Conversational analysis: turn-taking in debonair podcast featuring gita wirjawan

Abstract

This study investigates turn-taking strategies in the Debonair Podcast episode featuring Gita Wirjawan, hosted by Deborah Henry on August 14, 2025, with a duration of 59 minutes. Using Stenström’s (1994) framework of turn-taking strategies, the research focuses on the sub-strategies of taking the turn, including starting up, taking over, interrupting, and overlapping. The findings reveal that Deborah Henry frequently employed the starting up strategy to introduce topics and guide the flow of conversation, while Gita Wirjawan often applied the taking over strategy, particularly during pauses or hesitations, to assert his role as a dominant speaker. Both participants used interruptions and overlaps, reflecting a balance between competition and cooperation in managing the conversational floor. The results demonstrate that turn-taking in this podcast was effectively managed, producing a dynamic and engaging dialogue. However, this study is limited to analyzing only the taking the turn strategy, while the holding the turn and yielding the turn strategies were not examined due to time constraints. Future research is recommended to include all three strategies for a more comprehensive understanding of turn-taking systems in podcast conversations.