5. Preference Structure
According to Cutting 2002: 28-29, preference structure happens when the first part of the utterances creates the expectation of the second part. Basically,
if the first part is a request, the first speaker will usually expect that the second part would be an acceptance. Yet, not always second part will give the same
answer expected by the first speaker; as Levinson 1983: 307 says that not all second parts of adjacency pairs are equal with the first part. The second part of a
request could also be a refusal, but an acceptance would be more preferable rather than a refusal.
Preference structure has two kinds of response. It could be preferred or dispreferred Yule, 1998: 79. Preferred second turn is when the second turn or
part of adjacency pairs is the same as what the first speaker expected. Preferred second turn is felt more normal, more usual when uttered in a conversation. On
the other hand, there is dispreferred second turn which is usually avoided by the
speakers because it could threat other people‘s face. Dispreferred second turn in adjacency pairs happens when the utterances of the second speaker are not the
same as what the first speaker is expected to be the response. Cutting 2002: 30
adds that the dispreferred responses in conversation are usually in the form of refusal and disagreements. Furthermore, Levinson 1983: 307 explains that
dispreferred second turns have some characterizations:
a after delay; b with some preface which marks the dispreferred second turn, and
c with some reason of why dispreferred second could not be performed.
According to Levinson 1983: 336, there are general patterns of preference structure as presented in Table 1.
Table 1. The General Patterns of Preference Structure First Part
Second Part Preferred
Dispreferred
Assessment Agreement
Disagreement InvitationOffer
Acceptance Refusal
Blame Denial
Admission Question
Expected Answer Unexpected answer
Request Acceptance
Refusal
a. Types of Dispreferred Second Turns
As previously explained, Levinson 1983: 336 proposes the general patterns
of preference structure as follows: 1
Assessment – Disagreement
Heritage in Liddicoat, 2007: 118 states that assessment is a turn which provides a positive or negative evaluation. The preferred response of assessment
is an agreement and the dispreferred second turn of this first pair is a disagreement. Yule 1998: 80 offers an example of disagreement as follows:
Zelda : Katy Perry‘s new album is the greatest, don‘t you think?
James :
Uhm. I don’t really like her.
In this example, Zelda expresses her assessment about Katy Perry, a pop- singer. She thinks that her newest album is great and that she likes it. Yet, James
responds it with a dispreferred response. He says that he does not like Katy Perry,
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