Universals and cultural variation in turn-taking in conversation

Abstract

Informal verbal interaction is the core matrix for human social life. A mechanism for coordinating this basic mode of interaction is a system of turn-taking that regulates who is to speak and when. Yet relatively little is known about how this system varies across cultures. The anthropological literature reports significant cultural differences in the timing of turn-taking in ordinary conversation. We test these claims and show that in fact there are striking universals in the underlying pattern of response latency in conversation. Using a worldwide sample of 10 languages drawn from traditional indigenous communities to major world languages, we show that all of the languages tested provide clear evidence for a general avoidance of overlapping talk and a minimization of silence between conversational turns. In addition, all of the languages show the same factors explaining within-language variation in speed of response. We do, however, find differences across the languages in the average gap between turns, within a range of 250 ms from the cross-language mean. We believe that a natural sensitivity to these tempo differences leads to a subjective perception of dramatic or even fundamental differences as offered in ethnographic reports of conversational style. Our empirical evidence suggests robust human universals in this domain, where local variations are quantitative only, pointing to a single shared infrastructure for language use with likely ethological foundations.

Fig. 1.

The distribution of turn transitions for each language in the 10 sample languages. All distributions are unimodal with the highest number of transitions occurring between 0 and 200 ms. The percentage of turn transitions is shown on the y axis, and milliseconds of turn offset are shown on the x axis.

Fig. 2.

The mean time (in ms) of turn transitions for each language (±1 SD) in the 10 sample languages shows that speakers of all languages have an average offset time that is within 500 ms. However, there is a continuum of faster to slower averages across the sample. Milliseconds are shown on the x axis. Languages are arrayed along the y axis. Da, Danish; ‡Ā, ‡Ākhoe Hai‖om; La, Lao; It, Italian; En, English; Ko, Korean; Du, Dutch; Yé, Yélî-Dnye; Tz, Tzeltal; Ja, Japanese.

Fig. 3.

The mean time of turn transition for responses coded as answers versus responses coded as nonanswer responses in each of the languages. Speakers of all languages produced answers (gray) faster, on average, than they produced nonanswer responses (black). *, P ≤ 0.05; **, P ≤ 0.01; ***, P ≤ 0.001. Milliseconds are shown on the x axis. Languages are arrayed along the y axis. Da, Danish; ‡Ā, ‡Ākhoe Hai‖om; La, Lao; It, Italian; En, English; Ko, Korean; Du, Dutch; Yé, Yélî-Dnye; Tz, Tzeltal; Ja, Japanese.

Fig. 4.

The mean time of turn transition for responses coded as confirmations versus responses coded as disconfirmations in each of the languages. Speakers of all languages produced confirmations (gray) faster, on average, than they produced disconfirmations (black). *, P ≤ 0.05; **, P ≤ 0.01; ***, P ≤ 0.001. Milliseconds are shown on the x axis. Languages are arrayed along the y axis. Da, Danish; ‡Ā, ‡Ākhoe Hai‖om; La, Lao; It, Italian; En, English; Ko, Korean; Du, Dutch; Yé, Yélî-Dnye; Tz, Tzeltal; Ja, Japanese.

Fig. 5.

The mean time of turn transition for responses coded as including a visible response versus responses coded as vocal only in each of the languages. Speakers of all languages produced responses with a visible component (gray) faster, on average, than they produced vocal only responses (black). *, P ≤ 0.05; **, P ≤ 0.01; ***, P ≤ 0.001. Milliseconds are shown on the x axis. Languages are arrayed along the y axis. Da, Danish; ‡Ā, ‡Ākhoe Hai‖om; La, Lao; It, Italian; En, English; Ko, Korean; Du, Dutch; Yé, Yélî-Dnye; Tz, Tzeltal; Ja, Japanese.

Fig. 6.

The mean time of turn transition for questions coded as with speaker gaze versus questions coded as without speaker gaze in each of the languages. Speakers of 9/10 languages produced responses to questions with speaker gaze (gray) faster, on average, than they produced responses to questions without speaker gaze (black). *, P ≤ 0.05; **, P ≤ 0.01; ***, P ≤ 0.001. Milliseconds are shown on the x axis. Languages are arrayed along the y axis. Da, Danish; ‡Ā, ‡Ākhoe Hai‖om; La, Lao; It, Italian; En, English; Ko, Korean; Du, Dutch; Yé, Yélî-Dnye; Tz, Tzeltal; Ja, Japanese.