Spoken Speech and Conversation Analysis in Ancient Greek: A Study of εἶἑν in Plato's Dialogues

Abstract

This paper studies the uses of the interjection εἶἑν in the corpus platonicum with the help of the methodology of Conversation Analysis. An examination of the positioning of the turns hosting the interjection in the sequential organization of talk shows a trend: εἶἑν appears frequently in turn-initial position, in sequence-closing post-expansions. The high frequency of this use may explain the specialization and conventionalization of the interjection as a sequence-closing formula (leading to the opening of new a sequence) in talk-in-interaction and, less commonly, also in polyphonic contexts within monologic discourse.