Conversing through overlaps: Information status and simultaneous talk in Cuban Spanish

Gabriela G. Alfaraz

doi:10.1515/mult.2009.002

Article

Conversing through overlaps: Information status and simultaneous talk in Cuban Spanish

Gabriela G. Alfaraz

Published/Copyright: February 10, 2009

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From the journal Volume 28 Issue 1

Abstract

Simultaneous speech and turn-taking patterns vary considerably across cultures. Research on varieties of Spanish has confirmed that frequent, lengthy overlaps within and between turns are common. In this paper it is suggested that when speakers engage in simultaneous talk, they observe Grice's Cooperative Principle by adjusting their utterances so that the informativeness of their contribution is minimized in overlap. This paper approaches the linguistic composition of overlaps by examining the information status and grammatical function of noun phrases within and outside of overlaps. The statistical findings indicate a tendency to avoid delivering new information in overlap, which suggests that speakers are indeed cooperating with their interlocutors by minimizing utterance informativeness during overlap.

Keywords:: sociolinguistics; conversational overlap; simultaneous talk; turn taking; information structure; Cooperative Principle; Spanish

Address for correspondence: Department of Spanish and Portuguese, Michigan State University, 333 Old Horticulture Building, East Lansing, MI 48824-1112, USA. e-mail: alfarazg@msu.edu

Published Online: 2009-02-10

Published in Print: 2009-February

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2009.002

Keywords for this article

sociolinguistics; conversational overlap; simultaneous talk; turn taking; information structure; Cooperative Principle; Spanish