``Dyadosyncrasy'', Idiosyncrasy and Demographic Factors in Turn-Taking

Turn-taking in dialogue follows universal constraints but also varies significantly. This study examines how demographic (sex, age, education) and individual factors shape turn-taking using a large dataset of US English conversations (Fisher). We analyze Transition Floor Offset (TFO) and find notable interspeaker variation. Sex and age have small but significant effects — female speakers and older individuals exhibit slightly shorter offsets — while education shows no effect. Lighter topics correlate with shorter TFOs. However, individual differences have a greater impact, driven by a strong idiosyncratic and an even stronger "dyadosyncratic" component — speakers in a dyad resemble each other more than they resemble themselves in different dyads. This suggests that the dyadic relationship and joint activity are the strongest determinants of TFO, outweighing demographic influences.