TOPIC MANAGEMENT AND TURN-TAKING Discourse Strategies used by speakers and how cooperation is achieved

What is turn-taking? In conversations people take turns speaking and they manage this with great efficiency. For talk to be successful, turns have to be connected in some way. What a speakers says must fit with what has been said previously Speakers are not always consciously aware of the rules and conventions of conversation, but follow them anyway* There is a range of verbal and non-verbal cues which signal that a speaker is reaching the end of an utterance or that a listener wishes to speak

Is turn-taking the same for everyone? Members of a social group generally have the same conventions for turn-taking. When this is the case conversations will run smoothly Conventions can vary between cultural groups, dialects, or individual members of the same community

Do we learn how to do it? Although speakers do not consciously learn the knowledge used to make decisions about ‘turns’. In some cases, usually more formal situations (job interviews, the classroom, in meetings) the pattern of exchange can be learnt. Speakers can also rely on their knowledge of adjacency pairs, for example when meeting with a stranger.

Cues for turn-taking in informal conversations 1. It can be explicit; o A direct question and tag questions are an invitation to speak o Mentioning someone’s name (e.g. Emma knows about that) 2.It can be more subtle; o The grammatical construction is complete* o The speaker makes a concluding statement (e.g. that was that) o A falling intonation, or a lengthened syllable o Non-verbal cues such as leaning back or forward or eye- contact

Holding the floor If a speaker does not want to give up their turn, they want to ‘hold the floor’. This can be done by adding conjunctions ‘and’ and ‘but’, and by avoiding eye-contact. Increased volume can be used to hold the floor when someone else interrupts. Speakers with a higher status usually hold the floor, while others listen. They are more likely to interrupt. Back channelling are supportive noises (.e.g. hmm, yes, right) that are used by listeners to encourage the speaker to hold the floor*

Turn-taking and relationships Turn-taking can reflect the relationship between speakers Frequent and equal turn-taking can reflect and close social distance and a familiar relationship, although there may still be a dominant speaker. A T.V or Radio host may control the turn-taking and topic management because that is their role. For an example of this see page 78 in Living lingo

Topic Management Utterances are usually relevant to the current topic or will attempt to initiate new topics In formal situations there may be a predetermined topic or set of topics that is discussed in a systematic way. (e.g. a meeting, interview or lecture) In informal interactions, conversations will drift from topic to topic. The main topic (the reason for the exchange) may not come first.

Topic Management Topic Shifts are changes of topics. The speaker in charge of introducing new topics is in charge of turn- taking. The end of a topic may be indicated by ‘by the way’. New topics with ‘that reminds me..’ The speaker who introduces new topics may have a higher status or be the dominant speaker. If a speaker is unsuccessful in introducing a new topic it shows a lower status. Topic Loops are when a conversation returns to an earlier topic