This project added to the sparse body of research on the neural underpinnings of turn-taking with an electroencephalography (EEG) investigation of spontaneous conversation. Eighteen participants (3 male, 15 female, mean age 29.79), recruited and participating in pairs, underwent EEG hyperscanning as they conversed on a freely chosen topic for 45 minutes. In line with previous research, it was predicted that a time-frequency analysis of the EEG might reveal either increased power at around 10 Hz (the location of one of two components of the mu rhythm, an oscillation possibly involved in motor preparation for speech), or reduced alpha (8-12 Hz) power (reflecting non-motor aspects of turn preparation) prior to taking one’s turn. Increased power between 8-12 Hz was observed around 1.5 and 1 second preceding turn-taking, but similar power increases also occurred prior to turn-yielding and the conversation partner continuing after a pause, and a reduction in alpha power was found in turn-taking relative to listening to the other speaker continue after a pause. It is unclear whether this activity reflected motor or non-motor aspects of turn preparation, but the spontaneous conversation paradigm proved feasible for investigating brain activity coupled to turn-taking despite the methodological obstacles. / Detta forskningsprojekt bedrar till ett ämne där relativt få studier har genomförts med en elektroencefalografi- (EEG-) undersökning av hjärnaktivitet som är kopplad till turtagning i spontant samtal. Arton deltagare (3 män, 15 kvinnor, medelålder 29,79) som rekryterades och deltog i par, genomgick EEG-hyperscanning medan de pratade om ett fritt valt ämne i 45 minuter. Det förutsades att en tidsfrekvensanalys av EEG kan avslöja antingen ökad effekt vid cirka 10 Hz (vilket motsvarar en av två komponenter i mu-rytmen, en oscillation som eventuellt är involverad i motoriska förberedelser för tal) eller reducerad alfaeffekt (8 -12 Hz) (vilket möjligen återspeglar icke-motoriska aspekter av turtagningsförberedelser) innan man tar sin tur. Ökad effekt mellan 8-12 Hz observerades ungefär 1,5 och 1 sekund före turtagning, men liknande ökningar inträffade också innan samtalspartnern tog sin tur eller fortsatte efter en paus, och en minskning av alfaeffekt observerades när turtagning jämfördes till kontexter där försökspersonerna lyssnade när den andra talaren fortsatte efter en paus. Det är oklart om denna aktivitet återspeglade motoriska eller icke-motoriska aspekter av turtagningsförberedelser, men det visar sig vara möjligt att undersöka hjärnaktivitet kopplad till spontant samtal på ett rimligt sätt trots paradigmens metodologiska svårigheter. / Hidden events in turn-taking

Conversation is the primary mode of language use. A key feature of conversation is turn-taking, during which interlocutors rapidly switch between speaker and listener roles without conscious effort. As previous neuroimaging studies have investigated language comprehension in isolated contexts, little is known regarding the neurocognitive bases of language use in reciprocal interaction. The present fMRI study investigates turn-taking, production, and comprehension processes, by utilizing existing conversational data between participants (N = 23) and a confederate outside the scanner. Turn initiations were associated with regions (the medial prefrontal cortex and the middle frontal gyrus) outside of the perisylvian core language network. Production and comprehension were both associated with core language regions in the temporal lobes, but activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus was mainly associated with production. Activation in the fusiform face area was linked to comprehension. The current findings suggest that (1) the coordination of speaker change is dependent on pragmatic processes that have been relatively overlooked in models of speech preparation, and (2) listeners are aided by their interlocutor's facial gestures when processing speech input during conversation. In addition, the results indicate that production and comprehension processes may differ (e.g., on the syntactic level), even in conversation. / Konversation är en central aspekt av språkanvändning. Något som kännetecknar konversation är turtagning, där samtalsdeltagare snabbt och utan ansträngning växlar mellan lyssnar- och talarroller. Eftersom tidigare neurolingvistiska studier huvudsakligen har undersökt språkförståelse i isolerade kontexter så är förståelsen för de underliggande neurokognitiva funktionerna som möjliggör mänsklig konversation fortfarande liten. Den här studien ämnade att undersöka vilka hjärnregioner som aktiveras under turtagning, språkproduktion och språkförståelse, genom att använda data från funktionell magnetresonanstomografi (fMRT), när deltagare (N = 23) ingick i samtal med en samtalspartner utanför skannern. Turinitieringar associerades med regioner (mediala prefrontala cortex och mellersta frontala gyrusen) utanför det klassiska språknätverket. Det här indikerar att koordinering av talarbyte involverar pragmatiska processer, vilka fått relativt lite uppmärksamhet i tidigare modeller för planering av språkproduktion. Produktion och förståelse aktiverade områden inom språknätverket, men aktivering i den inferiora frontala gyrusen var huvudsakligen associerad med produktion. En möjlig tolkning av det fyndet är att produktion och förståelse i konversation involverar distinkta processer på syntaktisk nivå. Aktivering i det fusiforma ansiktsområdet var huvudsakligen relaterad till förståelse, vilket indikerar att lyssnare använder information i deras samtalspartners ansiktsuttryck medan de tolkar ett yttrande.

Användningen av digitala konferensverktyg (DKV) har ökat under pandemin Covid-19 ochanvändare har rapporterat att de upplever kommunikationen mer ansträngande än öga-mot-öga. En utmaning i DKV är att det inte går att rikta uppmärksamhet mot specifika samtalsdeltagare för att det inte går att skapa ögonkontakt vilket försvårar turtagning eftersom det är på så vis turen fördelas mellan samtalsdeltagare. Tidigare forskning visar att turtagning stöds av icke-verbala signaler och främst ögonkontakt och att stöd för turtagning i DKV kan designas utifrån att en ögonscanner som läser av var samtalsdeltagare tittar implementeras. Studien syftar till att undersöka hur olika designval vid design av DKV kan användas för att förbättra användaresupplevelser av turtagning vid samtal mellan flera parter i DKV. För att undersöka nya sätt att designa DKV har en designorienterad studie genomförts där designförslag formats baserade på ögonkontakt och dessa har utvärderats tillsammans med användare. Studiens resultat påvisar att turtagning kan stödjas i flerpartssamtal i DKV genom att addera rörliga visuella element som visar vem som talar nu och vem denne etablerar ögonkontakt med för att lämna över turen. Tre designförslag presenteras för hur detta kan göras. / The use of Digital conference tools (DKV) has increased because of the pandemic Covid-19 and DKV users has reported that the communication is more exhausting than communication face-to-face. A challenge in DKV is the inability to direct attention towards specific conversational participants because of absence of eye contact which makes turn-taking difficult since that is how the turn is allocated between conversational participants. Related work shows that turn-taking is supported by non-verbal signals, primarily eye-contact, and that turntaking can be supported by implementing an eyescanner that interpret where conversational participants direct their gaze. The aim of the study is to investigate how different design choices when designing DKV can be used to improve users’ experiences of turn-taking in multi-party conversations in DKV. In order to explore new ways of designing DKV design research has been used to empirically evaluate suggestions for design based on eyecontact. The result of the study shows that turn-taking can be supported in multi-party conversations in DKV by adding moving visual elements that shows who is the current speaker and who this person is establishing eye contact with to allocate the turn. Three suggestions for design are presented for how this could be done.

This study aimed to analyse organised interaction and assigned discussions occurring between students in EFL classrooms. It was conducted in order to identify the value-added in terms of learning by using discussion groups. Secondly, this study aimed to analyse how the contribution of models and approaches from pragmatics and discourse analysis can explain what is occurring during such conversations. Lastly, the structural and linguistic similarities and differences between teacher-to-student and student-to-student talk were also discussed. These questions were answered by examining four groups enrolled in English 6 in an upper secondary school located in the south part of Sweden. The qualitative data was collected through recordings from the students' discussions when they participated in a group speaking task as a part of the module of surveillance. The analysis of the data was conducted with the help of some of the aspects of conversation analysis. The results showed that not all of the participants in the group discussions sufficiently benefitted from the speaking task since, in most of the group, the need for the teacher's support was crucial in order for the students to use the target language and develop their speaking skills. In terms of the Speech Act Theory, the illocutionary acts identified in the conversations between students were that of the directive and assertive illocutionary acts used to pass the speaking turn to the other participants or to demonstrate agreement with the views of the previous turn. The conversational exchange was initiated by an opening framing move, followed by a response, but lacked follow-up moves in the form of feedback. Finally, there were some similarities and differences between teacher-to-student and student-to-student talk. The results showed that even if some of the students appeared to adapt to the role of the facilitator, they were not able to do so due to lack of knowledge to sufficiently support all the participants in order to be more active during the conversations and use the target language during the speaking task.

Basic communication skills are foundational for children's success in school and are dependent largely on their language experiences early in life. The purpose of this study was to examine two professional development models and family child care providers' use of turn-taking strategies that promote language in young children. The first professional development model consisted of a 10-hour nonformal training focused on supporting early language development. The second included the nonformal training and on-site mentoring. The 48 family child care programs were randomly assigned to one of the professional development models or a control group. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to examine the average increase in the frequency of providers' use of turn-taking strategies over three observations. Results indicate that both forms of professional development support increased use of language promoting turn-taking strategies as compared to a control group. Professional development that includes on-site mentoring support appears to be related to greater increases in providers' use of informational talk and didactic utterances over training only.

Sachant que les différents contextes d’interaction ont un impact sur la manière dont la conversation se déroule, le présent mémoire se concentre sur les moyens de communication à distance les plus récents : la vidéoconférence et la réalité virtuelle (VR). Nous posons la question suivante : en quoi la coordination de la conversation en réalité virtuelle est-elle différente de celle en vidéoconférence ? Pour répondre à cette question, nous poursuivons deux objectifs : (1) comparer la fréquence et la durée des silences et des chevauchements dans les différents contextes et (2) décrire les moments où il y a un bris dans la fluidité de la conversation dans chaque contexte, puis comparer ces événements entre les contextes. Nos résultats montrent que la VR n’influence pas la coordination de la conversation de la même manière que la vidéoconférence. Entre autres, les silences en VR sont plus longs et plus nombreux. De plus, les silences et les chevauchements en VR surviennent à des moments différents et ils se déroulent différemment. Les différences entre la VR et la vidéoconférence pourraient s’expliquer, entre autres, par la latence plus grande en VR, la plus grande familiarité des individus avec le contexte en vidéoconférence, les limites de la VR dans la transmission de l’information visuelle fine et le sentiment de coprésence qui se manifeste différemment dans chacun des contextes. Notre étude apporte une compréhension nuancée des interactions en vidéoconférence et en VR et souhaite encourager le développement de la recherche sur ces contextes afin d’en promouvoir une utilisation plus avisée. / We know that conversations are influenced by the context in which they take place. Therefore, this paper focuses on how conversation is managed in new forms of remote communication: videoconference and virtual reality (VR). We ask this question: how is the coordination in VR different than the coordination in videoconference? To answer this question, we pursue two objectives: (1) to compare frequency and duration of silences and overlaps between the contexts and (2) to describe what happens when the conversation flow is disturbed and then to compare those events between the contexts. Our results show that VR influences coordination between interlocutors differently than videoconference. Silences in VR are longer and happen more often than in videoconference. Moreover, silences and overlaps take place at different points in VR conversations and they unfold in a different way. The differences between VR and videoconference might be explained by the fact that there is a greater latency in VR, that participants are less familiar with the context of VR, that VR is limited in its transmission of non-verbal communication and that VR has a different effect on social presence. Our study sheds light on the importance of learning more about this new context of interaction (VR) before using it on a larger scale for interventions (e.g. with different clinical populations). Our conclusion can serve as a starting point for researchers who wish to contribute to a better understanding of the consequences of using VR as a means of communication.

A presente dissertação analisa como se configura a Competência Interacional (He; Young, 1998) de aprendizes adultos brasileiros durante um curso de italiano durante conversa espontânea. Os dados foram coletados durante um semestre, com foco em conversas livres, isto é, em interações imprevisíveis, sem duração definida e cujos temas nasciam a partir de algum acontecimento em sala de aula, sem planejamento prévio. A análise dos dados teve dois focos principais: a análise do sistema de turnos e dos reparos, procurando verificar de que forma a construção desses recursos determina aspectos da interação e do desempenho de papeis de professor e de aluno em sala de aula. Os dados foram analisados com base na disciplina, fortemente empírica, da Análise da Conversa; de modo mais específico, foram utilizadas as categorias encontradas por Sacks, Schegloff e Jefferson (1974) e por Schegloff, Jefferson e Sacks (1977), para análise do sistema de turnos e dos reparos, respectivamente. A análise dos dados indicou que os aprendizes utilizaram o sistema de turnos de forma parecida com o da conversa fora da sala de aula, já que na maioria dos casos se auto-selecionam como próximos falantes, o que nos levou a identificar uma postura autônoma e a percepção, por parte dos aprendizes, de um ambiente mais próximo ao genuíno de comunicação. Por outro lado, nota-se que os turnos dos aprendizes têm, quase sempre, menor duração do que os do professor, possivelmente, por causa de uma menor competência linguístico-comunicativa. Os dados evidenciam ainda, que os alunos utilizam pouco, muito menos que o professor, a seleção de um outro falante. Quanto à análise do sistema de reparos, verificaram-se duas tendências principais. Em primeiro lugar, os alunos, frequentemente, pedem para ser corrigidos, mas, ao mesmo tempo, há muitas ocorrências em que eles não esperam que alguém responda a esses pedidos e continuam a conversa. Em segundo lugar, o professor, na maioria dos casos, não corrige os desvios linguísticos dos alunos e, quando o faz, não parece existir uma lógica que guie essas ações. Se olharmos com mais atenção para os dados analisados, configura-se uma situação complexa, em que os alunos, por exemplo, corrigem outros alunos, ou em que eles interrompem o professor. Em conclusão, a detalhada análise das interações evidencia que, em vários momentos, os papeis de professor e alunos estão bem marcados, mas estão longe de ser os papeis tradicionais em que o professor é quem avaliava e distribui os turnos, e os alunos estão em posição mais passiva. Isso nos permite afirmar que a conversa é uma atividade de sala de aula em que os participantes têm liberdade de ação e na qual os recursos interacionais são aspectos essenciais não apenas na configuração da interação, como também na construção da competência interacional dos aprendizes e na compreensão do processo de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas em sala de aula. / This study analyzes the nature of Interactional Competence (He; Young, 1998) of adult Brazilian learners, attending a Italian language course, during spontaneous conversation. The data, collected during a semester, focused on unplanned conversations, which had no defined duration and whose topics emerged from anything occurring in the classroom. The analysis of the data consists of two main foci: speaker selection and repairs. They were analyzed in order to verify how their construction could determine aspects of interaction and how it influences the roles that the professor and the learners play in the classroom. The data were analyzed based on the, strictly empirical, discipline of Conversation Analysis; in particular, were used the categories found by Sacks, Schegloff e Jefferson (1974), and Schegloff, Jefferson e Sacks (1977), for speaker selection and repair, respectively. The analysis of the data revealed that the learners use speaker selection in a way that similar to that outside classroom, that is to say, they mainly selected themselves in order to take the floor. This learners skill is viewed as evidence of autonomous stance; furthermore, it indicates that they perceive the classroom as characterized by genuine communication. On the other hand, it can be noticed that learners turns are mainly shorter than professors, probably due to their lesser linguistic-communicative competence. In addition, the data show that the learners select the other participants fewer times than the teacher. Examination of the system of repairs revealed two main trends. Firstly, in spite of the fact that the learners frequently ask for a linguistic repair, they frequently do not wait for somebody to realize that repair and keep on speaking. Secondly, the teacher, in most of the cases, does not repair the learners linguistic problems and when it occurs, the fact does not seem to be supported by any underlying logic. At a closer look, the data show a complex situation in which the learners use the other-repair resource or interrupt the teacher. Finally, the detailed conversation analysis shows that even though many times the roles teacher and learners play are well defined, they are not even close to the traditional ones in which the teacher used to evaluate and distribute the turns, and the learners had a passive attitude. The analysis serve as evidence to affirm that conversation is a classroom activity in which students can perform freely and in which the interactional resources are aspects essential, not only to better understand and categorize the interaction, but also to the construction of the learners interactional competence and for the understanding of the foreign language classroom teaching process.

This dissertation seeks to address the multiple ways face or one’s public self-image is attacked, supported and maintained in Athol Fugard’s The Road to Mecca, My Children! My Africa! and Valley Song, and through this discussion demonstrate how the notion of face can make a contribution to the study and understanding of Athol Fugard’s work. In the pursuit of their goals/objectives, interactants perform speech acts which may threaten the face of other participants. The choice of strategies available to participants in the performance of these face-threatening acts (FTAs) includes going on record, off record (indirectly) or avoiding the FTA altogether (saying nothing). Each text offers a fresh perspective from which face can be analysed: rebelliousness against conformism (The Road to Mecca); the perspective of the cross-racial, cross-cultural relationships (My Children! My Africa!); and the context of a closely-knit family relationship (Valley Song). / English Studies / M.A. (Theory of Literature)

A presente dissertação analisa como se configura a Competência Interacional (He; Young, 1998) de aprendizes adultos brasileiros durante um curso de italiano durante conversa espontânea. Os dados foram coletados durante um semestre, com foco em conversas livres, isto é, em interações imprevisíveis, sem duração definida e cujos temas nasciam a partir de algum acontecimento em sala de aula, sem planejamento prévio. A análise dos dados teve dois focos principais: a análise do sistema de turnos e dos reparos, procurando verificar de que forma a construção desses recursos determina aspectos da interação e do desempenho de papeis de professor e de aluno em sala de aula. Os dados foram analisados com base na disciplina, fortemente empírica, da Análise da Conversa; de modo mais específico, foram utilizadas as categorias encontradas por Sacks, Schegloff e Jefferson (1974) e por Schegloff, Jefferson e Sacks (1977), para análise do sistema de turnos e dos reparos, respectivamente. A análise dos dados indicou que os aprendizes utilizaram o sistema de turnos de forma parecida com o da conversa fora da sala de aula, já que na maioria dos casos se auto-selecionam como próximos falantes, o que nos levou a identificar uma postura autônoma e a percepção, por parte dos aprendizes, de um ambiente mais próximo ao genuíno de comunicação. Por outro lado, nota-se que os turnos dos aprendizes têm, quase sempre, menor duração do que os do professor, possivelmente, por causa de uma menor competência linguístico-comunicativa. Os dados evidenciam ainda, que os alunos utilizam pouco, muito menos que o professor, a seleção de um outro falante. Quanto à análise do sistema de reparos, verificaram-se duas tendências principais. Em primeiro lugar, os alunos, frequentemente, pedem para ser corrigidos, mas, ao mesmo tempo, há muitas ocorrências em que eles não esperam que alguém responda a esses pedidos e continuam a conversa. Em segundo lugar, o professor, na maioria dos casos, não corrige os desvios linguísticos dos alunos e, quando o faz, não parece existir uma lógica que guie essas ações. Se olharmos com mais atenção para os dados analisados, configura-se uma situação complexa, em que os alunos, por exemplo, corrigem outros alunos, ou em que eles interrompem o professor. Em conclusão, a detalhada análise das interações evidencia que, em vários momentos, os papeis de professor e alunos estão bem marcados, mas estão longe de ser os papeis tradicionais em que o professor é quem avaliava e distribui os turnos, e os alunos estão em posição mais passiva. Isso nos permite afirmar que a conversa é uma atividade de sala de aula em que os participantes têm liberdade de ação e na qual os recursos interacionais são aspectos essenciais não apenas na configuração da interação, como também na construção da competência interacional dos aprendizes e na compreensão do processo de ensino-aprendizagem de línguas em sala de aula. / This study analyzes the nature of Interactional Competence (He; Young, 1998) of adult Brazilian learners, attending a Italian language course, during spontaneous conversation. The data, collected during a semester, focused on unplanned conversations, which had no defined duration and whose topics emerged from anything occurring in the classroom. The analysis of the data consists of two main foci: speaker selection and repairs. They were analyzed in order to verify how their construction could determine aspects of interaction and how it influences the roles that the professor and the learners play in the classroom. The data were analyzed based on the, strictly empirical, discipline of Conversation Analysis; in particular, were used the categories found by Sacks, Schegloff e Jefferson (1974), and Schegloff, Jefferson e Sacks (1977), for speaker selection and repair, respectively. The analysis of the data revealed that the learners use speaker selection in a way that similar to that outside classroom, that is to say, they mainly selected themselves in order to take the floor. This learners skill is viewed as evidence of autonomous stance; furthermore, it indicates that they perceive the classroom as characterized by genuine communication. On the other hand, it can be noticed that learners turns are mainly shorter than professors, probably due to their lesser linguistic-communicative competence. In addition, the data show that the learners select the other participants fewer times than the teacher. Examination of the system of repairs revealed two main trends. Firstly, in spite of the fact that the learners frequently ask for a linguistic repair, they frequently do not wait for somebody to realize that repair and keep on speaking. Secondly, the teacher, in most of the cases, does not repair the learners linguistic problems and when it occurs, the fact does not seem to be supported by any underlying logic. At a closer look, the data show a complex situation in which the learners use the other-repair resource or interrupt the teacher. Finally, the detailed conversation analysis shows that even though many times the roles teacher and learners play are well defined, they are not even close to the traditional ones in which the teacher used to evaluate and distribute the turns, and the learners had a passive attitude. The analysis serve as evidence to affirm that conversation is a classroom activity in which students can perform freely and in which the interactional resources are aspects essential, not only to better understand and categorize the interaction, but also to the construction of the learners interactional competence and for the understanding of the foreign language classroom teaching process.

This thesis explores the relationship between inhalation amplitude and turn-taking in spontaneous multiparty conversations held in Estonian. Respiratory activity is recorded with Respiratory Inductance Plethysmography. The main focus is on how inhalation amplitude varies between the inhalations produced directly before turn onset compared to the following inhalations within the same speaking turn. The results indicate a significant difference in amplitude, realised mainly by an increase in inhalation end lung volume values. One of the possible functions of this pattern is to signal an intention of taking the conversational turn. Another could be a phrasing or grouping function connected to lower inhalation amplitudes within turns. / 2014-1072 Andning i samtal (Vetenskapsrådet)