BACKCHANNELS IN SPOKEN TURKISH A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY KADRİYE AYTAÇ-DEMİRÇİVİ IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING APRIL 2021 Approval of the thesis: BACKCHANNELS IN SPOKEN TURKISH submitted by KADRİYE AYTAÇ-DEMİRÇİVİ in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Language Teaching, the Graduate School of Social Sciences of Middle East Technical University by, Prof. Dr. Yaşar KONDAKÇI Dean Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Dr. Çiğdem SAĞIN-ŞİMŞEK Head of Department Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale IŞIK-GÜLER Supervisor Department of Foreign Language Education Examining Committee Members: Prof. Dr. Nalan BÜYÜKKANTARCIOĞLU (Head of the Examining Committee) Çankaya University Department of Translation and Interpreting Studies Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale IŞIK-GÜLER (Supervisor) Middle East Technical University Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Betil ERÖZ-TUĞA Middle East Technical University Department of Foreign Language Education Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aygül UÇAR Mersin University Department of English Linguistics Assist. Prof. Dr. Betül BAL-GEZEGİN Ondokuz Mayıs University Department of Foreign Language Education I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last Name: Kadriye AYTAÇ-DEMİRÇİVİ Signature: iii ABSTRACT BACKCHANNELS IN SPOKEN TURKISH AYTAÇ-DEMİRÇİVİ, Kadriye Ph.D., The Department of English Language Teaching Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale IŞIK-GÜLER April 2021, 321 pages This study aims to identify all the non-lexical and lexical backchannels and different functions carried out by these backchannels in the Spoken Turkish Corpus. It also aims to investigate differences in the use of backchannels in naturally formed groups in the data. In order to achieve these aims, Spoken Turkish Corpus was used as the data source and EXMaRALDA tools were used to annotate functions of the backchannels. A sub-corpus was formed consisting of 61 conversations from three main settings: conversations among family and/or relatives (35), among family and friends (13) and friends and/or acquaintances (13). Using a cyclic approach which requires continuous back and forth for the identification of the functions of backchannels, the results show that both non-lexical and lexical backchannels have two main functions: keeping the conversational flow and showing attitudes. Both of these main functions also have a diverse set of sub-functions. The analysis shows that there are some statistical tendencies for different age and gender groupings with regard to their use of non- lexical and lexical backchannels. Groups consisting of entirely young female speakers tend to use backchannels more commonly compared to other groups. In addition, they tend to use backchannels with the approval and agreement functions mostly. However, results also indicate that despite these statistical tendencies, other variables such as the iv topic of the conversation and socio-educational background of the speakers might have a more fundamental effect on the use of backchannels than age and gender of the speakers. Keywords: Lexical Backchannels, Non-lexical Backchannels, Group Differences, Corpus, Spoken Turkish v ÖZ KONUŞMA TÜRKÇESİNDE GERİBİLDİRİMLER AYTAÇ-DEMİRÇİVİ, Kadriye Doktora, İngiliz Dili Öğretimi Bölümü Tez Yöneticisi: Doç. Dr. Hale IŞIK-GÜLER Nisan 2021, 321 sayfa Bu çalışma Sözlü Türkçe Derlemi'nde kullanılan bütün sözcüksel ve sözcüksel olmayan geribildirimleri ve bu geribildirimlerin işlevlerini belirlemeyi hedeflemektedir. Çalışma aynı zamanda veride doğal olarak oluşan gruplarda geribildirimlerin kullanımlarındaki farklılıkları araştırmayı amaçlamaktadır. Bu amaçlara ulaşmak için veri kaynağı olarak Sözlü Türkçe Derlemi ve geribildirimlerin işlevlerini tanımlamak için EXMaRALDA araçları kullanılmıştır. Aile ve/veya akrabalar (35), aile ve arkadaşlar (13) ve arkadaşlar ve/veya tanıdıklar (13) arasında olmak üzere üç ana ortamda 61 konuşmadan oluşan bir alt derlem oluşturuldu. Geribildirimlerin işlevlerini belirlemek için verinin geriye dönülerek tekrarlı analizini gerektiren döngüsel bir yöntemin kullanıldığı analiz sonuçlarına göre hem sözcüksel hem de sözcüksel olmayan geribildirimler konuşmanın akışını sağlamak ve tutum bildirmek olmak üzere iki temel işleve sahiptir. Her iki temel işlev de birçok alt işlevlere sahiptir. Analiz sonuçları farklı yaş ve cinsiyet gruplarının sözcüksel ve sözcüksel olmayan geribildirimlerin kullanımına dair bazı istatistiksel eğilimleri olduğunu göstermektedir. Tamamı genç kadın konuşmacılardan oluşan gruplarda geribildirimlerin diğer yaş ve cinsiyet gruplarına göre daha sıklıkla kullanıldığı görülmektedir. Bunun yanı sıra, belirtilen gruplar geribildirimleri sıklıkla onaylama vi ve görüş birliği belirtme işlevleri için kullanmaktadır. Bu istatistiksel eğilimlere rağmen analiz sonuçları konuşmanın konusu ve konuşmacıların eğitim ve yetişme durumları gibi değişkenlerin konuşmacıların yaş ve cinsiyetlerine göre geribildirimlerin kullanımında daha önemli etkilere sahip olabileceğini göstermektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Sözcüksel Geribildirimler, Sözcüksel Olmayan Geribildirimler, Grupsal Farklar, Derlem, Konuşma Türkçesi vii To My Mother, Türkan Aytaç and To My Late Father, Muharrem Aytaç viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not be possible without the guidance and support of several special people. First and foremost, I would like to express my deepest gratitude to my dear supervisor Assoc. Prof. Dr. Hale Işık-Güler for her constant encouragement and guidance throughout my MA and PhD journeys. I feel so lucky to have worked with such an understanding and positive supervisor. I am deeply indebted to her as this study would not have been completed without her deep knowledge, kind and constructive feedback, and continual support. I would like to express my sincere thanks to Prof. Dr. Nalan Büyükkantarcıoğlu and Assoc. Prof. Dr. Betil Eröz-Tuğa for their precious feedback to enhance my dissertation during the thesis committee meetings. I would also like to extend my gratitude to the members of my thesis defense committee, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Aygül Uçar and Assist. Prof. Dr. Betül Bal-Gezegin for their valuable suggestions and fruitful comments. I take this opportunity to express my gratitude to all the academic staff at the Department of Foreign Language Education at METU who contributed enormously to my academic development. I also thank TÜBİTAK for the scholarship for my PhD degree. I am deeply grateful to my parents to whom this dissertation is dedicated. It was my father who ignited the inspiration and motivation for my studies. He taught me what ‘hard work’ means at a very early age. Though he passed away years ago, I always feel his endless love and unshakable faith in me. There are no words that can match the gratitude I feel for my mother. She has provided unending support and shown unmatched understanding during my MA and PhD studies. I would not have come this far without her never-ending patience and unconditional warm affection. ix Last but not least, my wholehearted thanks go to my dear husband, Burak Murat Demirçivi, who was with me throughout all the painful, challenging but rewarding stages of writing this dissertation. He has been a constant source of affection, love and encouragement during this process. x TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM...........................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. iv ÖZ ............................................................................................................................. vi DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ....................................................................................... ix TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... xi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................... xviii LIST OF TABLES.. ................................................................................................ xix LIST OF FIGURES .............................................................................................. xxvi CHAPTERS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................... 1 1.0. Presentation ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1. Background to the Study .................................................................................... 1 1.2. The Problem ....................................................................................................... 7 1.3. Purpose and Scope ............................................................................................. 8 1.4. Significance of the Study ................................................................................... 9 1.5. Organization