Assessing Answers: Action Ascription in Third Position

Abstract

Although the adjacency pair is a basic unit of interactional structure, many sequences consist of three parts. This article is concerned with assessments used in third position to receive answers to inquiries. It argues that participants distinguish between two types of assessments: evaluative assessments and deontic assessments. By adopting a particular stance in third position, speakers not only display their understanding of what the answer was doing but can also actively ascribe an action to it. They thereby build and maintain the architecture of intersubjectivity. Data are in Dutch with English translations.