Gestik som turorganiserende resurse

En moderators brug af gestik i udvælgelsen og etableringen af næstetaler

Resumé

This article investigates how gesture shapes the organization of turn-taking in political debates. Using a Conversation analytic approach, the study explores how a moderator employ bodily conduct to manage speaker selection, where nonverbal resources are preferable to verbal resources. The nalysis is based on excerpts from the program ‘Debatten’, and focus on how embodied resources, such as pointing and Kendon’s Open Hand Supine gestures, are used as a turn allocation technique. Furthermore, two gesture forms have been identified within the same course of action: Lift gesture, which functions as a preparatory pre-beginning, projecting forthcoming action and ending of current turn; and outstretched arm gesture, which functions as a actual pre-beginning that finally project speaker changes at next transition-relevant place. Findings show that these gestures as a nonverbal resource, are strategically implemented at specific sequential positions to project, confirm and maintain speaker selection in institutional debate formats. They serve as central mechanisms for distributing turns, and make the turn allocation process transparent and predictable to participants. By highlighting how embodied action structure turn-taking, the article contributes to broader understandings of interactional organization in public debate formats.