Yielding, in conversation, is the process of giving up one’s speaking turn intentionally, using verbal or nonverbal cues to let the other person take over. Effective turn-taking in dialogue relies on both turn-holding cues and turn-yielding cues. Yielding the floor may be signaled by prosodic drops (e.g., falling intonation at the end of a sentence), by a significant pause, by looking at the listener to cue them to respond, or by explicit phrases (“...right?”, “What do you think?”). Mastery of yielding is important for conversational reciprocity; difficulties in this area can lead to interrupting or talking over others (if one fails to yield) or, conversely, awkward silence (if multiple participants yield simultaneously). Certain communication disorders involve pragmatics deficits that affect turn-taking – for example, individuals with autism or traumatic brain injury might not pick up on or provide typical yielding cues, resulting in conversations that seem either domineering or overly passive.
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