The routine exchange of turns is a fundamental structural feature of conversational interaction. This paper reviews current attempts to understand the mechanisms by which turns are exchanged and considers three major approaches: stochastic models, signalling models, and sequential-production models. Conceptual and empirical strengths and limitations of each approach are examined, and it is suggested that a synthesis combining some ideas from the signalling approach with the sequential-production approach offers the greatest promise. Attention is directed to three major concepts: conversational events as resources; the functions of social organisational, relational, and sequential contexts in the management of turn taking; and the interactional construction of turns.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Albert, E. M. (1964) ‘Rhetoric’, ‘logic’, and ‘poetics’ in Burundi: Cultural patterning of speech behaviour. American Anthropologist, 66, 35–54.
2.
Albert, E. M. (1972) Cultural patterning of speech behaviour in Burundi. In J. J. Gumperz and D. Hymes (eds), Directions in Sociolingnistics.New York: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
3.
Argyle, M. and Cook, M. (1976) Gaze and Mutual Gaze.Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
4.
Baker, C. (1977) Regulators and turn-taking in American sign language discourse. In L. A. Friedman (ed.), On the Other Hand: New Perspectives on American Sign Language.New York: Academic.
5.
Barik, H. C. (1972) Some innovations in a computer approach to the analysis of speech patterns. Language and Speech, 15, 196–207.
6.
Bauman, R. and Sherzer, J. (1975) The ethnography of speaking. In B. J. Siegel (ed.), Annual Review of Anthropology, Vol. 4. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews.
7.
Bcattie, G. W. (1978) Floor Apportionment and gaze in conversational dyads, British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 17, 7–16.
8.
Bcattie, G. W. (1980) The skilled art of conversational interaction: Verbal and nonverbal signals in its regulation and management. In W. T. Singleton, P. Spurgcon and R. B. Stammers (eds). The Analysis of Social Skill. New York: Plenum.
9.
Bcattie, G. W. (1981) The regulation of speaker turns in face-to-face conversation: Some implications for conversation in sound-only communication channels. Semiotica, 34, 55–70.
10.
Beattie, G. W., Cutler, A. and Pearson, M. (1982) Why is Mrs. Thatcher interrupted so often?Nature, 300, 744–47.
11.
Bernstein, B. (1962) Linguistic codes, hesitation phenomena and intelligence. Language and Speech, 5, 31–46.
12.
Boden, D. (1981) Talk international: An analysis of conversational turn-taking and related phenomena in six Indo-European languages. Unpublished M.A. paper***, University of California, Santa Barbara.
13.
Brady, P. T. (1965) A technique for investigating on-off patterns of speech. Bell System Technical Journal, 44, 1–22.
14.
Brady, P. T. (1968) A statistical analysis of on-off patterns in 16 conversations. Bell System Technical Journal, 47, 73–91.
15.
Brady, P. T. (1969) A model for generating on-off speech patterns in two-way conversation. Bell System Technical Journal, 48, 2445–72.
16.
Cappella, J. N. (1979) Talk-silence sequences in informal conversations I. Human Communication Research, 6, 3–17.
17.
Cappella, J. N. (1980) Talk-silence sequences in informal conversations II. Human Communication Research, 6, 130–45.
18.
Cappella, J. N. (1983) Controlling the floor in conversation. Paper presented at the Second International Conference on Social Psychology and Language, Bristol, England. July.
19.
Cappella, J. N. and Planalp, S. (1981) Talk and silence sequences in informal conversations III: Interspeaker influence. Human Communication Research, 7, 117–32.
20.
Cassotta, L., Feldstein, S. and Jaffe, J. (1964) AVTA: A device for automatic vocal transaction analysis. Journal of the Experimental Analysis of Behaviour, 7, 99–104.
21.
Condon, W. S. and Ogston, W. D. (1966) Soundfilm analysis of normal and pathological behaviour patterns. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 143, 338–47.
22.
Condon, W. S. and Ogston, W. D. (1967) A segmentation of behaviour. Journal of Psychiatric Research, 5, 221–35.
23.
DeLong, A. (1974) Kinesic signals at utterance boundaries in preschool children. Semiotica, 11, 43–74.
24.
Dittmann, A. T. (1973) Style in conversation. Semiotica, 3, 241–71.
25.
Dittmann, A. T. and Llewellyn, L. G. (1968) Relationship between vocalizations and head nods as listener responses. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 11, 98–106.
26.
Duncan, S. (1972) Some signals and rules for taking speaking turns in conversation. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 23, 283–92.
27.
Duncan, S. (1973) Toward a grammar for dyadic conversation. Semiotica, 9, 29–46.
28.
Duncan, S. (1974) On the structure of speaker-auditor interaction during speaking turns. Language in society, 2, 161–80.
29.
Duncan, S. (1981) Conversational strategies. In T. A. Sebeok and R. Rosenthal (eds). The Clever Hans Phenomenon: Communication with Horses, Whales, Apes and People.New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
30.
Duncan, S. (1983) Speaking turns: Studies of structure and individual differences. In J. M. Wiemann and R. P. Harrison (eds). Nonverbal Interaction.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
31.
Duncan, S., Brunner, L. J. and Fiske, D. (1979) Strategy signals in face-to-face interaction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 37, 301–13.
32.
Duncan, S. and Fiske, D. W. (1977) Face-to-Face Interaction.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
33.
Duncan, S. and Niederehe, G. (1974) On signaling that it's your turn to speak. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 10, 234–47.
34.
Feldstein, S. and Welkowitz, J. (1978) A chronography of conversation: In defense of an objective approach. In A. W. Siegman and S. Feldstein (eds), Nonverbal Behaviour and Communication.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
35.
Ferguson, N. (1977) Simultaneous speech, interruptions and dominance. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 16, 295–302.
36.
Goffman, E. (1955) On face work: An analysis of ritual elements in social interaction. Psychiatry: Journal for the Study of Interpersonal Processes, 18, 213–31.
37.
Goffman, E. (1976) Replies and responses. Language in Society, 5, 257–313.
38.
Goffman, E. (1983) The interaction order. American Sociological Review, 48, 1–17.
39.
Goodwin, C. (1975) The interactive construction of the sentence within the turn at talk in natural conversation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, San Francisco, CA.
40.
Goodwin, C. (1981) Conversational Organization: Interaction Between Speakers and Hearers.New York: Academic Press.
41.
Grice, H. P. (1975) Logic and conversation. In P. Cole and J. L. Morgan (eds), Syntax and Semantics (Vol. 3): Speech Acts.New York: Academic.
42.
Gumperz, J. J. and Hymes, D. (eds) (1964) The ethnography of communication. Special Issue of American Anthropologist, 66, part 2.
43.
Hymes, D. (1962) The ethnography of speaking. In T. Gladwin and W. C. Sturtevant (eds), Anthropology and Human Behaviour.Washington, D.C.: Anthropological Society of Washington.
44.
Hymes, D. (1974) Foundations in Sociolinguistics: An Ethnographic Approach.Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press.
45.
Jaffe, J., Breskin, S. and Gerstman, L. J. (1972) Random generation of apparent speech rhythms. Language and Speech, 15, 68–9.
46.
Jaffe, J., Cassotta, L. and Feldstein, S. (1964) Markovian model of time patterns in speech. Science, 144, 884–86.
47.
Jaffe, J. and Feldstein, S. (1970) Rhythms of Dialogue. New York: Academic Press.
48.
Jefferson, G. (1972) Side sequences. In D. Sudnow (ed.). Studies in Social Interaction. New York: The Free Press.
49.
Jefferson, G. (1973) A case of precision timing in ordinary conversation: Overlapped tag-positioned address terms in closing sequences. Semiotica, 9, 47–96.
50.
Jefferson, G. (1978) Sequential aspects of storytelling in conversation. In J. Shenkein (ed.), Studies in the Organization of Conversational Interaction.New York: Academic Press.
51.
Jefferson, G. and Schegloff, E. (no date) Some orderly aspects of overlap in natural conversation. Unpublished paper.
52.
Jefferson, G. and Schenkein, J. (1977) Some sequential negotiations in conversation: Unexpanded and expanded versions of projected action sequences. Sociology, 11, 87–103.
53.
Kendon, A. (1967) Some functions of gaze-direction in social interaction. Acta Psycho-logica, 26, 22–47.
54.
Kendon, A. (1970) Movement co-ordination in social interaction: Some examples described. Acta Psychologica, 32, 101–25.
55.
Kendon, A. (1972) Some relationships between body motion and speech. An analysis of an example. In A. W. Siegman and B. Pope (eds), Studies in Dyadic Communication.New York: Pergamon.
56.
Kendon, A. (1980) Gesticulation and speech: Two aspects of the process of utterance. In M. R. Key (ed.), The Relationship of Verbal and Nonverbal Communication. The Hague: Mouton.
57.
Kendon, A., Harris, R. M. and Key, M. R. (eds) (1975) Organization of Behaviour in Face-to-Face Interaction.The Hague: Mouton.
58.
Kennedy, C. W. and Camden, C. T. (1983) A new look at interruptions. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 47, 45–58.
59.
Knapp, M. L., Hart, R. P., Friedrich, G. W. and Shulman, G. M. (1973) The rhetoric of goodbye: Verbal and nonverbal correlates of human leave taking. Speech Monographs, 40, 182–98.
60.
Matarazzo, J. D. and Wiens, A. N. (1972) The Interview: Research on Its Anatomy and Structure.Chicago & New York: Aldine-Atherton.
61.
Maynard, D. (1983) Placement of topic changes in conversation. Semiotica, 30, 263–90.
62.
McLaughlin, M. L. (1984) Conversation: How Talk Is Organized.Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
63.
Mishler, E. G. (1979) Meaning in context: Is there any other kind?Harvard Educational Review, 49, 1–19.
64.
Norwine, A. C. and Murphy, O. J. (1938) Characteristic time intervals in telephone conversation. Bell System Technical Journal, 17, 281–91.
65.
O'Donnell-Trujillo, N. and Adams, K. (1983) ‘Heheh’ in conversation: Some co-ordinating accomplishments of laughter. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 47, 175–91.
66.
Opliger, R. G. (1980) Conversational turn taking in acquainted dyads: A test of Duncan's model. Unpublished M. A. thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.
67.
Philips, S. U. (1976) Some sources of cultural variability in the regulation of talk. Language in Society, 5, 81–95.
68.
Pike, K. L. (1975) On kinesic triadic relations in turn-taking. Semiotica, 13, 389–94.
69.
Planalp, S. and Tracy, K. (1980) Not to change the topic but … A cognitive approach to the management of conversation. In D. Nimmo (ed.), Communication Yearbook 4.New Brunswick, NJ: Transactions.
70.
Pomeranz, A. M. (1975) Second assessments: A study of some features of agreements/disagreements. Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation. University of California, Irvine.
71.
Reisman, K. (1974) Contrapuntal conversations in an Antiguan village. In R. Bauman and J. Sherzer (eds), Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking.London: Cambridge University Press.
72.
Rogers, W. T. and Jones, S. E. (1975) Effects of dominance tendencies on floor holding and interruption behaviour in dyadic interactions. Human Communication Research, 1, 113–22.
73.
Rosenfeld, H. M. (1978) Conversational control functions in nonverbal behaviour. In A. W. Siegman and S. Feldstein (eds), Nonverbal Behaviour and Communication.Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
74.
Rutter, D. R. and Stephenson, G. M. (1977) The role of visual communication in synchronising conversation. European Journal of Social Psychology, 7, 29–37.
75.
Rutter, D. R. and Stephenson, G. M. (1978) The timing of looks in dyadic conversation. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 17, 17–21.
76.
Sacks, H. (1974) An analysis of the course of a joke's telling in conversation. In R. Bauman and J. Sherzer (eds), Explorations in the Ethnography of Speaking.London: Cambridge University Press.
77.
Sacks, H. and Schegloff, E. (1974) Two preferences in the organization of reference to persons in conversation and their interaction. In N. H. Avison and R. J. Wilson (eds), Ethnomethodology, Labelling Theory and Deviant Behaviour.London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
78.
Sacks, H., Schegloff, E. and Jefferson, G. (1974) A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation. Language,50, 696–735.
79.
Scheflen, A. E. (1964) The significance of posture in communicational systems. Psychiatry, 27, 316–21.
80.
Schecloff, E. (1968) Sequencing in conversational openings. America Anthropologist, 70, 1075–95.
81.
Schecloff, E. (1980) Preliminaries to preliminaries: Can I ask you a question?Sociological Inquiry, 50, 104–52.
82.
Schegloff, E. and Sacks, H. (1973) Opening up closings. Semiotica, 8, 289–327.
83.
Sexton, N. (1980) An exploration of empathic behaviour in dyadic conversation. Unpublished M. A. thesis, University of California, Santa Barbara.
84.
Stubbs, M. (1973) Some structural complexities of talk in meetings. Working Papers in Discourse Analysis, No. 5. Birmingham, England: University of Birmingham.
85.
Terasaki, A. K. (1976) Pre-announcement sequences in conversation. Social Science Working Paper 99, School of Social Sciences, University of California, Irvine.
86.
Trager, G. L. and Smith, H. L. (1957) An Outline of English Structure. Washington, D. C.: American Council of Learned Societies.
87.
West, C. C. and Zimmerman, D. H. (1977) Women's place in everyday talk: Reflections on parent-child interaction. Social Problems, 24, 521–29.
88.
West, C. C. and Zimmerman, D. H. (1983) Small insults: A study of interruptions in cross-sex conversations between unacquainted persons. In B. Thorne, C. Kramarae and N. Henley (eds), Language, Gender and Society.Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
89.
Wiemann, J. M. (1977) Explication and test of a model of communicative competence. Human Communication Research, 3, 195–213.
90.
Wiemann, J. M. (in press) Interpersonal control and regulation in conversation. In R. L. Street and J. N. Cappella (eds), Sequence and Pattern in Communicative Behaviour.London: Edward Arnold.
91.
Wiemann, J. M. and Kelly, C. W. (1981) Pragmatics of interpersonal competence. In C. Wilder-Mott and J. H. Weakland (eds), Rigor and Imagination: Essays From the Legacy of Gregory Bateson.New York: Praeger.
92.
Wiemann, J. M. and Knapp, M. L. (1975) Turn-taking in conversations. Journal of Communication, 25, 75–92.
93.
Wilson, T. P. and Zimmerman, D. H. (1979) Turn-taking in two party conversation. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association. Boston.
94.
Yngve, V. H. (1970) On getting a word in edgewise. In M. A. Campbell et al. (eds), Papers from the Sixth Regional Meeting. Chicago Linguistics Society. Chicago: Department of Linguistics, University of Chicago.
95.
Zimmerman, D. H. and West, C. (1975) Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversation. In B. Thorne and N. Henley (eds), Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.
96.
Zimmerman, D. H. and West, C. (in preparation) The concept of ‘interruption’, Unpublished manuscript, University of California, Santa Barbara.
