Gaze and the turn: A nonverbal solution to an interactive problem

Abstract

This paper examines the use of gaze as one of a number of connected compensatory adaptations to linguistic impairment by a patient with Broca's aphasia. The examination of the import of gaze withdrawal and return of gaze in the context of self cuing by the patient shows how the patient exploits the complex multifaceted nature of meaning making. Consonant with the concept of emergentist pragmatics (Perkins), meaning making is shown to be a distributed process with sufficient “plasticity” to allow the aphasic patient to compensate for their linguistic impairments yet still be sensitive to the interactive needs of their interlocutor. Furthermore, the analysis of the use of gaze during self cuing is also shown to have implications for our conceptualization of the construction of the turn in interaction.

• Conversation Analysis
• gaze
• aphasia
• turn construction
• compensatory adaptation