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Conversational Coherence

Conversational Coherence. COM 370--John R. Baldwin. Conversational Effectiveness (Thompson, 2003, Ch. 6). Setting the scene : Ex: a tough discussion Social context Physical context Relationship Mood/state of mind Speech genre Purpose.

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Conversational Coherence

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  1. Conversational Coherence COM 370--John R. Baldwin

  2. Conversational Effectiveness(Thompson, 2003, Ch. 6) • Setting the scene: Ex: a tough discussion • Social context • Physical context • Relationship • Mood/state of mind • Speech genre • Purpose

  3. Elements of Effectiveness (informal)(Thompson, 2003, Ch. 6) • Balance of phatic communication • Other-awareness (mindfulness) • Process versus outcome focus • Self-observation, other-observation • Acknowledge feelings (EQ) • Awareness of “face” • Assertiveness (vs. agressiveness, passiveness • Nonverbal awareness • Reframing: • E.g., complaint  request; addressing racism • Open- versus closed statements: The key

  4. Avoiding Discrimination(Thompson, 2003, Ch. 6) • A view towards “political correctness” • Avoid language that • Excludes: “Chairman,” “the lawyer. . . he" • Depersonalizes : “the handicapped.” “They are affectionate, aren’t they?” • Stigmatizes : “Black sheep” “A ___ excuse.” “That’s so ____!” • Reinforces stereotypes : “So, what team do you play on?” • Legitimizes discrimination : “domestic violence” • [Is Offensive] : “Chairman,” “the lawyer. . . he"

  5. Types of Coherence • Global coherence: “A goal-oriented plan that offers overall control and is functionally related to local surface connections” • Local coherence: “Relations between utterances, sentences, or propositions that are pairwise and structured as sequential continuations” (Ellis, 1999, p. 90) • Cohesion: [More below…]

  6. Local Coherence • “Local organization . . . Is concerned with the pragmatic relations among actual components of a text. At its rawest level, a text is an unbroken string of expressions—words, phrases, and speech acts. Local coherence is “from below” or “bottom up” and focuses on how meanings in a text are linked up to form and contribute to more general and complex meanings” (Ellis, p. 110)

  7. Local Coherence • Cohesion: The interrelation between surface forms of conversation…”when one element of a message cannot be understood without referring to what presupposes it” (Ellis, p. 111). • Ex: “Bundle the papers with string. Then place them on the curb.

  8. Types of Cohesion • Reference:Something in text refers to something else (e.g. pronouns) • Exophoric: Not within text • Endophoric: Within text (before or after) • Substitution: Replaces one word with a substitute word or similar phrase, word, or clause • Ellipsis: When a word or phrase is not said, but is understood; that is, a “meaning slot” is empty

  9. Types of Cohesion • Conjunction: Show “how information in one part of text is related to what preceded it” (p. 114)—a “semantic” rather than structural relationship between elements: Conjunctions, compound adverbs, prepositional phrases. • Additive • Adversative • Causal • Temporal • And others (locational, etc.) • Lexical Cohesion: Most complex; achieved through vocabulary selection with words that are synonymous, near synonymous, or in superordinate relationship with one another

  10. Cohesion and… • Effective communication: “Communicators who are adept…” (p. 116) • Speech acts: “their meaning and function are determined locally…” (p. 124) (subcodes) • Sequencing: contingency-relevance rule(p. 129). • Initiations: RecognizeIdentifySocial Recognition • “Demand ticket” (p. 133) • Topic-shift markers: (p. 136): Well, Now, BTW • Preface/follow • Regulatingbehavior (p. 132)

  11. Global Coherence • “Global coherence presupposes the existence of a general structure that is related to ideas such as topic, theme, gist, or goal of discourse. It focuses on what is most central or prominent about a discourse and acts as an overall executive manager of language, acts, and sequences” (Ellis, p. 110)

  12. Aspects of Global Coherence • Topicality:Subject of theme of discourse or text—the element that holds an entire text or portion of text together. • The importance of topic • Determining conversational relevance • Focus (implicit, explicit) • Foregrounding

  13. 1a: The little puppy stepped on a wasp. • 1b: The puppy was very upset. • 1c: It started to buzz furiously. • 2a: The book was really good. It was well written. • 3a: The book was really good. The author is very skilled.

  14. Aspects of Global Coherence • Schema(ta):“higher-level data structures for representing concepts in memory”—memory structures or sets of “knowledge” we use to interpret experience • Person schema • Event schema • Self schema • Role schema • Ex: Van Dijk’s (1987) example of stereotypes

  15. Aspects of Global Coherence • Scripts:Similar to an “event schema,” a script is a “knowledge structure that depicts a typical sequence of events for a common situation” (p. 95). We use these for situations like “getting ready for class” or “asking for date.” • What are some common scripts you can think of? • What are some ways scripts (and other schema) can differ? • Scripts assume information shared by participants.

  16. Ex: Claire painted the wall with a roller. • Ex: Julie polished her surfboard. • Ex: Zack ordered a steak. When it arrived, he picked up his X to eat it. • John needed money. He got a gun and walked into a liquor store. He told the owner he wanted some money. The owner gave John the money. Scripts suggest that we get much meaning from these utterances that is not present within either the semantics or syntax !

  17. The Funeral • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfDyTUiL8xs

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