Week 1
Contextual Factors include:
- situational factors
- status and relationships
- discourse conventions
- purpose, audience and genre
Interactional Features include:
- pragmatics
- turn-taking
- modes of address
- agenda-setting in conversations
week 2
Utterance Function:
Features of Dialogue or conversations:
- Statement -> Comment -> Response
- Questions -> Answer -> Comment
- Request -> Response -> Acknowledgement.
Features of Dialogue or conversations:
- Anacoluthon
- Hedges
- Hesitations
- Overlaps and Interruptions
- False start
week 3
3 lexico and grammatical features:
- type of utterance
- figurative language
- rhetorical questions
week 4
Graphology:
written representation of speech:
clues to the personality and mood. We can hear the speakers idiolect.
written representation of speech:
- capitals
- bold
- italics
- parenthesis
clues to the personality and mood. We can hear the speakers idiolect.
Concept of ‘Face’- Brown and Levinson:
Brown and Levinson use the ‘Concept of Face’ to explain politeness. There are two different types; positive and negative face. Positive face is the desire to be liked and appreciated. Negative face is the desire not to be imposed on or interrupted. Negative face concentrates on negative politeness which is seen as threatening acts when this threat is shown the person commits a face-threatening act (FTA).
Examples of Face Threatening Acts:
1. Face Threatening Act with no politeness:"Close your mouth when you eat you swine."
2. Face Threatening Act with positive politeness: "You have such beautiful teeth. I just wish I didn't see them when you eat."
3. Face Threatening Act with negative politeness: "I know you're very hungry and that steak is a bit tough, but I would appreciate it if you would chew with your mouth closed."
4. Indirect Face Threatening Act, which is ambiguous and the person might realise this ambiguity and act accordingly or deny the meaning: "I wonder how far a person's lips can stretch, yet remain closed when eating."
Gender in Speech
Women usually engage in anecdotes, jokes chatting and expressing opinion and gossiping. Women tend to gossip more than men; this is referred to as idle chat and is usually based on rumours. Gossiping is a way of asserting social unity.
Story telling:
Women do not tell ‘naughty’ stories; it is usually men who do this. When women tell stories they do not mind if they show themselves in fearful or embarrassing situations. In contrast men like to show themselves as being heroic and will therefore tell stories which show them in dangerous and violent situations. This is to show their masculinity. Women like to share their problems so that other people can put in their input to help her solve the issue. Men, however, will not really share their problem and will, instead, just show how they solved their problem.
Brown and Levinson use the ‘Concept of Face’ to explain politeness. There are two different types; positive and negative face. Positive face is the desire to be liked and appreciated. Negative face is the desire not to be imposed on or interrupted. Negative face concentrates on negative politeness which is seen as threatening acts when this threat is shown the person commits a face-threatening act (FTA).
Examples of Face Threatening Acts:
1. Face Threatening Act with no politeness:"Close your mouth when you eat you swine."
2. Face Threatening Act with positive politeness: "You have such beautiful teeth. I just wish I didn't see them when you eat."
3. Face Threatening Act with negative politeness: "I know you're very hungry and that steak is a bit tough, but I would appreciate it if you would chew with your mouth closed."
4. Indirect Face Threatening Act, which is ambiguous and the person might realise this ambiguity and act accordingly or deny the meaning: "I wonder how far a person's lips can stretch, yet remain closed when eating."
Gender in Speech
Women usually engage in anecdotes, jokes chatting and expressing opinion and gossiping. Women tend to gossip more than men; this is referred to as idle chat and is usually based on rumours. Gossiping is a way of asserting social unity.
Story telling:
Women do not tell ‘naughty’ stories; it is usually men who do this. When women tell stories they do not mind if they show themselves in fearful or embarrassing situations. In contrast men like to show themselves as being heroic and will therefore tell stories which show them in dangerous and violent situations. This is to show their masculinity. Women like to share their problems so that other people can put in their input to help her solve the issue. Men, however, will not really share their problem and will, instead, just show how they solved their problem.
cheese shop transcript tranformation
Task: transform the transcript of the cheese shop into a piece of prose text.
Scenario: customer has invited a woman of a higher class to dinner and is trying to impress her.
I couldn’t just get any ordinary cheese; I had to make sure this was something she would remember. I had heard of Comté before, I’ve heard it is quite common amongst the rich and I wanted this to be the best dish she has ever had.
I enquired with the assistant, asking, “Do you have any er Comté cheese?”
He replied saying, “Comté? We’ve got some here sir.”
He pointed to the back of the shelf and chose a piece for me.
I asked nervously, not wanting to sound too obvious, “Er how much is that?” I mean I don’t regularly go to shops like this but for tonight I thought I’d make the effort.
“All this?,” he questioned. He weighed the cheese and then hissed, “It’s quite a bit. £9.31.”
My jaw dropped just a little. She perhaps was out of my league but that doesn’t mean I was willing to spend quite so much just on cheese. “£9.31? I’ll have half of that.”
“Half of that?” he repeated. I bet he knew that I did not have a lot of money in my pocket. I still had a lot more ingredients to buy, and... oh flowers. She’d like flowers wouldn’t she?
Swiftly moving the conversation to avoid further embarrassment I mentioned, “Yeah I didn’t think you used you didn’t sell it usually. Last time I came in you weren’t selling it.”
Bluntly he replied, “Must have run out.”
“No he said you sold Gruyère instead.”
Gruyère is another cheese most commonly known amongst the rich most notably amongst famous gourmet chefs. Perhaps I should have bought that instead. Had I made the wrong choice? What if she is displeased?
He continued questioning me, “Yeah. When did he say that?”
“Oh about six months ago.”
“Paul here who used to work for Gruyère but because they gave him so much of it he just got sick of it.”
“Ah. Well, we’ll see anyway.” I uttered as casually as I could, still worried that I should have bought a grander cheese. It’s upsetting to know she perhaps has cheese like this all the time whereas I hardly do. In fact I don’t ever think this much about cheese. I just hope Comté is sufficient enough for her. After all ordinary cheese like cheddar from Tesco would perhaps not suffice to her usual taste.
“It’s not like this Comté.” He stated.
At least that was reassuring to hear. Perhaps I had made the right decision after all.
“No.” I replied just as I started to calm myself down.
“Anything else?” he enquired.
I simply replied with a simple, “No that’s it, thanks.”
The assistant wrapped up the cheese and snarled, “That’ll be £4.53, please.”
It’s like he doesn’t believe I can afford it. Sure £9.31 was a little too expensive for me, but I'm perhaps unlike the rest of the customers that enter this shop. I simply wanted this to be a well prepared dish. I cautiously counted the money to evade any further judgements, “£4.53. There we are.”
The assistant then went on, “Thank you very much. Do you need a bag for that?”
“I wouldn’t mind actually.”
“Do you want a paper or a carrier bag?”
“Paper bag’s fine.”
“Yeah. There you go.”
He handed me the paper bag with a cheese that was perhaps too posh for my liking. I felt like I had to almost guard the paper bag as if I was holding gold inside. But I hope that it will all be worth it in the end. If she likes it then... who knows.
“Thanks very much. Bye.” And I left a smile with a smile on my face, confident for what was ahead tonight.
Scenario: customer has invited a woman of a higher class to dinner and is trying to impress her.
I couldn’t just get any ordinary cheese; I had to make sure this was something she would remember. I had heard of Comté before, I’ve heard it is quite common amongst the rich and I wanted this to be the best dish she has ever had.
I enquired with the assistant, asking, “Do you have any er Comté cheese?”
He replied saying, “Comté? We’ve got some here sir.”
He pointed to the back of the shelf and chose a piece for me.
I asked nervously, not wanting to sound too obvious, “Er how much is that?” I mean I don’t regularly go to shops like this but for tonight I thought I’d make the effort.
“All this?,” he questioned. He weighed the cheese and then hissed, “It’s quite a bit. £9.31.”
My jaw dropped just a little. She perhaps was out of my league but that doesn’t mean I was willing to spend quite so much just on cheese. “£9.31? I’ll have half of that.”
“Half of that?” he repeated. I bet he knew that I did not have a lot of money in my pocket. I still had a lot more ingredients to buy, and... oh flowers. She’d like flowers wouldn’t she?
Swiftly moving the conversation to avoid further embarrassment I mentioned, “Yeah I didn’t think you used you didn’t sell it usually. Last time I came in you weren’t selling it.”
Bluntly he replied, “Must have run out.”
“No he said you sold Gruyère instead.”
Gruyère is another cheese most commonly known amongst the rich most notably amongst famous gourmet chefs. Perhaps I should have bought that instead. Had I made the wrong choice? What if she is displeased?
He continued questioning me, “Yeah. When did he say that?”
“Oh about six months ago.”
“Paul here who used to work for Gruyère but because they gave him so much of it he just got sick of it.”
“Ah. Well, we’ll see anyway.” I uttered as casually as I could, still worried that I should have bought a grander cheese. It’s upsetting to know she perhaps has cheese like this all the time whereas I hardly do. In fact I don’t ever think this much about cheese. I just hope Comté is sufficient enough for her. After all ordinary cheese like cheddar from Tesco would perhaps not suffice to her usual taste.
“It’s not like this Comté.” He stated.
At least that was reassuring to hear. Perhaps I had made the right decision after all.
“No.” I replied just as I started to calm myself down.
“Anything else?” he enquired.
I simply replied with a simple, “No that’s it, thanks.”
The assistant wrapped up the cheese and snarled, “That’ll be £4.53, please.”
It’s like he doesn’t believe I can afford it. Sure £9.31 was a little too expensive for me, but I'm perhaps unlike the rest of the customers that enter this shop. I simply wanted this to be a well prepared dish. I cautiously counted the money to evade any further judgements, “£4.53. There we are.”
The assistant then went on, “Thank you very much. Do you need a bag for that?”
“I wouldn’t mind actually.”
“Do you want a paper or a carrier bag?”
“Paper bag’s fine.”
“Yeah. There you go.”
He handed me the paper bag with a cheese that was perhaps too posh for my liking. I felt like I had to almost guard the paper bag as if I was holding gold inside. But I hope that it will all be worth it in the end. If she likes it then... who knows.
“Thanks very much. Bye.” And I left a smile with a smile on my face, confident for what was ahead tonight.
Glossary:
- Modes of address: show how changing the mode of address changes the meaning.
- Discourse: stretches of language longer than a sentence
- Pragmatics: not what the sentence actually means, but what the speaker wants it to mean
- Verbatim: word for word
- Verisimilitude: giving the impression of real life
- Inference: infer what has been uttered by understanding what has gone on beforehand
- Presupposition: assume before you hear
- Implication: questions are not always relevant and meaning is implied
- Adjacency Pairs: expected response, e.g. person A: "hi, how are you?" Person B: "Fine thanks, and you?"
- Turn Taking: the person who speaks the longest or the most has the power (holds the floor). the context is an important factor to consider, e.g. interviews.
- Back-channel: listener indicates that they want the speaker to continue.
- Anacoluthon: a feature of conversation used on daily basis; the speaker shifts topic mid-sentence. This shows a lost train of thought or a more important topic.
- Hedge: a stalling technique which gives the speaker more time to think, or softens the blow, or used if the speaker is unsure about their utterance. E.g. WELL, it could be done.
- Hesitations: pauses or ellipses to indicate a pause.
- Overlaps and Interruptions: telling you something about the relationship/ status of characters.
- False Start: starting then stopping.
- Lexical Field: group of words associated with a specific field area.
- Idiolect: language specific to that individual
- Pidgin English: a simplified language that develops when two groups of people do not have the same language in common. The Pidgin language developed becomes a second language rather than a native language.
- Creole: a mixture of two languages. this is usually a European language and the person native language. This becomes the native language.
- Code- switching: using two different types of language depending on who you are talking to or the situation you are in.
- Convergence: speaker takes on idiolectal aspects of another speaker. They replicate the accent or repeating particular words. This is mainly used by playwrights for dramatic effect.
- Idle Chat; nothing else to say, saying it for the sake of saying it.