-verbal.

16. Openings in face-to-face interaction • A greeting sequence is the typical next activity once availability and identity have been established • This may involve non-verbal actions, such as handshakes or kisses, as well as verbal greeting tokens. • The greetings are also commonly followed by an exchange of how are you? sequences.