Transcript AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE

AS ENGLISH LANGUAGE
Unit 3
Spoken Interaction
Conversation analysis
Features of Spoken Language
Lexis:
 More colloquial (informal) expressions
will be found eg. “I gave him a quid”.
 More slang eg. “Let’s play tig in the ten
foot”.
 More contractions eg. “I’ll come home”.
Features of Spoken Language
Lexis:
 Phatic expressions eg. “Hello”, “How’s
things?”
Deictic expressions:
 Expressions which cannot be understood
unless the context of the situation is known.
Language which points. For example, the
pronouns I, we, you, he/she/it.
Features of Spoken Language
Deictic expressions:
 Deictic expressions can refer equally to
time eg. Yesterday, now, then,
tomorrow, etc.
Features of Spoken Language
Grammar
 Speech is not structured into neatly
composed sentences.
 Interrupted constructions: one construction is
abandoned in favour of another eg. I could
have (.) We should have
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Disrupted constructions: For example, he
knows about computers (.) how to fix them.
Features of Spoken Language
Grammar
 Incomplete constructions: eg. Beckham to
Owen instead of Beckham passes the ball to
Owen.
 Non-standard grammar reflects the
informality of speech eg. “We was going to
get something to eat”.
 ELLIPSIS: omission of words eg. ‘want to
go out?’ instead of ‘Do you want to go out?’
Features of Spoken Language
Non-fluency features
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Fillers inserted into everyday speech eg. ‘you
know’, ‘sort of’, ‘I mean’. The purpose of a filler
may give the speaker time to think, soften the
force of statement or involve the listener.
Filled pauses: hesitation eg. ‘erm’ and ‘um’.
Repetitions: ‘yes, yes the one with the blue
handle’.
False starts: Changing from one grammatical
structure to another eg. “you could eat (.) no
we will eat”.
TYPES OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE
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Monologue: Single speaker addressing
one or more listeners (eg. Lectures,
sermons, speeches, plays, etc).
Dialogue: involves interaction between
two or more speakers (eg. Informal
conversations, business meetings,
debates, telephone conversations, etc).
Functions of Spoken Language
A single utterance could have more than one function:
 Referential (utterances providing information): ‘The
train leaves at half past twelve’.
 Expressive (express speaker’s feelings): ‘I’m very
tired.’
 Transactional (emphasis on getting something
done): ‘Please complete this conversational analysis’.
 Interactional (these utterances are social in
nature): ‘Hi, how are you doing?’ ‘Not too bad,
thanks’.
 Phatic (phatic communion or ‘small talk’): ‘Lovely
day today, isn’t it?’
Influences on Spoken
Language
SPEAKER IDENTITY/SPEAKER RELATIONSHIPS
The following aspects of a speaker’s identity may affect
their speech patterns/utterances:
 Regional origin.
 Social class.
 Gender.
 Ethnic identity.
 Age.
 Membership of a particular social group.
 Relationship between speakers.
Influences on Spoken
Language
CONTEXT: different aspects surrounding the
situation in which the conversation takes
place.
 Audience: Consider the persons being
addressed and the speaker’s relationship with
them. Consider differences in status, age,
gender, etc, between the different speakers.
Do the speakers’ styles converge (on the
same wave length) or do they diverge
(different wave lengths).
Influences on Spoken
Language
CONTEXT
 Setting (formality or informality): living room,
pub, football terraces, offices, classrooms,
etc.
 Topic (semantic fields): semantic field of
linguistics in a English Language lesson;
semantic field of domesticity first thing in the
morning at home, etc.
 Purpose: Refer to the functions of spoken
language.
STRUCTURE OF
CONVERSATIONS
Most conversations start with an opening
sequence. Common openings are:
 Exchanges of greetings: “Hi”. “How are you?”
 Times of day: “Good morning”.
 Self-identification in more formal contexts eg.
“Hi, I’m Dave Green from Wyke College”.
 Formality and informality is crucial in respect
of the ‘closeness’ and ‘distance’ between the
speakers in a conversation.
STRUCTURE OF
CONVERSATIONS
TURN-TAKING
 Speakers take turns during a conversation.
 Estimated that overlaps in conversation only
account for 5% of speech.
 We are skilled pragmatically in knowing when
to complete a turn and when to start a turn
(judging the TRANSITIONAL
RELEVANCE PLACE).
 We are sensitive to a range of verbal and
non-verbal cues as to when to take turns.
STRUCTURE OF
CONVERSATIONS
The mechanism of turn-taking
 In formal contexts eg. Committee meeting controlled by a
Chairperson.
 In an interview situation, question & answer dictates the
turn-taking between interviewer and interviewee.
 Q&A adjacency pairs may also be found in informal
conversations.
 Tag questions may also be used to invite a response eg
“We’re going to the cinema tomorrow, aren’t we?”
 A speaker’s pitch in voice may decrease, deepen, as they
draw near the close of an utterance.
 Eye movements are an important non-verbal clue.
 Body movements from a listener may be useful.
Structure of Conversations
Adjacency pairs: These are two-part exchanges
between speakers which follow a predicted
pattern.
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Question & Answer – A: What’s the time? B:
Ten past three.
Greeting & Greeting – A: Hi. B: Hi.
Summons & Answer – A: Dad! B: What now?
Apology & Acceptance – A: Sorry. B: That’s
okay.
Invitation & Acceptance/Refusal – A: Would
you like some tea? B: No thanks.
Structure of Conversations
Three-part exchange: This is where
the second speaker’s utterance
generates a response from the first
speaker. For example:
A:
B:
C:
Who wrote ‘Trainspotting’?
Irvine Welsh.
That’s right.
Structure of Conversations
Topic shifts
 The topic (subject matter or semantic field)
gives a conversation structure and coherence.
 Utterances will either be relevant to the same
topic or will attempt to change the topic by
using a topic shifter eg. By the way….. or
Something else has been bothering me……
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A topic loop sees a conversation return to
an earlier topic.
Structure of Conversation
Repairs:
 Self-repair: where a speaker realises they
have made a mistake and ‘repair’ it
themselves. For example: We started
driving down the M62(.) sorry the A63.
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Other repair: when a speaker is corrected by
another speaker. For example: A: The
Lecture starts at 11.30 pm. B: Don’t
you mean 11.30 in the morning?
Structure of the Conversation
Feedback
This is the means by which a speaker can tell
whether someone is paying attention to them
when they are making a turn.
 Verbal responses: ‘I know’, ‘Absolutely’.
 Back channel noises: ‘mm’, ‘huh huh’.
 Non-verbal responses: eye contact, nodding
the head, smiling. Non-verbal communication
can be positive, but it can also be negative,
suggesting boredom eg. When students look out
of the window instead of at the teacher!
Structure of a Conversation
CLOSING A CONVERSATION
 Ritual exchange of farewells. A: Bye. B: Bye. (pre-
closing signal).
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The topic being discussed may be summarised in some
way. ‘I think that just about covers everything’.
Arrangements may be made for a further meeting. A: I’ll
see you next Tuesday then. B: Yes, okay, see you
Tuesday.
Closure on a phatic expression. ‘Nice seeing you again’.
Non-verbal pre-closing signals: turning away, rising from
one’s seat, collecting belongings, etc.