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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Interactional synchrony: a fundamental condition for communication
Author:Koji, Kitamura
Year:1990
Periodical:Senri Ethnological Studies
Issue:27
Pages:123-140
Language:English
Geographic terms:Kenya
Botswana
Subjects:communication
San
Turkana
Abstract:Using what in some ways can be considered mutually contrasting, polar examples - the San of the Central Kalahari Game Reserve, Botswana, and the Turkana of northwestern Kenya - the author examines how people adjust and regulate their behaviour when they find themselves in a situation where they intend to establish and develop communication or, on the contrary, to discontinue or disregard communication. The inducement of immediate interaction is the necessary condition for communication. Whereas the San can neglect an initiative, the Turkana are obliged to attend to it. Among the San, an addresser waits for the addressee to agree, while the Turkana aim throughout at persuading the addressee to react cooperatively. The San try to advance the course of interaction by encouraging mutual agreement within the level of metacommunication. The Turkana, within their frame of interaction, try to facilitate mutual communication by establishing a more precise focus of attention on the speech in progress. Among the Turkana, the addresser takes the lead in interactional synchrony - the foundation for communication in face-to-face interaction - and induces an immediate interaction based on the premise of mutual openness among participants. The San method of communication aids the addressee's lead and is based on the premise of mutual acknowledgement of individual independence. Bibliogr.
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