Abstract for Word Repeats as Unit Ends

Turns-at-talk are fundamental units of 
participation in talk-in-interaction, and 
turn-constructional units (TCUs) are the basic 
building blocks for turns. Possible completion of
a TCU is, in principle, the possible completion 
of the turn, but multi-unit turns are not 
uncommon, and participants have practices for 
constructing multi-unit turns and for recognizing
them in the course of their production. This 
article offers an account of one practice (and 
several of its variants) usable by speakers and 
recipients to convey and recognize the designed
completion of a multi-TCU turn and/or a multi- 
turn sequence in which ‘answering’ is being done:
returning to, or ‘re-using’, a word or phrase 
from the start of the turn or sequence, whether 
articulated by same or different speaker, whether
used to refer to same or different referents. 
This practice is one of the resources by which 
the overall structural organization of an 
interactional unit and its local realization are 
mutually realized.


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