Extended requesting: Interaction and collaboration in the production and specification of requests

Abstract This paper examines one of the main parts of an adjacency pair sequence, the first pair part. In conversation analysis, first pair parts have normally been described as actions occurring in a single turn or single turn constructional unit. The aim of this paper is to describe the nature of first pair part actions that are built over the course of a set of sequences. Using data from an airline service context, the analysis shows that requests are composed of several components and get constructed and completed piece by piece as those components are specified over a number of sequences. This type of request can thus be termed ‘extended’. In and through the sequences that are used to realize extended requests, the nature and content of a request are the object of collaborative interactional work. The party who ‘directs’ this collaboration is the object of negotiation across the requesting sequences.