Turn construction unit
A turn construction unit (TCU) is the fundamental segment of speech in a conversation, as analyzed in conversation analysis. The idea was introduced in (Sacks, Schegloff, & Jefferson 1974) and is meant to describe pieces of conversation which may comprise an entire turn. The end of a TCU, called a "transition relevance place" (TRP), marks a point where the turn may go to another speaker, or the present speaker may continue with another TCU. Turn construction unit. A turn construction unit (TCU) is a building component of a turn in a conversation. It is a unit of conversation  that completes a communicative act. Types. There are four types of TCU categorized by the roles they play in the utterance: Criteria. A general rule to identify a TCU would be to look for a possible completion in an ongoing utterance. There are three criteria to determine what constitutes a TCU: Scholars in the field of conversation analysis have debated over the relative significance of the above three criteria as signifiers of the end of an utterance. There are, however, no conclusive answer to the discussion, and one can classify a TCU as such when observing either one (or more ) of the above features. Transition relevance place. A transition relevance place (TRP) is a point of possible completion (or potential end) of an utterance (hence a TCU) where speaker change is a possible next action.