Glossary term G

Gap

A gap is conversational silence at the end of a turn in a situation in which:

  • no next speaker has been selected by the previous one
  • no participant has selected himself or herself as the next speaker, and
  • the silence is too short to constitute a lapse.
  1. Levinson 1983, 299
  2. Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson 1978, 25
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