The value of vale.

What is it about?

This study provides an analysis of the use of the Spanish conversational particle vale in the speech of Juan Pablo, a restaurant server of Ecuadorian descent working in a family market restaurant in Madrid. The data comprise 2 hours of self-recorded interactions with the clients, adding up to 29 service exchanges. The study follows a detailed turn-by-turn analysis of the interaction from two perspectives (interactional pragmatics and conversation analysis) and it incorporates ethnographic information (fieldwork observation, interviews) to supplement the understanding of the activities at the restaurant and Juan Pablo’s bidialectal speech._x000D_ By analysing the use and placement of vale during the activities in the restaurant (in particular, when welcoming clients, taking the order, and announcing the imminent delivery of delayed service), we describe the functions of vale and contrast its use to the alternatives produced when absent at comparable moments of talk. We also compare these uses to those described for English okay in similar studies._x000D_ We have found vale to occur when acknowledging the items ordered, marking through intonation whether an order is (in)complete or exceptional in some way; and when announcing imminent but currently unavailable or delayed service, soliciting understanding of a new timeline of events at the restaurant. We consider these uses of vale to contribute to the management and progress of the stages of the service in the market restaurant.

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