Universität zu Köln

Schmelzer, Matteo (2025). Multimodal feedback signals in dyadic conversations. Bachelor thesis, Universität zu Köln.

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Abstract

In this study the use of embodied feedback signals in the form of head nods -- specifically as they occur in spontaneous German conversation -- is described and compared to the use of vocal feedback signals known as backchannels (BC). For this purpose, the paper traces the notion of conversational feedback in both embodied and vocal modalities. Head nods are conceptualised as an embodied counterpart to the notion of vocal BCs, which are short vocal utterances that listeners employ to provide feedback to their interlocutors. In the data analysed, head nods were on average 1139 ms long, approximately four times longer than vocal BCs at 299 ms. The central finding connected to this, is that head nods start before, and end after vocal BCs -- essentially enveloping the vocal BCs. Two thirds of nods occur as pro-speech gestures, not co-occurring with vocal BCs. The lexical type and prosodic contour of BC do not appear to have an influence on the co-occurrence of a nod.

Item Type:	Thesis (Bachelor thesis)
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Schmelzer, Matteo matteo.schmelzer@uni-koeln.de UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-798562
Date:	30 September 2025
Language:	English
Faculty:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities
Divisions:	Faculty of Arts and Humanities > Fächergruppe 3: Deutsche Sprache und Literatur > Institut für Deutsche Sprache und Literatur I
Subjects:	Language, Linguistics English
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language multimodal feedback English embodied feedback English dyadic interaction English face-to-face dialogue English spontaneous speech English
Date of oral exam:	30 September 2025
Referee:	Name Academic Title Grice, Martine Prof. Dr.
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/79856