Transcript AS English Language

AS English Language
Unit 3 Spoken Interaction
Conversation Analysis
Conversation Theory
Accommodation Theory
Developed by Howard Giles (1970s)
and other linguists.
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We adjust our speech to
‘accommodate’ the audience to
whom we are addressing.
Two categories:
A.
CONVERGENCE.
B.
DIVERGENCE
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Accommodation Theory
CONVERGENCE
 Speaker’s speech style moves closer to
the style of the person to whom we are
speaking.
DIVERGENCE
 The speakers’ speech styles move
further apart.
Accommodation Theory
CONVERGENCE
 Decreases the social distance between people.
 An upper middle class speaker may tone down their RP
accent whilst in the presence of working class people
(downward convergence).
 A speaker with a strong local regional accent may conform
more towards RP when being interviewed for a job (eg.
Promotion) (upward convergence).
 Research suggests that people are status conscious and
more likely to adopt speech styles in keeping with upward
convergence.
Accommodation Theory
CONVERGENCE
 Mutual convergence: both speakers
converge towards each other.
Case study: Coupland (1984)
Study of the speech of a woman who worked in
a Cardiff travel agency. He found that her
pronunciation of certain sounds varied
according to the social background of her
customers and her speech style mirrored that
of her customers
Accommodation Theory
DIVERGENCE
 Emphasise the difference between
speakers.
 Two supporters of rival football teams
engaged in an argument may
unconsciously exaggerate their regional
accents as a way of asserting regional
loyalty and identity.
H.P. Grice’s maxims
The co-operative principle
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Participants abide by rules and
conventions.
H.P. Grice (1975) identified co-operation
as the underlying principle for effective
conversations.
Speakers have common goals and
agreed ways of achieving these goals.
Grice’s maxims
Grice developed four specific maxims which
speakers tend to follow:
 Maxim of quantity: Speaker should say no
more or less than what is required. For
example, asking directions to Wyke College.
An answer which states “Not far away” is
clearly not detailed enough, but one which
states all the shops on the way to Wyke
College is surplus to requirements.
Grice’s maxims
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Maxim of relevance: The utterance
should be relevant to the context of the
conversation. A speaker who keeps
returning to a topic finished several
minutes earlier may become disruptive
to the effective functioning of the
conversation as a whole.
Grice’s maxims
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Maxim of manner: Speakers should
avoid ambiguity and obscurity. Giving
directions to Wyke College in a
confusing sequence would violate this
maxim.
Maxim of quality: Speakers should be
truthful and not say anything which is
false.
Flouting Grice’s maxims
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Breaking the maxims is referred to as
flouting the maxims.
Sometimes we are conscious that we
may flout the maxims eg. “I’ll try to be
brief”, “Sorry to repeat myself, but..”.
Flouting the maxims may cause
difficulties in the conversation eg.
Someone talking at length and “going
around the houses” may cause
frustration.
Flouting Grice’s maxims
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Compare and contrast the
following:
A:
 B:
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Type this letter.
Please type this letter.
Which is the most effective
utterance?
Flouting Grice’s maxims
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Often there is a conflict between Grice’s
maxims and the Politeness Principle.
TASK:
THINK OF SOME EXAMPLES WHERE
THE MAXIMS MAY BE FLOUTED IN
FAVOUR OF BEING POLITE.
Politeness
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Sensitivity towards others.
Examples of politeness:
Appropriate forms of address.
Regard to the social/professional relationship you have with a
speaker (eg. Secondary school teacher (Miss) vs. sixth form
teacher (Sarah)).
Speaking with a degree of formality appropriate to context.
Understanding conventions of language for specific situations
(eg. Ways of accepting and refusing an invitation).
Rules of turn-taking/avoiding overlaps and interruptions where
possible.
Politeness
Brown and Levinson (1987) formulated
two types of politeness (positive and
negative):
 POSITIVE POLITENESS: Indication of
liking and admiring a person. Paying
compliments, taking interest in wellbeing, enjoying people’s company, etc.
Politeness
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NEGATIVE POLITENESS: Avoid
intruding on other people’s lives, taking
care not to impose our presence on
them or prying into personal affairs.
Negative politeness is reflected in
indirect, apologetic and respectful
language. Saying “Excuse me” before
asking a stranger for the time is an
example of negative politeness.
Politeness
Brown and Levinson’s research suggests that
some societies and cultures place greater
emphasis on either positive or negative
politeness. Britain has been stereotyped as
placing greater emphasis on negative
politeness.
TASK:
 THINK OF SOME BRITISH CONTEXTS IN
WHICH NEGATIVE POLITENESS MIGHT
OCCUR……
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The Politeness Principle
Developed by Robin Lakoff (1973).
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Conversation governed by the politeness
principle.
Three rules of politeness:
1.
Don’t impose – similar to negative
politeness. Eg. I’m sorry to bother you.
2.
Give options – Avoids putting pressure on a
person. Eg. It’s entirely up to you.
3. Make receiver feel good – flatter and
appreciate people. Eg. What would I do
without you?
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Goffman’s Face theory
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Irving Goffman (1955).
The world is a stage and we are all
actors performing on that stage.
We present an image of ourselves to
others. That image could well be
different for different audiences.
The image we present is called FACE.
‘Losing’ and ‘saving’ face.
Goffman’s Face Theory
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We generally accept another person’s ‘face’.
Occasionally we reject someone’s face as an
act of insincerity.
Face-threatening act: rejecting or
challenging someone’s face eg. “You don’t
know what you’re talking about” or turning
your back on someone. It is often polite to
just accept someone’s face even if we do not
agree with the face being presented.
Face work is often a way of maintaining
status within a conversation.