Turn-taking

a critical analysis of the research tradition

Daniel C. O'Connell

Sabine Kowal

pp. 345-373

in: Journal of Psycholinguistic Research 19 (6), 1990.

Abstract

In the following we present a radical critique of the assumptions, concepts, methods, statistics and interpretation of data, and theories that have characterized the recent research tradition concerned with turn-taking. The principal representative of this tradition is the 'simplest systematics' of Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974). Attempts to describe the generalizable properties of turn-taking have quite inappropriately and unsuccessfully been limited for the most part to formal approaches that have deliberately excluded considerations of conversational content and purpose. We start instead from the assumption that the ultimate criterion for the success of a conversation is not "the smooth interchange of speaking turns' (Cutler & Pearson, 1986, p. 139) or any other prescriptive ideal, but the fulfillment of the purposes entertained by two or more interlocutors. Our approach is that of a psychology of language use based on Bühler (1927; 1934/1982) and Rommetveit (1974). The emphasis is deliberately placed on social aspects of language as means of communication.

Cited authors

Bühler Karl