‘Tiny but Mighty’ Conversational Elements: Explicating Nonlexical Backchannels in Spoken Turkish ‘Küçük ama Güçlü’ Konuşma Unsurları: Sözlü Türkçede Sözcüksel Olmayan Geribildirimler

Creative Commons License

Aytaç-Demirçivi K., IŞIK GÜLER H.

Dilbilim Arastirmalari Dergisi, cilt.34, sa.2, ss.217-254, 2023 (Scopus) identifier identifier

  • Yayın Türü: Makale / Tam Makale
  • Cilt numarası: 34 Sayı: 2
  • Basım Tarihi: 2023
  • Doi Numarası: 10.18492/dad.1316698
  • Dergi Adı: Dilbilim Arastirmalari Dergisi
  • Derginin Tarandığı İndeksler: Scopus, Linguistic Bibliography, MLA - Modern Language Association Database, Directory of Open Access Journals, TR DİZİN (ULAKBİM)
  • Sayfa Sayıları: ss.217-254
  • Anahtar Kelimeler: functions, group differences, non-lexical backchannels, Spoken Turkish Corpus
  • Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi Adresli: Evet

Özet

This paper analyzes the functions of non-lexical backchannels in the Spoken Turkish Corpus and the differences in their use in naturally formed combinatory groups of gender and age (young-middle aged-elderly). Adopting a cyclic approach in the analysis of the 2231 non-lexical backchannels from the study corpus, two main and 16 sub-functions, eight of which are unique to this study and exhibit original dimensions have been identified. Results reveal that groups with female speakers and young speakers tend to use backchannels more for ‘approving the other speaker’, whereas groups with male speakers, middleaged and elderly speakers tend to use backchannels more for ‘continuation of the conversation’. Despite these statistical tendencies, the findings suggest that when people have more in common and more interest in the given conversational topic, they use multifunctional non-lexical backchannels to construct meaning more cooperatively, regardless of gender and age-related variables.