This article employs conversation analysis to investigate
the role of adverbials in Japanese talk-in-interaction for the
projection of further talk and some implications this has for
interactional styles. Through examination of naturally occurring
talk, it is first observed that a typical usage of adverbials
is in some position preceding the predicate, although they are
also appended as post-predicate additions. Second, when adverbials
are produced prior to a predicate, evidently they can strongly
project a forthcoming predicate within the particular interactional
context. Given the importance of predicates within Japanese
turns, adverbials have a major part to play, not only in assisting
participants to foreshadow a probable unfolding of an utterance,
but also to enable recipients to achieve early alignment with
emerging talk and to expedite the implementation of subsequent
actions. These features are shown to be a powerful resource
in the facilitation of seemingly implicit styles of
communication.