Introducing English Linguistics

Usually I don’t

<$A> <#> <[> It is 
<$B> <#> <.>s word Usually I don’t stay up late
<,,> <#> in But it’s like if I’m up after midnight <#>
laugh<,> It’s just like
(SBCSAE)
A tries to get the floor back by overlapping the beginning three words of
one of B’s units: Usually I don’t. However, B does not yield the floor but
instead begins his unit again: Usually I don’t stay up late. This part of the
exchange reveals an important point about overlapping speech: overlaps
are, as Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974: 706) note, “common but brief.”
That is, the competition for the floor that overlaps create is usually
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INTRODUCING ENGLISH LINGUISTICS

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resolved fairly quickly, with either the current speaker keeping the floor
or a new speaker taking it over.
Not all overlaps, however, are attempts by a speaker to take the floor. On
two occasions in the excerpt below, B overlaps A’s speech with the inter-
jection Mhm:
<$A> <#> Turn on the fire alarm that would do it <#> These kids
<.>were came in and <,,> I was <,> like we’re closing <#> In a
few minutes they said well we’ll <#> We’ll wait until you kick us
out <#> Cause they didn’t really want to buy anything <{><[> they