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Are there english terms for the active talker and the active listener in a conversation?

English Language & Usage Asked by Paul Larke on May 3, 2021

This question concerns the terminology for a conversation between two people. If we froze a conversation in time there would be one person who was doing the talking and one person who was listening. Are there english terms for ‘the person who at this point is talking’ (at a specific point of the conversation) and ‘the person who at this point is listening’? In other words, if A were the active talker and B was the active listener both participants would take on the role of A and B interchangably over time. Are there english equivilent words for A and B?

One Answer

These concepts are precisely defined in telecommunications world, and I think you can reuse them here. In following definitions, you can replace device by person.

From rfwireless-world.com

Transmitter definition: The device used to transmit signal from one place to the other is known as transmitter.

And

Receiver definition: The device which decodes the transmitted information from the received signal is known as receiver.

A device (or person!) that is a combined transmitter & receiver is a transceiver.

Also regarding the mechanism, where you describe only one person transmitting at a time and the other receiving this is half duplex

Simplex communication is a communication channel that sends information in one direction only. The International Telecommunication Union definition is a communications channel that operates in one direction at a time, but that may be reversible; this is termed half duplex in other contexts. A duplex communication channel requires two simplex channels operating in opposite directions. — Wikipedia

Though If your two people talk over each other, i.e., speak simultaneously then it’s full duplex.

Correct answer by k1eran on May 3, 2021

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