Chapter 11. Renewing a social action in US primary care

We consider a specific polar-interrogative offer by physicians (e.g., Is there something/anything else you’d like to address in the visit today?). We show that in one sequential context this interrogative obligates the production of a yes-/no-type answer, receiving one over 80% of the time. However, in a different sequential context, we show that the identical interrogative receives a yes-/no-type- answer less than 20% of the time. In this latter context it renews a social action implemented by a prior Wh-solicitation (e.g., What can I do for you?). We offer a characterization that makes our finding broadly applicable to a variety of contexts, begins to account for some of Geoffrey Raymond’s non-type-conforming cases, and hence refines his principle of type conformity. Our finding highlights the pervasive relevance of sequential context for the production and understanding of talk.