Who’s next? Speaker-selection mechanisms in multiparty dialogue

Participants in conversations have a wide range of verbal and nonverbal expressions at their disposal to signal their intention to occupy the speaker role. This paper addresses two main questions: (1) How do dialogue participants signal their intention to have the next turn, and (2) What aspects of a participant’s behaviour are perceived as signals to determine who should be the next speaker? Our observations show that verbal signals, gaze redirection, lips movements, and posture shifts can be reliably used to signal turn behaviour. Other cues, e.g. head movements, should be used in combination with other signs in order to be successfully interpreted as turn-obtaining acts.