Definition
A preface is an audible device, such as one of the following, used within a turn to put off a dispreferred response:
- Items like well
- Token agreement
- Indications of appreciation, apology, or qualification
- Self-repair
Examples
There are prefaces of token agreement, appreciation, self-repair, and so forth in the following sentence:
Sources 1
- Levinson 1983, 334–336