Turn-taking cues

One of the questions that are asked about turn-taking all of the time is how speakers signal that they are ready to stop and let the other person start (Hudson, p136). Since Transfer of turn occurs at a transition relevance place, the end of the turn must be marked by some cues that indicate to listener that speaker is about to finish his turn and to be ready to take the turn and consequently minimizing the gaps and overlaps between turns. These cues can be verbal or non-verbal. Duncan is considered to be the first one who introduces these cues. He identifies six cues as turn signals in conversation five of them are verbal: intonation, drawl, body motion, sociocentric sequences, pitch, and syntax (Gibbon, 07.Nov.09). Moreover, eye-movements are considered to be of such cues. Research has shown that we normally look at the other person's eyes for much longer time when we listen than when we speak. So, when we are about to stop speaking and start listening, we look at the other person's eyes in anticipation for our role as listener. In the contrary, the other looks down when he is about to start his turn in anticipation of change of role (Hudson, p136). Turn-taking cues whether it is verbal or non-verbal differ from one culture to another. There is a very clear example of non-verbal behavior is most culture. It is the use of head movements to indicate ' Yes' or ' No'. There are cultural differences in the use of head movement for each meaning. For 'yes', some cultures like Western Europe and the United States use a top-to bottom movement, while other cultures like The East Mediterranean use a bottom-to-top movement (Hudson, P137).