Voice Quality as a Turn-Taking Cue

This work revisits the idea that voice quality dynamics (VQ) contributes to conveying pragmatic distinctions, with two case studies to further test this idea. First, we explore VQ as a turn-taking cue, and then as a cue for distinguishing between different functions of affirmative cue words. We employ acoustic VQ measures claimed to be better suited for continuous speech than those in own previous work. Both cases indicate that the degree of periodicity (as measured by CPPS) is indeed relevant in the production of the different pragmatic functions. In particular, turn-yielding is characterized by lower periodicity, sometimes accompanied by presence of creaky voice. Periodicity also distinguishes between backchannels, agreements and acknowledgements.