Conversation Analysis Literature Review
Turn taking is a principle which could rule who gets to speak in a conversation Wardaugh, 2006: 298. Through turn taking, the participants of the
conversation could manage the cooperation in conversation Cutting, 2002: 29. The first speaker of the conversation needs to give some time for the second
speaker to make a turn. When the participants give their turns to the other, they could take it for themselves or give it to other participant; those are called local
management system Yule, 1998: 72. Conversation usually runs smoothly because the participants try to
cooperate by understanding the local management system or a set of unwritten conventions in conversation. In understanding the structure of conversation,
Kasper and Blum-Kulka say that there are two aspects to be understood: mechanical aspect and linguistic aspect. The mechanical aspect could be presented
with turn taking, and linguistic aspect is presented with adjacency pairs 1993: 46. Furthermore, Levinson 1983: 303 describes that adjacency pairs is part of
local management organization in conversation. Adjacency pair is one of a sign
that conversation is locally managed or done without any conscious plan because the patterns of adjacency pairs could organize the conversational floor or turn, and
make the participants know what to expect from the response which follows what they are saying. Bloomer, Griffths, and Merrison argue that adjacency pairs are
related to turn-taking mechanism by the adjacency pair‘s rule; that is if one is
finished in producing the first part of adjacency pairs, then one should stop talking and gives opportunity for the next speaker to produce the second part 2005: 62.
Thus, adjacency pairs help the participants to know when the other participants‘
floors are ended and when their floors are started. It also assures that there will be
next turn in the conversation Wardaugh, 2006: 298.