Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1989. 19/3. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 19)

M. Deli, Ágnes: On the functions of Oack-ChanneLing

1. Back-Channels (Being "on the same wavelength") The co-operative behaviour of the listener is demonstrated by his using feed-back signals to assure the speaker of his sympathy, interest and understanding. Without such devices communication cannot be kept on for long; a passive, silent, or "disobedient" listener (cf. Henne 1978:124) will soon cause a break-down in communication. In his chapter discussing turn-taking, Oreström (1983) distinguishes between two types of utterances, speaking-turns and back-channel items /the latter term is taken from Yngve (1970:574) /. He defines a turn as "the continuous period of time during which a person is talking" (1983:23). According to Henne (197B

:127) a speaking turn conveys new information and expands the topic. Back-channel items, on the other hand, in Watzlawick et al's (1967) terms, have a relatively low value on the content level but a relatively high value on the relationship level of communication. They are direct signals of the listener role, indicating that the listener does not claim to have the floor but that tie is interested and active in participating and thus contributes to the success of communication. The views on the exact function of the listener's short, spontaneous reactions like m, mhm, mm, yes, yeah, okay, right, I see, I think you're right

, ect. slightly differ with different linguists, and terms also vary with different authors. Bellack (1966:18-19) speaks of "reacting moves" which, in their status are very special. Their occurrence does not mean that the prior speaker's statement has been replied to. Nor need anyone follow it, or take it that a reply- to it is due. Goffman (1981:28) employs the terms "backchannel cues"and "keep-going signals" ( as gee, gosh, wow, hmn, tsk, no

! ), while Duncan discusses "auditor backchannel signals" (1973:38-39). Good (1977) calls ms and yeah

s "inforrnationally minimal" items considering them as realizations of the "parity principle", which in his terms means that by using such signals the listener demonstrates Iiis role as equal partner rather than his attention. Crystal and Davy (1975), on the other hand, argue that the primary function of backchannels is to reflect the listener's attention. Coulthard, Montgomery and Brazil (1901:24-25) provide a detailed