Publications

Publication details [#64068]

Wacewicz, Sławomir, Przemyslaw Żywiczyński and Sylwester Orzechowski. 2018. Adaptors and the turn-taking mechanism. The distribution of adaptors relative to turn borders in dyadic conversation. Interaction Studies 18 (2) : 276–298.
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Place, Publisher
John Benjamins
Journal DOI
10.1075/is

Annotation

Turn-taking – the coordinated and efficient transition between the roles of sender and receiver in communication – is a fundamental property of conversational interaction. The turn-taking mechanism depends on a variety of linguistic factors related to syntax, semantics and prosody, which have recently been subject to vigorous research. This contrasts with the relative lack of studies on nonverbal visual signals and cues that can be involved in taking turns at talking. This paper considers the relation between turn-transitions and adaptors: a class of nonverbal behaviors prototypically involving touching one’s own body or manipulating external objects. The paper recorded 10 semi-scripted conversations between a total of 12 subjects and annotated the material for discrete adaptors and turn borders. It found that participants produced discrete adaptors significantly more frequently close to floor transfers (turn borders). The result goes against the long-standing tradition of interpreting adaptors as unrelated to speech and, more generally, communicative interaction. Keywords: self touches, object manipulators, displacement activities, turn-taking, adaptors, language evolution, interaction engine, conversation