Turn-Taking Gap

Turn-Taking Gap

Reviewed by Faisal Zaidi

The short pause between one speaker's turn and the next, which comparison across ten languages found to be kept brief everywhere.

What it is

Tanya Stivers and colleagues compared conversations in ten languages, from small communities to major world languages. Every language avoided overlapping talk and kept the silence between turns short, and the average gap differed only slightly between languages, though speakers may notice those small differences.

In effect

In the article on why we feel awkward, it sets the baseline that makes a longer silence stand out.

What it does not say

It describes shared timing in conversation. It does not say any culture's pace is better, or that longer gaps are rude.

Sources

  1. Stivers, T., Enfield, N. J., Brown, P., Englert, C., Hayashi, M., Heinemann, T., Hoymann, G., Rossano, F., de Ruiter, J. P., Yoon, K.-E., & Levinson, S. C. (2009). Universals and cultural variation in turn-taking in conversation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 106(26), 10587-10592.