@incollection{HelmerBetzDeppermann2021, author = {Henrike Helmer and Emma Betz and Arnulf Deppermann}, title = {Coordination of OKAY, nods, and gaze in claiming understanding and closing topics}, series = {OKAY across Languages: Toward a comparative approach to its use in talk-in-interaction}, editor = {Emma Betz and Arnulf Deppermann and Lorenza Mondada and Marja-Leena Sorjonen}, publisher = {Benjamins}, address = {Amsterdam}, isbn = {978-90-272-6028-4}, issn = {1879-3983}, doi = {10.1075/slsi.34.12hel}, url = {https://nbn-resolving.org/urn:nbn:de:bsz:mh39-103872}, pages = {363 -- 393}, year = {2021}, abstract = {Our paper examines how bodily behavior contributes to the local meaning of OKAY. We explore the interplay between OKAY as response to informings and narratives and accompanying multimodal resources in German multi-party interaction. Based on informal and institutional conversations, we describe three different uses of OKAY with falling intonation and the recurrent multimodal patterns that are associated with them and that can be characterized as ‘multimodal gestalts’. We show that: 1. OKAY as a claim to sufficient understanding is typically accompanied by upward nodding; 2. OKAY after change-of-state tokens exhibits a recurrent pattern of up- and downward nodding with distinctive timing; and 3. OKAY closing larger activities is associated with gaze-aversion from the prior speaker.}, language = {en} }