ABSTRACT
Listeners’ participation and active listenership are expressed by using minimal response tokens by listeners. Listeners use different types of response tokens to participate in conversation and to help continue the smooth flow of conversation. This study explores various interactive functions of “khě” (ok) in everyday Pashto conversation by the native speakers of the language. This paper argues that “khě” is a multifunctional token which serves different functions in everyday Pashto conversation. In addition to being used as an acknowledgment token, it marks pre-shift and closure in a conversation. It is also used to make request and express surprise and threat. These functions depend upon the occurrence of response token “khě” in a sequential environment and prosody.
