Abstract
The present study investigated how suitable duration of switching pauses (i.e. silent intervals between the utterances of two speakers: SP) is decided in dialogues. The study focused on the congruency of the durations of the two speakers' SP, and investigated the congruency process in two experiments. The results of Experiment 1, which confirmed the congruency of the SP durations of the two speakers in telephone conversations, indicated that the vocal behavior of one speaker represents a factor that influences the congruency of the SP durations of the two speakers. In Experiment 2, the speech rate and SP durations of one speaker were manipulated, and the consequent influence on the subjects' SP (the subjects representing the second speaker) was analyzed. The results indicated that the duration of the subjects' SP was influenced by the SP duration, but not by the speech rate of the conversational partner. This suggests that in ordinary dialogues, each speaker changes the duration of their own SP according to the SP duration of the conversational partner, and thus the SP durations of the speakers become congruent, and that the appropriate SP duration is decided by the mutual influence of the SP durations of the two speakers.
