Sequential and Prosodic Aspects of Conversation

This study deals with two phenomena which are closely related to the turn-taking mechanism in conversation. These are: overlapping talk and the use of prosody in turn-taking. Prosody is linked to the formation of the transition relevance place. I point out the aspects of conversation, including prosody, which shape the transition relevance place, and also how prosody is used in the projection of turn-yielding, or turn-holding. I devote attention to three basic aspects of prosody: pitch movement, intensity movement and articulation rate. Furthermore, I analyze how overlapping turns are produced, how they proceed and how they are resolved. The characteristics of overlapping talk are influenced by the types of conversation in which they occur: while in mundane, informal conversation they can last only briefly, usually produced as a means of mutual understanding, in political debates they are often prolonged, as they are associated with the efforts of speakers to take and hold the floor