Conversations InterGender

For this conversation, the speaking rates are fairly normal for this proficiency group (118.6) to Ayaka’s 87.7. Similarly the amount of silence is a little high but not necessarily noteworthy, 12.0%. There is little commentary from Ayaka to some of Sho’s comments, and she tends to ask few (3) questions. Cross-talk pausing is minimal, 10.4 seconds. Ayaka also relies too much on minimal responses, and provides very few details about her life.

From this discussion, we can see the usual trend of males out-talking females to be confirmed, with Hikaru talking 521 words to Nozomi’s 108. Syntactic dysfluency is rather limited, with just 12 repeated words for Hikaru, but what is notable is the MLRs, Nozomi had 3.2 (low) compared to Hikaru’s 11.9 (rather high). Nozomi’s speech is marked with many minimal responses, so she could improve her fluency by providing longer replies, more descriptions, and a few stories to fill out her production. Cross-talk pausing is 15.5, but both participants seemed to enjoy talking with each other.

This discussion is a first insofar that Yuri had a higher number of words than Kohei, 398 words compared to 266, though Yuri had a higher number of meaningless syllables, 75. MLRs are fairly similar. The total number of silence is high 99.8 seconds, a 13.0%, which is a bit high, but the two participants enjoyed each other. The speaking rate for the Kohei is high 100.7 while Yuri’s is somewhat low, 64.8.

This gendered discussion between Shohei and Yuri is quite fluid, with no cross-talk pausing. Intonation is marked, laughter is common, though minimal responses are too common. MLR are too short for Yuri who had 5.8 syllables as compared to Shohei’s 9.9. Shohei had a high rate of meaningless syllables 64 which is double Yuri’s, 29. Yuri’s speech is notable insofar that she had no silence in her speech while Shohei had 44 seconds. Recommendations seem to focus on reducing repetition and rephrasing with Yuri talking longer and giving more descriptive replies. Again, Shohei had four times the number of words as Yuri, 433 words compared to 108.

This is one of the few discussions in which the female has dominated the discussion, with Miya having 340 words compared to Yuma’s 228. This discussion is made of too many minimal responses. MLRs are somewhat short: 6.5 for the male and 7.5 for Miya, and the percentage of silence is very high, 28.0, 177.1 seconds. Other forms of dysfluency is rather normal but Miya has more repetition and use of L1 than Yuma.

Cross-talk pausing is very high with this discussion, 51.1 seconds, and the overall amount of silence is very high 31.0% or 186.4 seconds (3 minutes). The average mean length of pausing is also notable, with Yuma MLP being 6.3 seconds and Ayaka’s 9.1. Nonetheless, Yuma has slightly more production with 229 words compared to Ayaka’s 195. Speaking rate is average (72.7 for Yuma) to high 99.9 for Ayaka. The conversation is a bit awkward.

In this discussion, there is a moderate level of cross-talk pausing, 22.7 seconds; the amount of silence is 46.7 seconds or 7.6%. Furthermore, it is interesting that Sho tends to ask most of the questions. He also has the highest number of words 431 compared to Miya’s 280. Miya does not seem to be aware that she should also inquire or to provide more descriptive answers, or opinions. There is not-enough follow-up. Miya has too much repetition, and again, the number of words are showing that males again tend to dominate conversations, with Sho having 431 and Miya having only 280.

This discussion is also a bit unbalanced with the Taiki having 338 words compared to Yuki’s 178, who has too many minimal responses. MLRs are 16.9 for Taiki which is double than Yuki’s 8.8. The percentage of silence is high, 21.4%, 126.3 seconds. Taiki’s amount of silence is a bit higher than Yuki’s, however, 29.6 seconds to Yuki’s 19.3 seconds. Taiki does have far more meaningless syllables 23 compared to Yuki’s 8. Cross-talk pausing is fairly high; 77.4 which shows that there is some anxiety in talking between the two perhaps.

This is one of the more fluent discussions marked by high speaking rates, Yuka’s 129.2 and Masaki’s 140.1, and with no cross-talk pausing. The percentage of silence is very low 0.8%, 5.3 seconds. Average mean length runs (MLRS) are also very high, with Masaki having 25.1 and Yuka’s 13.2; however, as males tend to dominate discussions, this is also the case, with Masaki having 669 words compared to Yuka’s 348. Minimal responses are few.