Backchannel responses as strategic responses in bilingual speakers’ conversations

Backchannel responses appear to be a universal behavior, but specific backchannel behaviors are particular to language and culture. As such, they offer themselves to test central assumptions of Communication Accommodation Theory, in particular, assumptions relating to the processes of convergence and divergence. Researchers have identified linguistic and cultural differences in regard to the frequency, type, and placement of backchannel responses. This study examines differences in American English and German backchannel behavior and investigates backchannel behavior in interactions between monolingual and bilingual Germans. Study 1 documents significant differences in the frequency and placement of backchannel responses among monolingual German speakers and monolingual American English speakers. Results show that Germans produce fewer backchannel responses and place these responses less frequently in overlapping positions than American speakers do. Study 2 finds that native Germans who have become equally proficient in American English, when they speak to other native Germans in German, produce a higher number of backchannel responses and more often in overlapping positions than do monolingual Germans. This pragmatic transfer, for which some evidence exists in cross-linguistic studies, contradicts basic assumptions of Communication Accommodation Theory. Implications of these findings for Communication Accommodation Theory, future research on backchannel responses, and pragmalinguistic research are discussed.