Multimodal resources for the management of turn-taking in interpreter-mediated dialogue: An eye-tracking study

This paper provides a fine-grained analysis of verbal and nonverbal resources for the management of turn taking in interpreter-mediated face-to-face dialogues. In contrast to monolingual forms of conversation, interpretermediated talks are coordinated through the collaboration between the two primary participants, who have no or limited access to each other’s language, and the interpreter. Rather than just rendering primary participants’ utterances, the interpreter takes on an active role of a speaking agent who is oriented towards facilitating participation and managing the turn system in function of the communicative goals of the interaction without disrupting his/her professional role (Gavioli 2009, Baraldi & Gavioli 2012, Mason 2012). Thus, because of its complex participation format and the fact that verbal communication between the primary speakers is limited, interpreter-mediated face-to-face dialogue is particularly interesting for the study of multimodality in the process of turn management (Pasquandrea 2011, 2012). As shown in previous research, synchronization and turn transfer in interpreted dialogues are collaboratively coordinated through verbal and nonverbal means (Wadensjö 1998, Bot 2005, Mason 2012). Especially gaze direction has an important function in signaling conversational attention and facilitating turn taking (Lang 1978, Bot 2005, Mason 2012, Krystallidou 2014, Davitti 2013). However, as argued by Baraldi & Gavioli (2012) and Mason (2012), among others, this is a topic in interpreting research as well as specialized communication that is in need of further systematic scrutiny. In the present study, I will focus on the role of eye gaze in relation to other (non-) verbal signals in the turn-taking process in interpreter-mediated talk. More specifically, I will address the question as to how gaze and other embodied behavior is related to addressee selection and the projection of the next speaker in interpretermediated dialogue. The study builds on existing research on turn-taking mechanisms in monolingual face-toface conversation through gaze and other embodied resources (Mondada 2007, Jokinen 2010, Deppermann 2012, Rossano 2012). When it comes to the study of gaze in interpreter-mediated talk, video recordings are often used. However, video data do not allow for the detailed study of interlocutors’ mutual gaze and errors can occur when making judgements of gaze from video recordings (Streeck 2009). In order to overcome these limitations, I have recorded a set of 6 authentic interpreted-mediated interactions in an institutional setting by making use of mobile eye-tracking glasses (cf. Brône & Oben 2015). The analysis of these data reveals specific patterns of gaze distribution related to turn-taking in interpreter-mediated dialogues. The study also shows how verbal and non-verbal resources interact in the constitution of dialogue management and illustrates the importance of visual monitoring of the speaker’s embodied behavior. And finally, the results provide additional evidence for the regulatory role of the interpreter in face-to-face interpreter-mediated dialogue. References Baraldi, C. & Gavioli, L. (2012). Dialogue Interpreting as Intercultural Mediation. An analysis in healthcare multicultural settings. In M. Grein & E. Weigand (Eds.), Dialogue and Culture. Amsterdam & Philadelphia: John Benjamins, 155-175. Bot, H. (2005). 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