Glossary

5.3 Turn-taking and conversation analysis

4 min read•august 15, 2024

is the foundation of smooth conversations. It's how we know when to speak and when to listen. By following unspoken rules, we avoid talking over each other and keep the chat flowing.

digs into the nitty-gritty of how we talk. It looks at things like , interruptions, and how we respond to each other. Understanding these patterns helps us become better communicators.

Turn-taking in Conversation

Principles and Components

Top images from around the web for Principles and Components

  • TURN TAKING IN MATH TUTORIAL SESSION: A CONVERSATION ANALYSIS | Ekawati | Prosodi View original

    Is this image relevant?

  • Frontiers | Linguistic expressions of negative stances: A conversation analysis of turn-medial ... View original

    Is this image relevant?

  • TURN TAKING IN MATH TUTORIAL SESSION: A CONVERSATION ANALYSIS | Ekawati | Prosodi View original

    Is this image relevant?

1 of 3

Top images from around the web for Principles and Components

  • TURN TAKING IN MATH TUTORIAL SESSION: A CONVERSATION ANALYSIS | Ekawati | Prosodi View original

    Is this image relevant?

  • Frontiers | Linguistic expressions of negative stances: A conversation analysis of turn-medial ... View original

    Is this image relevant?

  • TURN TAKING IN MATH TUTORIAL SESSION: A CONVERSATION ANALYSIS | Ekawati | Prosodi View original

    Is this image relevant?

1 of 3
  • Turn-taking is a fundamental organizing principle of conversation that enables orderly verbal exchanges between participants
  • Involves the coordinated transfer of speakership from one participant to another
  • The turn constructional unit (TCU) is the basic building block of a conversational turn
    • Consists of linguistic elements such as sentences, clauses, or lexical items
    • TCUs have points of possible completion, known as transition-relevance places (TRPs), where speaker change may occur

Techniques and Challenges

  • Turn allocation techniques include current speaker selects next, self-selection, and continuation by the current speaker
    • These techniques are employed by participants to manage the orderly transition of turns
    • Examples: directly addressing the next speaker, starting to speak during a pause, or continuing to hold the floor
  • Overlaps and interruptions can occur during turn-taking, often at or near TRPs
    • Some overlaps are brief and resolved quickly, while others may lead to competition for the conversational floor
    • Interruptions can signal dominance, enthusiasm, or attempts to redirect the conversation
  • Participants use various verbal and non-verbal cues to signal their intentions and coordinate turn-taking effectively
    • Verbal cues include , pitch, and volume changes
    • Non-verbal cues include gaze, facial expressions, gestures, and body orientation

Patterns in Conversational Exchanges

Adjacency Pairs and Preference Organization

  • are paired utterances that are sequentially organized
    • Examples: question-answer, greeting-greeting, offer-acceptance/refusal
    • The production of a first pair part (e.g., a question) creates an expectation for a specific second pair part (e.g., an answer)
  • Preference organization refers to the structural features of conversational turns that display participants' orientations to certain actions as preferred or dispreferred
    • Preferred responses are typically immediate, direct, and align with the initial action
    • Dispreferred responses are often delayed, mitigated, or accompanied by explanations

Pre-sequences and Repair

  • Pre-sequences are preliminary exchanges that precede and prepare the ground for a main conversational action
    • Examples: pre-invitations ("Are you free tonight?"), pre-requests ("Can I ask you a favor?"), pre-announcements ("You won't believe what happened!")
    • They allow participants to gauge the likelihood of a favorable response and minimize the risk of rejection or misalignment
  • Repair is a conversational mechanism used to address problems in speaking, hearing, or understanding
    • Self-initiated repair involves the speaker modifying or correcting their own utterance
      • Often involves hesitation, cutoffs, or recycling of speech
      • Example: "I went to the store yesterday, I mean, the day before yesterday"
    • Other-initiated repair is typically initiated by the recipient through questions, clarification requests, or candidate understandings
      • Prompts the original speaker to provide a repair solution
      • Example: A: "I saw the new movie." B: "Which one?" A: "The action thriller with Tom Cruise."

Analyzing Real-life Interactions

Transcription and Sequential Organization

  • Conversation analysis relies on detailed transcriptions of naturally occurring interactions
    • Captures features such as overlaps, pauses, intonation, and non-verbal elements using specific notation symbols
    • Example: [overlapping speech], (0.5) for a 0.5-second pause, ↑ for rising intonation
  • Researchers focus on the sequential organization of turns when analyzing transcripts
    • Examine how each utterance is shaped by the preceding talk and how it shapes the subsequent interaction
    • Consider the specific language used by participants (word choice, grammatical structures, idiomatic expressions)
      • Reveals participants' orientations, stances, and social actions

Temporal Aspects and Recurrent Patterns

  • The analysis also considers the temporal aspects of the interaction
    • Timing of turns, length of pauses, speed of speech delivery
    • These elements can convey interactional meaning and participant alignment
  • Researchers examine multiple instances of similar interactional phenomena across different transcripts
    • Identify recurrent patterns, variations, and deviant cases
    • Enables a more comprehensive understanding of conversational practices
    • Example: analyzing multiple instances of request sequences to identify common strategies and variations

Turn-taking for Effective Communication

Coherence and Progressivity

  • Smooth turn-taking and adherence to conversational norms contribute to the overall coherence and progressivity of the interaction
    • Facilitates mutual understanding and alignment between participants
    • Ensures the conversation flows logically and stays on topic
  • Effective turn allocation and management allow participants to contribute to the conversation equitably
    • Ensures all parties have opportunities to express their thoughts, opinions, and concerns
    • Promotes active listening and balanced participation

Social Solidarity and Delicate Interactional Tasks

  • Adjacency pairs and preference organization help establish and maintain social solidarity
    • Promotes affiliative actions and minimizes face-threatening or disruptive moves
    • Example: responding to an invitation with enthusiasm rather than a blunt refusal
  • Proper use of pre-sequences enables participants to navigate delicate interactional tasks
    • Making requests, delivering news, or broaching sensitive topics
    • Gauges the receptiveness of interlocutors and avoids potential misunderstandings or rejection

Resolving Troubles and Signaling Difficulties

  • Timely and appropriate repair practices are crucial for resolving communicative troubles
    • Clarifies ambiguities and maintains a shared understanding of the ongoing interaction
    • Prevents breakdowns in communication and ensures the conversation stays on track
  • Deviations from typical turn-taking patterns or conversational structures can signal interactional difficulties
    • Extended gaps, overlaps, or dispreferred responses may indicate power imbalances, interpersonal tensions, or lack of engagement
    • Recognizing these deviations allows participants to address underlying issues and restore effective communication

Key Terms to Review (18)

Adjacency pairs: Adjacency pairs are conversational structures consisting of two sequential utterances where the first prompts a specific response from the second, creating a coherent interaction. This concept is essential for understanding turn-taking and conversation dynamics, as it highlights how participants in a dialogue respond to each other in predictable ways, ensuring that conversations flow logically.
Backchanneling: Backchanneling refers to the subtle, often non-verbal cues or verbal acknowledgments that listeners provide during a conversation to show attentiveness and engagement. These cues, such as nodding, 'uh-huh', or 'I see', serve as feedback for the speaker, indicating that their message is being understood and encouraging them to continue. This practice is a vital part of turn-taking and conversation dynamics, fostering a smoother flow in dialogue.
Context: Context refers to the circumstances, background, or setting in which communication occurs. It encompasses the physical, social, cultural, and temporal factors that influence how language is interpreted and understood. Understanding context is crucial for grasping the meaning behind speech acts and conversational dynamics.
Conversation analysis: Conversation analysis is a qualitative research method focused on the study of the structure and organization of conversation, examining how people communicate and take turns in dialogue. It investigates the ways in which social interaction is managed through verbal and non-verbal cues, emphasizing the importance of context, culture, and participant roles in shaping communication patterns. This approach sheds light on how language reflects social dynamics and power relations among individuals.
Cooperative Principle: The cooperative principle is a concept in pragmatics that suggests participants in a conversation typically work together to achieve effective communication. This principle is based on the idea that speakers and listeners adhere to certain conversational maxims, which facilitate understanding and meaningful interaction. These maxims, proposed by Paul Grice, include quantity, quality, relation, and manner, and they help guide how information is conveyed and interpreted in conversations.
Discourse Analysis: Discourse analysis is the study of how language is used in context, focusing on the structures and functions of spoken and written communication. It examines the ways in which language shapes and is shaped by social practices, revealing the intricate relationship between language and various aspects of culture, identity, power, and social interactions.
Emmanuel Schegloff: Emmanuel Schegloff is a prominent sociologist known for his contributions to conversation analysis, particularly regarding turn-taking in communication. His work emphasizes how participants in a conversation manage speaking turns, ensuring smooth interaction and understanding. Schegloff's research is foundational in studying how social order is produced through everyday talk, shedding light on the intricate mechanisms that govern human interaction.
Floor holding: Floor holding refers to a strategy used in conversations where a speaker maintains their turn to talk, despite potential interruptions or cues from others that they should yield the floor. This technique can involve the speaker using various verbal and non-verbal signals to assert their control over the conversation, allowing them to express their ideas fully before yielding the turn.
Harvey Sacks: Harvey Sacks was an influential sociologist best known for his work in conversation analysis, particularly regarding the mechanics of turn-taking in spoken interaction. His pioneering research laid the groundwork for understanding how people manage conversational exchanges, highlighting the social norms and structures that govern everyday communication.
Interruption: Interruption refers to the act of breaking into the flow of someone else's speech during a conversation. This can happen for various reasons, including eagerness to contribute, disagreement, or a need for clarification. Understanding interruptions is essential for analyzing the dynamics of turn-taking in conversations, as they can significantly impact the flow and structure of dialogue.
Intonation: Intonation refers to the variation in pitch while speaking, which helps convey meaning, emotion, and intention in spoken language. This vocal modulation plays a crucial role in communication, as it can indicate questions, statements, excitement, or uncertainty. Proper intonation is essential for effective turn-taking and helps listeners understand the speaker's intent.
Overlap: Overlap refers to the phenomenon in conversation where one speaker begins to talk before the previous speaker has finished their turn. This can happen naturally during informal discussions and is often seen as a way for speakers to show engagement and interest, while also maintaining the flow of dialogue. Understanding overlap is essential for analyzing turn-taking dynamics, as it can reveal social relationships and conversational strategies between participants.
Participant roles: Participant roles refer to the specific positions or functions that individuals take on during a conversation or interaction, influencing how they contribute to the dialogue. These roles can shift throughout the interaction based on factors like context, social dynamics, and the participants' relationships. Understanding participant roles is crucial for analyzing how conversations are structured and how meaning is constructed through interaction.
Pauses: Pauses are intentional breaks in speech that can convey various meanings and serve multiple functions in conversation. They can signal turn-taking, provide emphasis, create a sense of anticipation, or allow speakers to organize their thoughts. Understanding pauses is essential for analyzing how conversations flow and how people use vocal cues to enhance communication.
Politeness Theory: Politeness theory is a framework that examines how individuals manage social interactions by mitigating face-threatening acts and maintaining their self-image and the image of others in communication. It emphasizes the concept of 'face,' which refers to a person's self-esteem or social value, and how language use can either support or undermine it. This theory is vital for understanding how people navigate conversations, showing respect and consideration while managing differing social identities.
Transition Relevance Places: Transition relevance places are specific points in conversation where a speaker has the opportunity to take a turn or where a change in speaker is anticipated. These places are crucial for managing turn-taking in dialogue, as they signal to participants when it might be appropriate to interrupt or contribute, thereby facilitating smooth communication. Understanding these places is essential for analyzing conversational dynamics and the implicit rules governing discourse.
Turn Constructional Units: Turn constructional units are the basic building blocks of spoken conversation, defined as segments of talk that signify when a speaker has the opportunity to take a turn in interaction. These units help structure the flow of conversation, indicating boundaries between speakers and helping participants manage their contributions. Recognizing these units is essential for understanding how speakers negotiate meaning and maintain coherence during exchanges.
Turn-taking: Turn-taking is a fundamental aspect of spoken communication that refers to the way speakers and listeners manage the exchange of speaking turns during a conversation. It involves cues and conventions that signal when one person finishes speaking and another can begin, ensuring smooth and coherent interactions. Effective turn-taking is crucial for maintaining the flow of dialogue and fostering understanding between participants.
© 2024 Fiveable Inc. All rights reserved.
AP® and SAT® are trademarks registered by the College Board, which is not affiliated with, and does not endorse this website.
Back
Practice QuizGlossary
Practice QuizGlossary
Next guide