Abstract
The study investigates how imbalanced information flow is managed and evaluated by the conversational participants in first encounter interactions. From the perspective of balancing obligations (Ohashi, 2008, 2010, 2013), one-way information flow is considered a disturbance to equilibrium. In a data set of ten paired first encounter talks (five collected in Tokyo and the other five in Melbourne), there are instances of small stories where one of the conversational participants temporarily dominates information flow. In each small story unit, the hearer interjects backchannels to align the teller's story telling frame. It can also be explained from the lens of balancing obligations that the hearer interjects backchannels to balance obligations, or in other words, rectify perceived imbalance of conversational contribution. This study builds on Iwasaki's (1997) and McCarthy's classifications of backchannels and develops two novel classifications, feedback (FB: minimal and obligatory backchannels), and feedback plus (FB+: relationally more significant than FB). By integrating participants' metapragmatic comments from the follow-up interviews, the study aims to identify the nature and effect of FB+, using the data gathered in first-encounter, taking age and gender differences, emerging identity, and common ground into consideration.
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