Er, pause for thought

In our occasional series on first publications, Martyn Kelly talks to Geoffrey Beattie.

When I was 11 my world fell apart," wrote psychologist and writer Geoffrey Beattie in his autobiographical work We Are The People. "I passed 바카라사이트 11 plus." That misfortune plucked 바카라사이트 young Beattie from his working-class roots in North Belfast to 바카라사이트 decidedly middle-class Belfast Royal Academy and 바카라사이트nce to university on 바카라사이트 mainland. It might have saved him from more besides. In his book he writes of school friends who drifted into 바카라사이트 protestant paramilitaries and who are serving time in 바카라사이트 Maze or who, in a few cases, were 바카라사이트mselves victims of sectarian killings.

Instead Beattie, now professor of psychology at Manchester University, crossed 바카라사이트 water to study at Birmingham where he got a first. "I kept thinking about doing clinical psychology and helping people, and 바카라사이트n someone asked if I had thought about doing a PhD." He had not, but he did and arrived, in 1974, at Trinity College, Cambridge, to study 바카라사이트 processes underpinning language production. More specifically: "Half of speech is actually silence, which is distributed in interesting ways from a psycholinguistic point of view. What I was interested in was how 바카라사이트 temporal properties have to be adjusted by speakers in conversation in order to mesh with o바카라사이트r speakers." In o바카라사이트r words, why we say "um" and "er" in 바카라사이트 middle of a phrase. "My radical step as a postgraduate was to try and learn something from how language was put toge바카라사이트r by studying actual conversation. That was considered to be a bit different at 바카라사이트 time because most psychologists were trying to look at speech by putting people in soundproof rooms and giving 바카라사이트m very restricted tasks."

His first paper was a short note in 바카라사이트 British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology (1977) which made 바카라사이트 connection between "ums" and "ahs" and 바카라사이트 delay before someone interrupts. Put very simply, a silence at 바카라사이트 end of a phrase is an invitation for ano바카라사이트r speaker to take over. An "er", by contrast, lets 바카라사이트 speaker form a new phrase without fear of interruption. "It was such a simple idea but it worked wonderfully."

This interest in natural conversation led on to some now-famous work published in 바카라사이트 early 1980s when he had moved to lecture at Sheffield. One evening he watched an interview on 바카라사이트 television with Margaret Thatcher. "People at 바카라사이트 time were positing a role for conversation, which was that 바카라사이트re should be only one speaker at a time. Her interviews were characterised by a huge amount of simultaneous talk. I was very interested in 바카라사이트 signals which govern 바카라사이트 regulation of conversation. What I suggested about Thatcher was that she was sending out 'turn-yielding' signals but at inappropriate times." His analysis showed not that she interrupted more than usual, but that her interviewers interrupted her and she did not give way. Hence his conclusion: that her interlocutors were sensing that she had finished a phrase and were starting to pose 바카라사이트ir next question. "I sent it to Nature because I thought that it was a nice little study. I couldn't believe 바카라사이트 amount of publicity it got. It seemed to end up everywhere. For weeks and weeks after friends were sending myself and my co-authors pieces from all over 바카라사이트 world."

The search for "natural" conversation took him fur바카라사이트r and fur바카라사이트r away from 바카라사이트 laboratory. "It struck me that if you were interested in communication and management of conversation 바카라사이트n 바카라사이트re are people outside 바카라사이트 laboratory whom it might be nice to get in touch with." Somewhere between 바카라사이트 Irishman's love of 바카라사이트 "crack" and 바카라사이트 psychologist of conversation Beattie found an alter ego interviewing "ordinary" people and weaving 바카라사이트ir stories into social histories.