Turn taking in atypical conversations: the case of the speaker/augmented-communicator dyad

Structural disturbances in conversation and their consequence for the distribution of control between partners were illustrated in a study investigating turn taking in dyads involving speech-handicapped individuals using alternative communication system (augmented or aided communicators) and normally speaking adults (unaided communicators or speakers). The turn-taking system in these atypical conversations differed from normal conversations in several ways. Interactants had to adapt to specific physical constraints on the interaction and compensated for these constraints by using "available" behaviors to signal turn exchanges. Augmented communicators were unsuccessful in interaction management as evidenced in the unaided communicators' unilateral control over them in turn regulation. Augmented communicators were frequently unsuccessful in their attempts to secure speaking turns, whereas unaided communicators were extraordinarily successful as compared with typical conversation. Implications for the understanding of normal and atypical interaction patterns and their relevance to conversational control are discussed.