A Grammar of Italian Sign Language (LIS)

Communicative exchanges are based on the way in which participants organise and manage their interaction. Interactive communication between two or more participants is generally subdivided into reciprocal turns of dialogue. Turn taking can be signalled by specific turn-taking cues which occur at the end of the turn and allow the interlocutor to understand that a part of an interaction is concluded. Such interaction cues are called turn-taking signals.

         During conversations, there are specific moments in which it is possible to take the turn: these moments in a discourse are generally defined as Transition Relevance Place (TRP). A TRP, which offers the possibility of changing the turn, can be marked by lexical or prosodic devices, such as discourse particles (PRAGMATICS 5) (PRAGMATICS 10.1) or some specific modifications in the intonational contour. When a signer takes the turn and no signals have previously been established, this act is considered as a turn interruption.

         Moreover, in a communicative exchange, the addressee can provide response, feedback, signals of confirmation or refusal. This behaviour, which is called back-channelling, is functional to the process of building a conversation among participants (PRAGMATICS 10.2).

         Finally, a participant can add some contribution to the discourse made by the turn-holder, by correcting some information, repairing a content, providing comments or clarifications. These attitudes are known as actions of repair (PRAGMATICS 10.3).