KathrinLambertz:Backchannelling:theuseofyeahandmmtoportrayengagedlistenership 11

Backchannelling:
Theuseofyeahandmmtoportrayengagedlistenership

KATHRINLAMBERTZ

Abstract
Thispaperisconcernedwiththeuseofbackchannelstoportrayengagedlistenership.Specifically,
the aim of the research was to investigate the uses of yeah and mm as backchannelling
utterances to show engaged listenership. The research focused on the different backchannel
functionsthatcanbeidentifiedandthelocationsatwhichtheyoccur.Datawasanalysedfromthe
Griffith Corpus of Spoken Australian English (GCSAusE) and some data collected by the
researcher. The key findings suggest that yeah and mm can function as continuers, alignment
tokensandagreementtokensbutmmseemstobeweakerinrespecttoconversationalengagement.
Also, the functions of yeah and mm can be ambiguous. Further research should investigate
whether cultural or gender issues have an effect on how people portray engaged listenership by
backchannelling.

1.Introduction
Inreallifecommunication,thereisaconstantneedforspeakerstobothselfmonitor
theirownspeechproductionandtomonitorthereactionoftheirinterlocutors.There
is a need for listeners to ensure that their interpretation of the speakers
communicative intention in fact matches what he wanted to say. And occasionally,
thereisaneedforbothspeakersandlistenerstosolveproblemsastheycropup.
(Faerch1982)

Backchannelling skills are important for people wishing to be able to function as

supportiveandengagedlistenersinaconversation.Thereisnodoubtthattherehas
been some disagreement among researchers who have focused on backchannels;
there has also been some dispute in regard to how to name this pragmatic
phenomenon (Drummond 1993b; Gardner 1997, 2001; Jefferson 1983). However,
there is agreement that the importance of the listener cannot be forgotten in the
literature, as the listener is both a recipient and a coconstructer of interactive talk
(Gardner2001).

Thisstudywillfirstgiveaninsightintotheimportanceoflistenershipandtheways
in which a listener can project effective listenership through backchannels. It will
alsodiscussbackchannelingingeneral.Secondly,itwillanalyseinteractionaldata
from the Griffith Corpus of Spoken Australian English (GCSAusE), along with a
personally collected and transcribed conversation. The latter illustrates how the
backchannelsyeahandmmareusedbylistenersinconversationaldiscoursetoshow
engaged listenership and at which locations these pragmatic acts occur within a
conversation. Finally, it will discuss the findings and submit suggestions about the
implications,plusrecommendationsforfurtherresearch.

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2.LiteratureReview
In discussing the importance of the listener in a conversation, Zimmermann (1991)
claimsthatthequalityofaconversationdependslargelyonwhattakesplaceinthe
person to whom words are directed. In order to act as an active, supportive and
politelistener,oneshouldingeneralsignalaninterestinwhatthespeakerissaying
(Zimmermann 1991). This notion of politeness in heareroriented speech acts has
also been addressed by some politeness theorists (Brown 1978). Svennevig (1999)
claims that speakers and listeners are being polite by, for example, showing
attentiveness in orientation to each other and using selforientated comments to
show alignment. In this research, the term engaged listenership will be used to
describe the desire of the listener to portray active, supportive and polite
listenership.Ofcourse,thistermdoesnotignorethefactthatlistenersareinfactboth
speakers and listeners (Farr 2003). These comments or listener responses should be
givenattimeswhentheotherpersonseemstobewelcomingit,andinmanycases
thesetimesaremarkedbyprosodicfeaturesofthespeakersutterances.
Listener responses are often referred to as acknowledgment tokens
(Drummond 1993a) or backchannels (Yngve 1970). This study will use the term
backchannels or backchannelling because the recipient turns do not take the
conversationalfloor.White(1989)explainsthatthetermbackchannelreferstothe
main channel being the person who is holding the floor the speaker and the
back channel being the addressed recipient of the talk the listener who gives
information without claiming the floor. Backchannels can be verbal or nonverbal
expressions such as the nodding of the head (White 1989) or gazing (Fellegy 1995;
Young 2004). Backchannels are typically mono or bisyllabic responses of a
restrictednumberoftypes(Gardner2001)suchasuhhuh,mm,mhmandyeah,andare
also known as response tokens (Gardner 2001), minimal responses (Fellegy 1995),
reactivetokens(Young2004)andcontinuers(Zimmerman1993).Theycontrolturn
taking, the negotiation of agreement, the signalling of recognition and
comprehension, management of interpersonal relations such as control and
affiliation,andtheexpressionofemotion,attitude,andaffect(Ward2006).
The research in backchannelling initially only included nonlexical
utterances e.g. mhm, but later included sentence completions, requests for
clarification, brief statements, and nonverbal responses (Duncan 1974). It is now
common to speak of three categories: nonlexical backchannels, which are vocalic
soundsthathavelittleornoreferentialmeaning,suchasmhm;phrasalbackchannels,
whicharetypicalexpressionsofacknowledgmentandassessment,suchasreally;and
substantivebackchannels,beingturnswithreferentialcontentsuchasarepetitionor
aclarifyingquestion(Iwasaki1997).
Aconsiderableamountofattentionhasbeengiventobackchannelutterances
in particular: yeah and mm (Drummond 1993a, 1993b; Gardner 1997, 2001; Jefferson
1983). Gardner primarily addresses mm and yeah and notes that such unobtrusive
responsetokensasyeah,mmhm,okayandmmturnouttobeexquisitelycomplex,ina
waythatisstillbecomingapparent(2001,p.1).Hemakesfourmajordistinctionsor
subclasses of backchannels: continuers, which function to hand the floor back
straight awaytothepriorspeaker (e.g. mmanduh huh); acknowledgements, which
claimagreementorcomprehensionofthepriorturn(e.g.mmandyeah);newsmakers,
which mark the prior turn as newsworthy; and changeofactivity tokens, which

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KathrinLambertz:Backchannelling:theuseofyeahandmmtoportrayengagedlistenership 13

mark a movement towards a new topic or action in a conversation (e.g. okay and
right). It can be seen that according to Gardner (2001), mm can function as both a
continuer and an agreement token, whereas the function of yeah is primarily as an
agreeingutterance.
Thisresearchpaperwillconcentrateonanalysingthenonlexicalverbalback
channels.Inparticular,itwilllookatthetwomainbackchannelutterances,yeahand
mm,andtheirusesinportrayingengagedlistenership.

3.Analysisoftheinteractionaldata
The analysed data in this research project consists primarily of a conversation
between two female friends but is supported through examples collected from the
GCSAusE. The Conversation Analysis approach was applied in order to detect
significantfeaturessuchaspitch,stress,overlapping,loudnessandintonation.Itis
important to transcribe every single utterance of a conversation, as an absence of
these items in the transcription might have great significance in the analysis of the
meaning.
The analysis of the interactional data yielded three different functions of
backchannellingthroughtheuseofyeahandmm:continuers,alignmenttokensand
agreementtokens,whichwillnowbefurtherdiscussed.

3.1.Continuers
Asstated,theanalysisfoundthatyeahandmmcanbothbeusedascontinuers.The
formerwasseenasthemostcommonlyoccurringutteranceinthedata.Intheprivate
conversation the use of yeah occurred 32 times, whereas mm only occurred nine
times.Theuseofyeahasacontinuerascanbeobservedinthefollowingexample:

1. A:butjustyouknowyoufeellikeyoucanopenuptoemand(.)
2. B:yeah
3. A:theyundersta:ndwhat(0.5)youretryingtosa:ylike(0.4)
4. [theresno]
5. B:[yeahand]theydontjudgeyouforit=

Twofemalefriendsareconversinghereabouttheirrelationshipstotheirfriends.In
line3,SpeakerAresumesspeakingaftersherecognizesthatSpeakerBhasuttereda
continuer. Ascanbeseeninthisexample,theutteranceyeahisoften usedafterthe
speakerhasnotcompletedanutterancefollowedbypause.SpeakerBrecognisesthat
the storytelling is still in progress and uses yeah as a continuer to show low
speakershipincipiency(Drummond1993b)andsignalsthespeakertocontinuewith
thetellinginprogress.
Inthenextexample,datafromtheGCSAusE,anotherexamplecanbeseenof
yeah being used by the listener as a continuer. J is using yeah as an overlapping
utterance in order to show interest in the topic and to signal the speaker to keep
going (Fellegy 1995). Also, Ns utterance contains a number of pauses and
repetitions,whichmightsignalthatNisthinkingaboutwhattosay.Inthisrespect,J
encouragesNbyusingcontinuers.

1. N:Iwaslike.hthisisthefirsttimeeverthat

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2. iveonlyhadtwoweekstodo:(.)anassign[men]t=
3. J:[yeah:]
4. N:=ohlessthantwoweeks[now=.
5. J:[yeah:
6. N:=becausetheymadethat[onTU:esda:y,
7. J:[Whenisshegonnaputitup?

The focus will now shift to how listeners portray their listenership through
theuseofthebackchannellingutterancemm.Inthefollowingexample,SpeakerBis
showing low speakership incipiency by signalling the speaker to continue with the
storytelling.Ashasbeenseenwiththeuseofyeah,thelistenerusesacontinuerafter
an incomplete utterance followed by a pause. Therefore, Speaker B signals to the
other speaker an interest in the storytelling in progress. However, a significant
difference is that unlike yeah, which somewhat portrays an opinion about an
utterance, the use of mm seems to be more neutral and less opinionated (Gardner
1997).Itcouldbesaidthatlistenersfeelthatyeahsignalsagreaterengagementinthe
conversation.

1. A:=like.hhandshesshesreallysweetshecanbereallysweet.hh
2. butshelldo:thingssometimesthat(1.3)re::allymakeyouthink(1.2)
that
3. shestry::ingto::(1.5)pushyoudo::wnoror(0.5)
4. B:>mm<=
5. A:=um(2.0)>I::dontkno::w<likejust.hhyeahIItherewasacouple
things
6. thatsh::esdo:newou

Ascontinuers,bothyeahandmmcanbeusedeitheraftercompleteutterancesor
inbetweenpausesorbreathingbythespeaker.Also,bothutterancescanbeusedas
an overlap, without giving the impression of being rude. Moreover, overlapping
mightresembleahigherengagementinlistenership(Farr2003).

3.2Alignment
Ontheotherhand,yeahwasalsousedtoenactalignment.Inthesameexample,we
can observe that Speaker B (line 5) uses yeah to signal that she shares the same
thoughtbutalsocontinueswithmoretalkinthesameturn,toshowthatthelistener
isactivelylisteningandcontributingtotheconversation.

1. A: theyundersta:ndwhat(0.5)youretryingtosa:ylike(0.4)[theresno]
2. B:[yeahand]
3. theydontjudgeyouforit=

Here,thelistenerisaligningwiththespeakertosignalasharedopinion.However,
thisexamplemaybeambiguous,astheuseofyeahcouldalsobeseenasacontinuer.
Eventhoughthelistenercontinueswithmoretalkinthesameturn,he/shedoesnot
takethefloor;rather,thespeakerresumesthestorytelling.

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The use of mm can also occur as an aligning backchannel utterance, as can be

observedinthenextexample.

1. A:=courseswithum(.)likewomenwhohavebeenin(1.1)domesin
violent
2. relationshipsor.hhfamiliesthathavebeenviolentandstuffandshe
does
3. likepositiv:::eassertionandlike[non ]violentcommunicationand
4. stuff=
5. B: [>mm< ]

Here,theuseofmmisoverlappingthestorytellingofthespeaker.Thelistenershows
alignment with the speaker without making any judgments. The backchannel
utterancemmcouldeasilybereplacedbyyeahwithoutchangingthemeaning.Inthis
respect,thisexamplecouldbeambiguous,duetothepossibilityofregardingitasa
continuerbythelistener.
Yeahismorecommonlyusedasanalignmenttokenandcanbefollowedby
moretalkinthesameturn,toshowinterestbyaddingastatement.Theuseofyeahin
thisinstanceappearstobemorecommonafterutterancesratherthaninoverlapping.

3.3Agreement
Alessambiguousexampleoftheuseofyeahasatokenofagreementcanbeseenin
thenextexample:

1. A: =>butthisprobablygottodoalotwith<thesuperficialityofthe
2. relationship?.hhh
3. B: yeah
4. A:becauseitbecauseitssuperficialyoucanhavethoselittlesuperficial
5. meaningslike(.)whenyougettogethereverynowandthe::n =

Here,SpeakerAisperhapsrequestingthelistenertogiveatokenofagreementwith
As current utterance by a questionlike rising contour at the end of the utterance,
followedbyabriefpauseintheformofbreathing.Thelistenerbackchannelstothe
speakerbyagreeingwithherbeforethespeakerresumeswiththestorytelling.
Again,thefollowingexampleshowstheuseofyeahasanagreementtokenby
J,tosignal that JagreeswithNs utterance. However, J doesnottakethefloorand
signalsNtoprogresswiththestorytelling.

1. N:ohwasjustthinkingthatuh
2. hestheguythatusedtorun:
3. [Guci]=yeah:=

4. J:[Guci]yeah==yeah
5. N:No[Isawhimacoupleoftimes

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4.Discussion
Theanalysisoftheinteractionaldatagivesaninsightintohowlistenersbackchannel
byusingyeahandmmtoportrayengagedlistenership.Thefindingsofthisresearch
articlearetosomeextentcohesivewithGardners(2010)findingsaboutyeahandmm.
The first significant result is that listeners make more use of yeah as a back
channellingdevicethanmm.Oneofthereasonsforthismightbethattheuseofmm
is weaker and more neutral than yeah (Gardner 1997) and that listeners might feel
thatyeahsignalsagreateractiveengagementintheconversation.
Overall,theanalysisfoundthreedifferentfunctionsofyeahandmmasaback
channel utterance to signal engaged listenership: continuers, alignment tokens and
agreement tokens. Yeah and mm can both function as continuers and can be
interchangeable, however, the use of yeah would be less neutral and might signal
higher speakership incipiency than mm (Gardner 1997). Also, we have seen that
whileyeahandmmarebothusedtoexpressalignment,yeahisusedmorefrequently
in this instance. The use of mm as an agreement token has not been found in this
data. According to the literature review, an agreement token which is similar in
soundandmorefavourablyusedinthisinstancewouldbemhm,whichinmeaning
wouldbeclosertoyeah(Gardner2001).
Anothergeneralbutimportantfindingisthatthebackchannelfunctionsthat
carryyeahandmmcanbeambiguous.Thereisafinelinebetweenthesedifferences
andattimestheycanbedifficulttodistinguish.Thisfindingisalsoconsistentwith
those of many researchers who have dealt with backchannels. Looking only at the
term backchannelling and its different uses that are apparent in the literature
(Gardner2001),itisunderstandablethatthereisafinelinebetweenthefunctionsof
backchannelling.Inthisview,thedistinctionsbetweenbackchannelsseemtoblend
intoeachother.Forexample,thisresearchhasmadeadistinctionbetweenalignment
andagreement,becauseagreementseemstobemoreopinionated.
Inthisrespect,oneofthelimitationsofthisresearchmightbethequantityof
data. It would be of interest to compare results taken from a larger range of data.
Also, the use of yeah and mm (including all other backchannel utterances) are, for
example, dependent on the speakers relationship to each other, as backchannels
controlthemanagementofinterpersonalrelationssuchascontrolandaffiliation,and
the expression of emotion, attitude, and affect (Ward 2006). At the very least, there
seemstobeasharedviewabouttheimportanceofbackchannellinginregardtothe
management of conversations and, even more importantly, to the importance of
engagedlistenership ina conversation. In this respect,there is much more to back
channelsasapragmaticactinalinguisticsense.Thepsychologicaleffectscannotbe
dismissedandshouldbeincorporatedintofurtherresearch.
It is important to note that this research has only focused on backchannel
utterancesandtheirfunctionsinAustralianEnglish.Backchannelcommunicationis
present in all cultures and languages, but the frequency and the use of utterances
mayvary(White1989)andconfusionmightoccurifspeakersareunfamiliarwiththe
backchannel utterances of the opposing speaker. However, this is also strongly
affectedbyotherfactors,includingthepersonalitiesofthespeakerandlistener,the
context,andtheculture(Tannen1986).

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Anotherfactorthatmighthaveaneffectonshowingengagedlistenershipby
backchannellingmightbegender(Ward2006).Itisapparentingenderstudiesthat
womenaresaidtousetheseutterancestosignalsupportandengagedlistenership,
whilemenusethemtosignalagreementandinattentiveness(Fellegy1995).Inthis
respect,furtherstudyshouldincorporatebothculturalandgenderissuesinregardto
howoneusesbackchannellingtoportraylistenership.
In conclusion, the findings of this research have contributed to the
importanceofthelistenerinaconversation.Backchannelutterancesareimportant,
as they are one of the few indicators that shed some light on one of the central
featuresinaconversation:thelistener.

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