Profiling Turns in Interaction: Discourse Structure and Function

Turn-taking provides a basis for comparing interactions in different communication environments, and this paper demonstrates that readily observable features of turns can be linked to principles that organize and manage the interaction. Results are based on 150 decision-making interactions elicited in a face-to-face environment, an asynchronous, e-mail environment, and several types of synchronous computer-mediated environments. We show that three features of turns can be linked to discourse structure and function. First, as turns increase in size, participants switch from serial to parallel strategies to organize their decision-making. Second, pivot turns, which are turns that are much shorter than the turns that precede or follow them, can reflect the discourse functions of the relevant turns. Finally, turns can be used for measures of dominance based on turn size. We conclude that designers of communication systems can take advantage of peoples’ ability to develop effective strategies for packaging messages in different environments.