Conversational Theory

1. Conversational Theory An introduction to how people talk to each other.

2. What is conversation? • Analysing conversation is part of what linguists call ‘discourse analysis.’ • Can you explain the (obvious) difference between a monologue and a dialogue? • Make a list of all the features you expect to see in a conversation.

3. Simple definition Conversation is: Any interactive spoken exchange between two or more people. • Face to face interactions (private or public (in the classroom or Prime Minister’s QT) • Non-face to face interactions eg: ‘Phone • Broadcasts such as radio phone-ins/tv chat shows.

4. ‘Ingredients’ of a conversation • You came up with a list of what conversation includes but what do linguists call these things and how do they work in practice?

5. Key ideas about conversation • Conversation is (usually) spontaneous • Speech is temporary (unlike writing) • Conversation is about more than words (unlike writing usually is): • Prosody: Communication through facets other than words such as intonation, speed, stress, volume, laughter or even silence.

6. Features: 1. Turn-taking • Basic rule of conversation – people take it in turns. Levison: ‘Less than 5% of speech stream is delivered in overlap.’ • There are conversational ‘rules’ that mean there are appropriate behaviours – when to talk, when not to. • The expected pairing of utterance and then response is known as adjacency pairs.

7. Politeness and Negotiation • Conversation is a subtle process and is about cooperation. • Getting somebody to do something for you can be done via an IMPERATIVE (telling somebody what to do) or via an INTERROGATIVE (asking somebody to do something). • There might be a ‘half way house’ for this via the use of ‘please.’ Which indicates forethought and encourages smooth conversation.We use politeness so we are not attacked.

8. Content and Conditioning • There are certain topics in conversation that are acceptable as much as there are certain words that are acceptable/unacceptable.

9. Purpose and Context • A speech act refers to the idea that there is always a purpose to speech. Speech act theory refers to what is being done when something is said. It might not always be obvious just from the words chosen. • Consider ‘I do’ at a wedding or ‘Can you pass me the ketchup?’ • GO through your day and chose 5 conversations you have had. Outline what they were about, what was their purpose?

10. Halliday’s 7 functions of language. • Instrumental – Expresses needs • Regulatory – Language used to tell others what to do • Interactional – language used to form and maintain relationships • Personal – language used to express feelings, opinions and identity • Heuristic – language used to gain knowledge about world • Imaginative – language used to tell stories and jokes and to create an imaginary environment. • Representational – to convey facts and information.

11. What else is happening:Conversational structure & analysis • What are adjacency pairs? • Brown and Yule (1983) state language is either: Interactional or Transactional • Interactional: expresses social relations & personal attitudes • Transactional: conveys factual information & is message oriented

12. Discourse Markers • Conversation is also dependent on discourse markers. These are the words and phrases that open, close and make links between and across utterances. • Discourse markers (aka utterance indicator) are like signposts in the conversation. • Discourse markers show that conversations are analysable into chunks larger than sentences.

13. Discourse markers • 'the little words like 'well', 'oh', ‘right' and OK' that break our speech up into parts and can show the relation between parts. • Their ‘meanings’ can be quite variable, and sometimes people have quite idiosyncratic discourse markers (think of your teachers), but there are some tendencies in discourse marker use: • 'Oh' can prepare the hearer for a surprising or just remembered item • ‘Right’ can indicate the beginning of a new stretch of discourse, or that a discourse topic has been completed and a new one is about to start

14. What do you call it when… • Somebody starts talking? • This is known as taking the floor. • Somebody lets somebody else talk? • This is known as yielding the floor • Somebody continues to talk? • This is known as holding the floor. • This term ‘the floor’ has its origins in debating

15. What else is going on in conversation? • BACK-CHANNELING: • If the hearer doesn’t want to speak he/she signals that the speaker can continue. This is done through sounds and gestures as well as words. • These sounds might be things like uh-huh, mmmm, yeh, • Or gestures such as head nodding • They are an important way the listener shows interest in the speaker. • They show the involvement of both parties. • Back channel feedback is very important in phone conversations. Why?

16. What else is going on? • PRE-SEQUENCING: • Used when a turn in TURN TAKING is really problematic – for example due to a difficult subject matter. • A speaker prepares for the difficulty with a pre-sequence. E.g: A: I have something terrible to tell you B: How bad can it be? A: As bad as you can imagine. B: Yeah? A: Bennie just got run over.

17. What else is going on? • PHATIC TALK: • A usual pre-sequence is phatic talk; utterances that have no real purpose. • Phatic talk is often used to open a conversation – a good example is the British obsession with the weather!? Are we really interested or is it to serve a purely interactional/social function? • Sp phatic talk will often ‘open the ground.’ • Very important social tool – small talk.

18. What else is going on? • REPAIRS: • The speaker can correct himself/herself • The hearer can correct the speaker • The Hearer can prompt the speaker, perhaps by repeating back the last utterance • The hearer doesn’t respond indicating a ‘mistake’

19. What else is going on? • NON-FLUENCY FEATURES: • These are normal characteristics of speech that interrupt the flow of talk. • Hesitations: Fill a gap to prevent a turn/allow thought • False starts – Speaker begins and then again • Repetitions – Natural though can be used for emphasis • Interruptions or Insertions – when the adjacency pair is disrupted • Overlaps – A kind of interruption; can be co-operative or an attempt to take the floor. • Fillers are also non-fluency features but…I think they come…

20. Repairs • There is a preference in speech to allow the speaker to repair their mistake. • If a speaker is not allowed to repair a mistake it is seen as not a normative response and can cause conversational trouble or conflict. • Repair is very frequent – talk is a spontaneous, noisy medium

21. What else is going on? • (here) FILLERS, HEDGES & TAG QUESTONS: • Fillers: • Sounds that ‘fill up’ speech such as urm ,um, er. • Allow thinking time and prevent interruption. Linked to ideas of voiced pauses (noises used to keep the turn in the conversation) • Hedge: • A means of being non-commital, not sounding too direct • ‘Sort of’ ‘kind of’ • Tag Questions: • (Unnecessary) questions at the end of utterances – less confrontational or confident. Prompt back channel feedback, but can be aggressive. You know what I mean, don’t you? • Vague Language: • Softens the impact of an utterance • E.g She said you smelt or something OR Whenever it was you said whatever it was you said

22. What else is going on? • PARALINGUISTIC FEATURES: • Related to body language (whereas prosody is about the non-verbal aspects of speech!) • Gestures, facial expressions. • Laughter or smiling might come under this category (poss prosody depending on context) • Paralinguistic features help add meaning in addition to the meaning of the words used.

23. Anything else?! Surely that’s it?! • Not quite – there are certain ways we can say things… • Elision: When you slur one of more sounds or syllables (like in ‘gonna’ (Going to). This is very very common! • Ellipsis: When part of a grammatical construction is missing ‘You out tonight?’ • Accent: We all know about this one!! The distinctive way words are pronounced (like my ‘oooo’ sounds as opposed to your oow sounds in words like ‘home’) • Dialect: The grammar and lexis of a regional area (Tha’ll end up like a boolie = Cumbrian for ‘You will get a bad back’!!) • Idiolect: How an individual speaks; a distinctive style. • Sociolect: How a social group talk – eg upper or working class.

24. PRACTICE: Expected responses – adjacency pairs in practice. What might be the response to the following: • Your tea is ready • That’s a nice jacket • I heard it might snow • Hello there! • Are you coming later? Notice that they are not all questions! However the most often used adjacency pairs are in a Question/Answer format.

25. PRACTICE: Consider the following: • Sit down and shut up • Please can I have some of those over there • Please quieten down • Give me that Who do you think is speaking? Why? What is the context of the utterance?

26. Practice • Can you think of a topic that are seen as taboo? • Are there certain people/contexts that change what you consider to be taboo? • Explain you answer.

27. PRACTICE: When adjacency pairs are (apparently) broken • The following examples break expectations. Can you suggest a context in which this might happen: A: Hello B: Goodbye A: What do you think of this? B: Is that the time? I must go A: Did you go out with Jon last night? B: Why are you asking? A: Why do you think?

28. PRACTICE • Give specific examples of paralinguistic features through a short skit. The audience is to interpret the meaning of these features.

29. PRACTICE Give specific examples of • Elision • Ellipsis • Accent • Dialect • Idiolect • Sociolect