Glossary of Linguistic Terms

Account

Definition: 

An account is an explanation as to why a dispreferred second part is given as a response in an adjacency pair.

Discussion: 

An account is a frequent feature of dispreferred second parts.

Examples: 

(English)

B’s response I’m supervising here in the following adjacency pair is an account:

  • A: What about coming here on the way; or doesn’t that give you enough time?

  • B: Well no; I’m supervising here.

    •
    See Also: 
    Dispreferred Second Part
    Adjacency Pair
    Source: 
    Levinson 1983
    334–335

    This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library. Version 5.0 published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 2003.

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  • Account