Abstract
When a telling is properly initiated in talk-in-interaction, recipients are expected to align with the telling by withholding their utterances. As previous studies have noted, however, recipients actually produce a variety of utterances in mid-telling. Focusing on a previously undescribed class of such utterances, this paper describes how they are used to facilitate progress of telling. Starting with basic recipients' responses used to align with telling, I describe three recipient's methods for facilitating progress of telling: sustaining, prompting and promoting continuation. I also show that these methods are used so as to maximize the possibility of teller's self-continuation. In conclusion, I argue that in facilitating a telling, recipients' orientation to progressivity of the telling is stronger than their orientation to entitlement of the teller, and the latter is relaxed step by step until continuation is achieved.
