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3.6 Overlap in speeches An overlap in speech occurs when two or more interlocutors are talking at the same time. It can also be described as occurrences of two or more participants trying to take their turns at the same time after the previous speaker had finished or is about to finish his turn. The real overlap occurs when the two participants start their turns simultaneously and none of them relinquishes the floor for the other. This is not always the casein a normal conversation. Earlier on we said
that conversations are orderly, because speakers will naturally take turns. An overlap in speech may occur in any of the following situations
• when a speaker deliberately comes in while another speaker is having turn,
• when a speaker thought another speaker had finished his/her turn and decided to come in.
4.0 Conclusion Analyzing a conversation involves how turns are taken and allocated and other features such as how people correct their errors in speech when they realize them. It also involves looking at the way some talks are connected despite their seemingly unconnected nature. Apart form all these, we realize that talks overlap, especially when the speakers involved
are eager to make their points, or when a speaker feels that the last speaker has finished their turn. All these features of conversation simply tell us that natural conversation is not always smooth and orderly. Some of the features discussed above contribute to the naturalness of most conversation. In fact, when a conversation moves on without any of these features, it seems less natural than when they are present.
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