Can 会話 refer to a statement rather a conversation?


In this sentence from my textbook, 会話 is not referring to the dialog as a
whole but rather to a few sentences spoken by one of the sides in the
conversation:

> 相手の会話を聞いた後に「〜(な)んだ」を使って、キーワードを繰り返すと、「確認」していることを表すことができます。

> You can show someone that you understand them by repeating back to them the
> keywords of their statement along with んだ.

The definitions in my dictionary, and all the uses I've seen so far, refer to
the entire conversation, so I was surprised. Is it a common usage? Are there
dictionaries that mention this meaning?




I think this is a gray area. Strict people might say this use of 会話 is
questionable, but I wouldn't go so far as to say it's unnatural. Unlike 会話, 話
is clearly a loose word that can safely refer to both a long one (tale) and a
short one (comment, statement). So, if you're worried, 相手の **話** を聞いた後に or 相手の
**発言** を聞いた後に is safer in this situation.

(By the way, I think I've seen "her chat" refer to an individual statement. It
may have been questionable, but it made perfect sense in the context.)

