ADJACENCY PAIRS

A Paper
Completed to Fulfil the Requirement of the Task of
“Data Analysis”

Presented by:
Achmad Alfarezi (1823042025)

Master of English Education Study Program

Faculty of Teacher Training and Education
University of Lampung
2019
A. Introduction
Communication is the way people send a message, information and news easily through a
spoken language that is understood by each other of people in society. Communication has
a variety of ways, and one of them is through oral communication or conversation.
Conversation could be something important in society and we need partner to conduct
conversation. Conversation can be found in many opportunities for example on talk show,
interview or another television show. The automatic patterns that found in the structure of
conversation could be called as Adjacency pairs. They constantly consist of the first part
and the second part, formed by dissimilar speakers.

B. Adjacency Pairs
Adjacency pairs are unit of conversation analysis that is composed by two speakers that
make a conversation which is first speaker will provide a question and second speaker will
respond it. According to Yule (1996), beside the different style, many speakers have their
own ways to make conversation. Most speakers seem to find a way to cope with the
everyday business of social interaction. They are certainly helped in this process by the
fact that there are many almost automatic patterns in the structure of conversation. Some
clear examples are the greetings and goodbyes shown in examples below [1-3]:
1. Anna : Hello. (first part)
Olaf : Hi. (second part)
2. Anna : How are you? (first part)
Olaf : Fine. (second part)
3. Anna : See you. (first part)
Olaf : Bye. (second part)
These automatic sequences are called adjacency pairs. They always consist of a first part
and a second part, produced by different speakers. The utterance of a first part
immediately creates an expectation of the utterance of a second part of the same pair.
Failure to produce the second part in response will be treated as a significant absence and
hence meaningful. There is substantial variation in the forms which are used to fill the slots
in adjacency pairs, as shown in [4], but there must always be two parts.
4. First Part Second Part
A: What's up? B: Nothing much.
A: How's it going? B: Just hanging in there.
A: How are things? B: The usual.
 A: How are you doing? B: Can't complain.
The examples in [4] are typically found in the opening sequences of a conversation.

C. Types of Adjacency Pairs

Several types and examples of adjacency pairs are show below:
1. Call-Response
Example:
Teacher : Harry! (first part)
Student : Yes, sir. (second part)
In dialogue above, the teacher calls his student, Harry. Harry gives a respond
immediately by saying “yes, sir” as a respond to teacher’s call.
2. Greeting-Greeting
Example:
Amy : Hello. (first part)
Jean : Hi. (second part)
Amy greets Jean by saying “Hello” and Jean answers with a greeting by saying “Hi”.
The second utterance by Jean regards as a respond to the first utterance by Amy. Jean
gives an answer as what Amy expected to cooperate in conversation.
3. Degreeting-Degreeting
Example:
Jay : See you. (first part)
Key : Yeah, see you later. (second part)
The second utterance by Key regards as a respond to the first utterance by Jay. Key
gives an answer as what Jay expected to discontinue the conversation. Both utterances
are relevant to each other.
4. Question-Answer
Example:
John : What time is it? (first part)
Mark : Three o’clock. (second part)
In dialogue above, John asks Mark about the current time. Mark gives an answer
immediately by saying “three o’clock” as a respond to John’s question “what time is
it?”. It is to show that Mark gives an exact answer without silence. Both utterances are
relevant to each other.
5. Telling-Accept
 Example:
Lucy : I’ve just finish my last exam. (first part)
Dean : That’s great. (second part)
In the example above, the first turn of the pair initiates some actions which can be seen
at the utterance “ I’ve just finish my last exam” and make the next action relevant as
seen on the utterance “That’s great”. Both utterances are relevant to each other.
6. Thanking-Response
Example:
Sam : Thank you. (first part)
Kim : You’re welcome. (second part)
In dialogue above, Kim gives a respond immediately by saying “you’re welcome” as
a respond to Sam’s utterance “thank you”. Both utterances are relevant to each other.
7. Request-Acceptance
Example:
Brooke : Could you help me with this? (first part)
Grace : Sure. (second part)
In dialogue above, Brooke asks for help to Grace. Grace gives an answer immediately
by saying “sure” as a respond to Brooke’s request “could you help me with this”. Both
utterances are relevant to each other.
8. Offer-Acceptance
Example:
Chaca : Would you like to visit the museum with me this evening?
(first part)
Rere : I’d love to. (second part)
In dialogue above, Chaca gives an offer to Rere to visit the museum together this
evening. Rere accepts the offer by saying “I’d love to”. Both utterances are relevant to
each other.
9. Complaint-Excuse
Example:
Peter : It’s so cold in here. (first part)
William : Oh, sorry, I’ll close the window. (second part)
In dialogue above, the first utterance by Peter shows about a complaint. William
responds to the first utterance by giving an excuse. Both utterances are relevant to each
other.
10. Inform-Acknowledge
Example:
Ben : Your phone is over there. (first part)
Will : I know. (second part)
In dialogue above, Ben gives information to Will that his phone is over there. Will
acknowledges if his phone is over there by saying “I know”. Both utterances are
relevant to each other.
11. Compliment-Acceptance
Example:
Mindy : I really like your new haircut. (first part)
Bailey : Oh, thanks. (second part)
In dialogue above, Mindy gives a compliment about Bailey’s new haircut. Bailey
accepts the compliment by saying “oh, thanks”. Both utterances are relevant to each
other.
 Types

Degreeting- Question- Telling- Thanking- Request- Offer- Inform- Compliment-

No. Data
Call- Greeting- Complaint-
Degreeting Answer Accept Response Acceptance Acceptance Acknowledge Acceptance
Response Greeting Excuse

“Sorry” he grunted
1
“Don’t be sorry”
“Why”
2 
“Funny stuff on the news”
“So?”
“Well, I just thought
3 maybe… it was something 
to do with…. you know….
her crowd”
“Their son… he’d be about
Dudley’s age now,
4 
wouldn’t he?”
“I Suppose so,”
“What’s his name again?
Howard isn’t it?”
5 
“Harry. Nasty, common
name.”
“Harry. Nasty, common
6 name. If you ask me.” 
“Oh, yes. I quite agree”
“How did you know it was
me”
7 “My dear professor, I have 
never seen a cat sit so
stiffly.”
“You’d be stiff if you’d
8 seen sitting on a brick wall 
all day”
 “All day? When you could
have been celebrating? I
must have passed a dozen
feasts and parties on my
way here.”
“You can’t blame them”
9 
“I know that”
“A what”
10 
“A lemon drop”
“I have never seen any
reason to be frightened of
11 
saying Voldemort’s name.”
“I know you haven’t”
“But you’re different.
Everyone knows you’re the
only one You-Know- oh,
all right, Voldemort,
was frightened of.”
12 
“You flatter me,” said
Dumbledore calmly.
“Voldemort had powers I
will never have.”
“What they’re saying,” she
pressed on, “is that last
night Voldemort turned up
in Godric’s
Hollow. He went to find the
Potters. The rumor is that
13 Lily and James Potter are 
— are — that
they’re — dead.”

Dumbledore bowed his

head. Professor
McGonagall gasped.
 “Lily and James… I can’t
believe it… I didn’t want to
believe it… Oh, Albus…”
14 
“I know… I know…” he
said heavily.
“It’s — it’s true?” faltered
Professor McGonagall.
“After all he’s done… all
the people he’s
killed… he couldn’t kill a
little boy? It’s just
astounding… of all the
15 
things to stop him… but
how in the name of heaven
did Harry survive?”

“We can only guess.” said

Dumbledore. “We may
never know.”
“And I don’t suppose
you’re going to tell me why
you’re
here, of all places?”
16 
“I’ve come to bring Harry
to his aunt and uncle.
They’re the only family he
has left now.”
“You don’t mean – you
can’t mean the people who
live here?” cried Professor
McGonagall,
jumping to her feet and
17 
pointing at number four.
“Dumbledore — you can’t.
I’ve been watching
them all day. You couldn’t
find two people who are
 less like us. And they’ve
got this son — I
saw him kicking his mother
all the way up the street,
screaming for sweets.
Harry Potter come
and live here!”

“It’s the best place for

him,” said Dumbledore
firmly. “His aunt and uncle
will be able to explain
everything to him when
he’s older. I’ve written
them a letter.”
“A letter?”
18 
“Exactly.”
“At last. And where did
you get that
motorcycle?”

“Borrowed it, Professor

19 Dumbledore, sir,” said the 
giant, climbing carefully
off the motorcycle
as he spoke. “Young Sirius
Black lent it to me. I’ve got
him, sir.”
“No problems, were there?”

“No, sir — house was

almost destroyed, but I got
20 him out all right before the 
Muggles started
swarmin’ around. He fell
asleep as we was flyin’
over Bristol.”
 “Couldn’t you do
something about it,
Dumbledore?”

“Even if I could, I
wouldn’t. Scars can come
21 in handy. I have one myself 
above my left knee that
is a perfect map of the
London Underground. Well
— give him here, Hagrid
— we’d better get
this over with.”
“Yeah,” said Hagrid in a
very muffled voice, "I best
get this bike away. G’night,
Professor
McGonagall — Professor
Dumbledore, sir.”
22 
Wiping his streaming
eyes on his jacket sleeve,
Hagrid swung himself onto
the motorcycle and
kicked the engine into life;
with a roar it rose into the
air and off into the night.
No. Types Number
Call-Response
Greeting-Greeting 1
Degreeting-Degreeting
Question-Answer 11
Telling-Accept 4
Thanking-Response
Request-Acceptance
Offer-Acceptance 1
Complaint-Excuse 1
Inform-Acknowledge 4
Compliment-Acceptance