Universals and cultural variation in turn-taking in conversation

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences Vol/Iss. 106(26) National Academy of Sciences Washington, D.C Published In Pages: 10587-10592
By Stivers, Tanya, Enfield, Nicholas J., Brown, Penelope, Englert, Christina, Hayashi, Makoto, Heinemann, Trine, Hoymann, Gertie, Rossano, Federico, De Ruiter, Jan Peter, Yoon, Kyung-Eun, Levinson, Stephen C.

Hypothesis

Length of conversational turn-taking transition will vary between cultures independent of other predictors (10588).

Note

Variation in length of turn-taking transition between languages exists (times depart < 250 ms from overall mean), but is minor compared to variation caused by universal predictors outlined in the opposing hypothesis.

Test

Test NameSupportSignificanceCoefficientTail
Comparison of meansPartially supportedUNKNOWNUNKNOWNUNKNOWN

Variables

Variable NameVariable Type OCM Term(s)
Language spokenIndependentLinguistic Identification
Mean Length of Response TimeDependentSpeech, Conversation