Describing conversational dominance

Abstract

In previous studies dominance in every day conversation has been measured by the distribution between speakers of various interactional features, including topic control, interruptions and overlaps, and amount of speech. This paper reassesses the indicators of dominance used in these studies and proposes a framework of analysis that treats dominance as a multi-dimensional construct with sequential, participatory and quantitative aspects. It also attempts to determine a relative saliency among the three dimensions by proposing that sequential dominance, or one speaker's tendency to control the actions of the other speaker within the exchange structure of a conversation, is the most significant dimension on the basis that it is most closely related to topic control. The framework and problems in its application are illustrated with conversational data gathered in a study of Japenese L1 and English L2 conversations between male and female speakers of Japanese.