Syntactically incomplete turns as delicate actions— A way to manage interpersonal relationships.

This article investigates the use of syntactically incomplete turns (henceforth, SITs) to deliver two types of delicate actions, namely negatively assessing non-present third parties and teasing co-participants, in everyday interaction. Based on an examination of approximately 16 h of Mandarin face-to-face conversations, this study identifies the specific sequential environments that house these types of SITs and make the action(s) that these SITs accomplish become recognizable by recipients. Analysis also reveals that by abandoning the turns where the derogatory remarks or comments are due, the speakers orient to the criticism of others behind their back as well as the intentional provocation of the tease directed at co-participants as delicate. We argue that incompletion of a turn is not random, but systematically designed to manage interpersonal relationships between interlocutors. • SITs in our data are deployed to deliver two types of delicate actions in everyday Mandarin face-to-face conversation. • SITs are mobilized to negatively assess non-present third parties and jocularly tease co-participants. • In the first set of cases, the target TCU/turn forms the second pair part of the contrastive assessments. • In the second set of cases, the SITs is triggered by the tease recipient's overdone actions built through extended exchanges. • Not completing a turn is not random but designed to manage interpersonal relationships between the interlocutors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]