Utterance Overlap and Long Silence among the Baka Pygmies:Comparison with Bantu Farmers and Japanese University Students

Abstract

The temporal structure of conversation was studied among the Baka Pygmies in southeastern Cameroon, in comparison with those of the adjacent Bakwele (Bantu farmer), and Japanese university students. A time sampling method was applied to analyze utterance overlap patterns. In Baka conversation, utterance overlap was not used strategically to take conversational turns, but rather a form of behavioral synchronization. Similarly, long silence was not a failure in the turn-taking, nor indication of the termination of a conversation, boundary of a sentence, or politeness, but can be regarded as a "mode of co-presence." The Baka can co-present without continuous mutual utterance, probably because they live in a "high-context" situation.