Turn Taking and Conversation:

A Study of Turn Taking and Conversation within Discourse Analysis

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Contents:
1- Turn Taking: Introduction
2- Cross-Cultural Turn Taking
3- Turn Taking and Gender
4- Turn Taking and Technology
5- Suggested Further Reading
6- Works Cited and Referenced
 
 
1 – Turn Taking: Introduction
 

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Conversation is not chaos.
 
From a very young age we are taught how to take turns: this helps shape conversations for the
rest of our lives (Coates 111).
 
Video of a baby already learning/displaying turn taking skills: http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=hKD6jzUxkek&feature=related
 
Turn taking is a cyclical process.  It begins with one person speaking, and continues as the
speaker gives up control to the next person.  The second speaker now has the conversational
floor.  When the speaker is finished, they give control back to another speaker (in this case, the
beginning speaker), thus creating a cycle.  The turn taking cycle stops when there is nothing left
to say (Woodburn, Arnott, Newell, and Procter 5).
 
 
Turn taking has two central aspects:  1) Frequency
                                                                2) Control of contribution
 
Frequency refers to the amount of turn taking within a conversation.  For example, a
conversation between two people has high frequency, and a lecture has low frequency, as show
in diagram A below (Woodburn, Arnott, Newell, and Procter 8).
 
 
Lecture                                                                                                   Conversation
 Low                                                    Medium                                 High
                                                                            
                                                A) Frequency of turn taking                                        
 
Diagram: (Woodburn, Arnott, Newell, and Procter 8).
 
The control of contribution refers to the amount of control a person has over what to say and
how much to say.  For example, a letter allows the person complete control over what is written
in the letter, which is known as a free for all. A religious ritual provides less control over what a
person can say therefore, it is seen as rule-dependent.  Diagram B below illustrates this point
(Woodburn, Arnott, Newell, and Procter 8).
 
 
                                                                                                                    Religious
Letter                                      Conversation                           mass/ritual  
Free for                                         Negotiated                                 Rule-dependent  
         all
                                         B) Degree of control of contribution
 
Diagram: (Woodburn, Arnott, Newell, and Procter 8).
 
What is a turn?
A turn is the essential factor within turn taking, which is attached to a speaker. Each speaker
takes turns within conversation.
 
What is a speaker?
A speaker is someone creating some sort of utterance or speech act directed towards an audience
of one or more people.
 
What is a conversation?
A conversation is a combination of organized utterances and turns, used with purpose among
speakers.
 
No gap, no overlap model:
This model refers to the notion that ideally when one speaker stops speaking, the other begins in
a predictable manner with no gaps or overlaps. In doing so, the listener interprets a variety of
cues from the speaker, including semantic and syntactic units, which enable them to take part in
smooth conversation (Coates 112).
 
This is an ideal model, but in reality it does not always go so easily…
 
 
The following is an example of both good and bad turn taking according to the no gap, no
overlap model (special attention to 4:30 where all turn taking rules are
forgotten) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0VhkPJM7WEQ
 
 
Conversation Violations:
 
 
Interruptions: When an interrupter inhibits the speaker from finishing their turn, viewed as a
turn taking violation (Coates 111). 
 
Overlaps: When the next speaker overlaps the first speaker’s turn; an anticipation before
speaker is finished. The first speaker is still able to finish their turn with the overlap (Coates
113).
 
Grabbing the floor: When a listener interrupts the current holder of the floor, thus taking over
(Coates 113).
 
Hogging the floor: When a speaker takes a long time on the floor and ignores others attempting
to take the floor (Coates 113)
 
Silence: Often a sign of turn taking violations, and can follow interruptions or when someone
hogs the floor for too long (Coates 122).
 
 
Turn Taking Tools:
 
Self Selection: When multiple people start to talk at the same time, and one person dominates
and selects his or herself as the next speaker (Johnstone 108)
 
Turn Taking Cues:
-When the current speaker asks a question it might be a cue for someone else to take over
- If the current speaker trails off, it could be a cue for someone else to take over
-If the speaker indicates that they are done speaking with a closing statement  ex. And so that’s
all…
-Marker words: but, so…, well…
(O’Grady and Archibald 480)
 
 
 
 
2 – Cross-cultural Turn Taking

http://www.ilchilee.org/2011/06/17/world-culture-festival-proves-power-of-peace/
 
"To have a second language is to have a second soul." –Charlemagne (Boroditsky 1)
 
What is culture? Some definitions…
 
Culture: the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age
group. (Dictionary.com)
 
Cross-cultural: involving or bridging the differences between cultures. (Dictionary.com)
 
Turn Taking and Culture
 
There are several different aspects taking place between conversational turn taking and culture.
Culture plays a significant role in conversation and whether the conversation succeeds or fails.
However, when people from multiple cultures engage in conversation it is very easy for
miscommunications and confusion to occur. (Boroditsky 1)
 
Similarities across culture…
-Avoidance of overlapping talk
-Minimal amounts of silence are preferred between speakers (ex. awkward silences)
-Speed of the listener’s response is important
 
Differences across culture…
-Turn taking cues are different in ordinary conversation across cultures.
-Many different body language cues
-Different gestures add to conversation (ex. hand usage in Italian)
-Different verb tenses are used for gender politeness and differences
-Honorifics are used in some cultural conversation (ex. Korean)
-Vowel and consonant systems (O’Grady and Archibald 292,294)
 
Political, cultural, social, historical and religious factors frequently interfere when determining
linguistic boundaries. (O’Grady and Archibald 287)
 

References
 
Boroditsky, L. “Lost in Translation.” Dow Jones & Company, Inc.Web. 18 Oct. 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703467304575383131592767
868.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
 
Coates, Jennifer. Women, Men and Language, 3rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson Education
Limited, 2004. Print.
 
Dictionary.com, "culture," in Dictionary.com Unabridged. Source location: Random
House, Inc. http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/culture. Web. 18 Oct. 2011.
http://dictionary.reference.com.
 
Garcia, Angela and Jacobs, Jennifer. “The Eyes of the Beholder: Understanding the
Turn-Taking System in Quasi-Synchronous Computer- Mediated
Communication, Research on Language & Social Interaction.” Research on
Language & Social Interaction. 32:4 (1999). 337-367. Web. 24 Oct.
2011.http://www.tandfonline.com.cyber.usask.ca/doi/pdf/10.1207/S15327973rls
3204_2
 
Holmes, Janet. An Introduction to Sociolinguistics, 3rd Ed. Harlow: Pearson Education
Ltd, 2008. Print.
 
Johnstone, Barbara. Discourse Analysis, 2nd Ed. Malden: Blackwell, 2008. Print.
 
O’Grady, William, and John Archibald. An Introduction Contemporary Linguistic
Analysis. Toronto: Pearson Education Canada, 2009. Print.
 
Woodburn, R., Arnott, L., Newell, A.F., Procter, R. “A Study of Conversational Turn-
Taking in a Communication Aid For the Disable.”  1-8. Web. 10 Oct. 2011.
 
 
 
http://linguistics.usask.ca/Ling347/webp/turntaking/index.html