Nepalese Linguistics 2004 №21

Chief Editor: Yogendra P. Yadava
Publisher: Linguistic Society of Nepal
Publication date: 2004
Number of pictures: 193This paper examines the turn-taking mechanism in Nepali conversations. Apart from illustrating different types of turn construction units, the paper cites examples from Nepali conversations to show how turns are allocated and how turn transition is accomplished. Also illustrated with examples from Nepali are different types of silences (pauses and gaps) and the minimized occurrences of overlaps. The paper also discusses when overlap occurs, how it is triggered, how it relates to transition-relevance places (TRPs) and what techniques speakers employ to minimize the negative effects of overlap in Nepali conversations." Finally, the paper examines the problems regarding what are or are not "interruptions" and describes the different types of overlap with examples from naturally occurring Nepali conversations.