Cooperation in conversation is usually managed by the turn- taking mechanism where the interlocutors’ turns are done according to certain rules, the most important of which is that one and only one speaker speaks at a time. And since talk can be used as a cure for the people who have troubles in their life, psychotherapy uses the field of conversation analysis as a procedure to deal with such troubles. Conversation analysis with all its essential facts helps therapists find out the reasons behind their patients' difficulties and predict the solutions for them. One of such essentials is the turn taking system, and more specifically is the ‘overlapping talk’. In relation to this, the present study aims to show the reason behind the occurrence of overlap in therapy sessions and how it is managed and resolved. To do so, two scripts taken from two psychological therapy sessions are selected and examined using Sacks et al’s model (1974) and Jefferson’s model (1983). The study has come to the conclusion that the overlapping talk usually occurs because of the misjudgment of the transition relevance places (TRPs) due to the type of overlap whether transitional or progressional. It has also been noticed that the terminal overlap is used more frequently than the other types. Continuers such as ‘yeah’, ‘ok’, ‘alright’, ‘aha’, ‘umm’ are used by therapists to encourage the patients to go on with their talk.
نوال فاضل عباس | Nawal Fadhil Abbas | 4189