Page 136 - Silence in Intercultural Communication

Chapter 5. Performance and perceptions of silence 123

(13) [Interaction: Miki]

133 Molly: But that- it- like how- >I don’t know,< (.)
134 i- is there: (0.4) do Westerners do you find
135 Westerners do that?
136 (4.2) ((after 2.5, shakes her head))
137 Miki: I really don’t (know) ( ).
138 ((looks down on the paper.
139 Molly nods 4 times- 1.2))
140 (6.0)
141 Lect: It’s really (quite a) dramatic difference,(.)
142 (those) ( ).
It should also be mentioned that Australian students were rarely nominated for
a response, as we will see in the next section (5.4.3), and therefore a comparison
of pause lengths in the same participant structure is not possible. Furthermore,
the examples above are unusual in the sense that, in most cases of long inter-
turn pauses following a question directed at the Japanese student, the questioner
elaborates or another student offers a response in place of the Japanese student. In
the section below, examples of silent pauses leading to questions being elaborated,
will be examined.

5.4.2.2 Silent inter-turn pauses leading to expansion of the elicitation turn
When a response from a nominated Japanese student is ‘delayed,’ the questioner
may elaborate or paraphrase in order to secure a response without a long pause.
In the example below from Case Study 2, the lecturer directs a question at Miki,
during a discussion on male-female differences in compliment responses. Not
hearing a response at the first possible opportunity in line 5 (after “it”), she goes
on to clarify the referent of the pronoun “it” in line 5. Miki then responds im-
mediately in line 8.

(14) [Interaction: Miki]

5 Lect: Miki, what do you think about it. (0.5) u:m
6 (0.6) the idea of male versus female ways
7 of responding to compliments.=
8 Miki: =I don- I don’t know if- (0.4) if (0.3) it’s
9 because of female (0.2) and male, (.) but I
10 think it’s true that (0.4) um female’s
11 conversation goes on en on en on,=
In another example from Case Study 2 below, Molly again asks Miki a question,
this time about Japanese non-verbal backchanneling behaviour and the contrast