Turn-taking in Egyptian Arabic: Spontaneous speech vs. drama dialogue

Abstract

This article investigates turn-taking (TT) in Egyptian Arabic spontaneous speech (SS) and drama dialogue (DD). Although SS and DD both involve speech exchange, they differ in the organization of talk between two parties due to the prespecification of DD in contrast to SS. Audio-recorded samples were chosen where the age, role-relationship, occupation and social class of the participants of each of the discourse types were similar to those of the other. The SS sample was obtained clandestinely to ensure spontaneity. Both samples were analysed against a model built from the literature on TT in English SS. Differences between both speech-exchange systems were divided into differences in frequency and differences in absolute occurrence. Differences of frequency include the absence of competition between parties, which leads to minimal overlap and interruption, hesitation and silence in DD due to its economy and concentration. The average length of a turn in SS is shorter than in DD. Differences of absolute occurrence, on the other hand, include audience backchannel, monologue and choral talk. SS and DD also differ in the rendering of simultaneous sets of conversation. All in all, DD imitates SS in some respects but differs in others to maintain its economy and tidiness or to serve a dramatic purpose.