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Article published In: Interactional Linguistics
Vol. 6:1 (2026) ► pp.34–65

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Phonetic features in the interactional management of laughter

ORCiD logo with link | University of York
 | University of York
 | Saarland University
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of York.

Published online: 19 September 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/il.25004.ogd
Abstract
This paper investigates the phonetic and social organisation of laughter in spoken conversation.
Building on conversation analytic research that highlights laughter as a complex interactional achievement, we examine the phonetic details of laughter in recordings of English, Spanish, and Finnish conversations, and how participants use these details to manage its unfolding in real time.
Our analysis details the internal structure of laughter bouts, including the initiating pulse, exhalation sequence, glottal reset, and final inhalation. We demonstrate phonetic differences between the phases of laughter, and how participants use these details of production to coordinate laughter with each other and with surrounding talk.
Our findings contribute to a more detailed understanding of the phonetic organisation of laughter and its role in the management of social interaction.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Data
    • 2.1Overview of data
    • 2.2Terminology
    • 2.3Presentation of acoustic data
  • 3.Overview of the shape of a laughter bout
    • 3.1The structure of laughter bouts
      • 3.1.1Premonitory phases of laughter
      • 3.1.2The initiating pulse
      • 3.1.3The exhalation sequence
      • 3.1.4Glottal reset
      • 3.1.5Final inhalation
  • 4.Illustrative examples
    • 4.1A canonical laughter bout
    • 4.2Orientation to the initiating pulse
    • 4.3Orientation to melody in the exhalation phase
    • 4.4Accomplishing a joint ending
    • 4.5Extending an ending
    • 4.6More formulaic laughter
  • 5.Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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