When gaze-selected next speakers do not take the turn

Abstract

This paper discusses two phenomena of gaze-based micro-interaction in turn-taking. The two patterns illustrate the relevance of gaze for turn-taking in triadic interactions, as they show how speakers can allocate turns by their gaze. Based on the finding that a speaker can select the next speaker by gazing at her at the end of a turn (cf. Auer, 2017), the study shows how these gaze-selected next speakers can avoid taking the offered turn. I argue that the two different gaze patterns presented here have different interactional functions: a speaker who is gaze-selected by the previous speaker can either pass on the turn to a third participant by gazing at her, or she can reject the offered turn by ‘gazing away’ and dissolving the mutual gaze, and thus opening up the conversational floor for the other participant to self-select. The results show that all three participants orient themselves towards gaze in the organization of turn-taking, and that gaze as a turn-allocation technique serves to achieve a turn-transition between speakers.