Signals of monologue continuation/completion: speech and gesture
- DOI
- 10.5922/2225-5346-2026-2-10
- Pages
- 187-208
Abstract
During conversation, extended monologic passages may occasionally occur. The aim of this study is to identify the features of speech and gesticulation that speakers use to signal either their intention to continue a monologue or, conversely, the approaching completion of the monologue and their readiness to yield the floor to an interlocutor. The study is based on the corpus Russian Pear Chats and Stories (RUPEX), which is equipped with detailed multichannel annotation. Each session included in the corpus contains a monologic stage, during which a story is narrated, followed by an interactive conversation. This design makes the corpus particularly suitable for the present research purpose. Relying on the episodic structure of the narratives, as well as on the notions of the elementary discourse unit (EDU), the spoken sentence, and the functional types of manual gestures, the study arrives at the following results. Among the verbal signals of monologue completion, it was found that speakers tend to reduce the length of spoken sentences, that is, sequences of EDUs forming a single prosodic complex. In all the sessions examined, speakers concluded their stories with sentences consisting of only one or two EDUs. Moreover, in the interval immediately preceding the final segment, most speakers increased sentence length.
As for gestural signals of monologue completion, the analysis shows that the final episode, in contrast to the preceding ones, is characterised by a lower proportion of depictive gestures illustrating the events being described, as well as by a higher proportion of pragmatic gestures and beats expressing the speaker’s stance or organising discourse structure. These changes in speech and gesticulation may be interpreted by interlocutors as indications of the forthcoming completion of the monologue and the prospect of turn-taking.