Listenership in Japanese: An examination of overlapping listener response

This study focuses on a particular listening pattern in Japanese which occurs by overlapping with the current speaker’s incrementing utterance. Applying the Conversational Analysis approach to conversational data, the study delineates how native speakers utilize overlapping listener responses to indicate their strong alignment, and why learners of Japanese, even at advance level, do not (or cannot) make use of overlapping responses. The study focuses on a particular listening pattern in Japanese which occurs by overlapping with the current speakerÕs incrementing utterance. Applying CA approach to conversational data, the study delineates how native speakers utilize overlapping listener responses to indicate their strong alignment, and why learners of Japanese, even at advance level, do not (or cannot) make use of overlapping responses.