This chapter reports on two turn-initial particles in Spanish:
bueno and pues. While previous
research has equated both of these to
well-prefacing in English in that they project
“unexpectedness”, here the aim is to explicate the distinct
interactional work that each particle performs. Focusing on
responses to questions, I show that bueno-prefaced
responses do not overtly problematize the prior utterance, but
rather accept its terms before departing from them, and thereby
acquiesce to the prior turn’s design. Pues-prefaced
responses, by contrast, are directly addressed to the prior turn,
but they cast that prior turn’s action or design as problematic in
some way. I conclude by illustrating how these two uses are not
mutually exclusive by examining the compound preface
bueno-pues.
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