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Researching Conversation: An Overview

Researching Conversation: An Overview. Psychology of Language COM 370 John R. Baldwin. All the Usual Suspects. Conversation Analysis Discourse Analysis What’s the “text” Level of detail? Main differences?. CA in more detail (Ten Have).

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Researching Conversation: An Overview

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  1. Researching Conversation:An Overview Psychology of Language COM 370 John R. Baldwin

  2. All the Usual Suspects • Conversation Analysis • Discourse Analysis • What’s the “text” • Level of detail? • Main differences?

  3. CA in more detail (Ten Have) • “Pure” CA: Concerned with the general issues, structure of talk “as such,” regardless of context, institution • “Applied” CA—courtrooms, meetings, interviews, and so on • Charles Antaki on Applied CA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxTkOF-xcr8&feature=player_embedded#at=11

  4. CA: Three example studies • Sacks: Rules of conversational sequence, “natural next actions” versus “occasionally usables” (call-center study) rules for conversational sequence • Schegloff: Sequences in conversational openings (summonsanswer sequence) • S&S: Openings and closings: rules of adjacency pairs: “closing sections” (well…)

  5. Some Research Basics: CA • What are the underlying assumptions • Approach is: • Top-down? [theory  data]: Theory = lens • Bottom-up? [data  theory]: Theory = explanatory framework • Social structure can be seen: _________ • What counts as data? __________________ • Collecting data • Transcribing data

  6. Adjacency pairs • Two-utterance length • Adjacent positioning (though later this varies) • Different speakers produce each utterance (Schegloff & Sacks, in Ten Have, 1999) • “A close-ordering” of utterances which makes their use relevant for specific purposes

  7. Some types of adjacency pairs • Question answer • Greeting  greeting • Offer  acceptance/rejection • Compliment  acknowledgement (acceptance/rejection) • Request  grant (Clark & Clark, Ch. 6)

  8. Characterizing speech turns—some examples One List (Dore, 1975) • labelling • repeating • answering • requesting (action) • requesting (answer) • calling • greeting • protesting • practicing

  9. Studying Spanish? Not like this! • http://www.is.cs.cmu.edu/Clarity.Tagging.Manual/SAtags.html

  10. CA Steps: Overall Process (Ten Have, 1999) (Assuming you already have transcript) • Locate data fragment (“sequence”) • Analyze “interlocking organizations” • Turn-taking • Sequence • Repair • Turn construction/design • Take notes on transcript or notebook • Try to formulate general observations

  11. CA Steps: Interlocking Organization (Ten Have, 1999) 1. Turn-taking: • Gaps, pauses • Overlaps and Interruptions • Overlaps: • Continues the previous turn of the other (Person A continues) • Occurs at a TRP (Transition-Relevant Place) • Interruptions: • Takes turn away from other (Person B continues speaking) • Occurs NOT at a TRP • TCU: Turn-Constructional Unit • Indication of next turns [three rules, if naturally occurring conversation]

  12. CA Steps: Interlocking Organization (Ten Have, 1999) • Sequence: • Adjacency pairs • Relevant and accountable responses • Inserts; presequences; core sequences • Prefaces, summaries • Glosses; [summary for possible expansion] • Cycles (QA, jokes • Tags that anticipate answers, etc. • Recipient design!

  13. CA Steps: Interlocking Organization (Ten Have, 1999) • Repair: • trouble sources • self- and other-initiated repairs • NTRI: Next-turn repair initiator: huh? What? • TRPs: Transition-relevant places • “occasionally usable” repairs • “continuers” • misalignment

  14. CA Steps: Interlocking Organization (Ten Have, 1999) 4.Turn construction/design: • turn length • Address • “speaker design” • preference organization (what would typically follow, such as an apology) • turn shape: • Ex: acceptance versus rejection of an invitation • Ex: How does first pair part suggest second pair part?

  15. A Final (Possible) Step(Pomerantz & Fehr) • Implication of identities, roles, relationships • What do turns tell you about relationship of interactants? • What do you know about social structure, status (individual or group)? For example, does the text incorporate “gendered” identities (Note: you can only tell from the data, not from previous research on gender and communication!)

  16. An exercise • Choose a portion (segment) of the transcript given to you in class. We will listen to a video 3 times. • Use the transition notation to mark the text. • Use the notes to try to locate different organization patterns. • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eNF5hb6gzk

  17. Speech Act Theory • Grice’s Theory of Conversational Implicature • Maxims • Conversational Implicature • Searle’s Speech Act Theory • Locutionary (utterance), Illocutionary, and Perlocutionary forces • Five types of Speech Acts

  18. Discourse Analysis (Blum-Kulka) • Illocutionary Content • Cooperative Principle • Grice’s Maxims • Relation • Quality • Quantity • Manner

  19. Grice (continued) • Implicature • Conversational/conventional (we won’t distinguish) • Implied meaning of utterance: “How’s it goin’?” • Flouting (“exploitation”) of Grice’s maxims • Tautology: “Boys will be boys.” • Irony/sarcasm: “You look great, today!” • Exaggeration: “You look like death warmed over.” • Understatement: “It’s a tad cold out there.” • Overt lie: “Oh—it’s just something I threw on.” • Is it individual or shared?

  20. Application of Grice’s maxims—influenced by: • Context • Roles/status • [Relationship] • Culture

  21. Speech Acts Theory • Illocutionary Content • Types of linguistic “force” • Locutionary (content) • Illocutionary (intent) • Perlocutionary (force or effect)

  22. Speech Acts Theory Felicity conditions/constitutive rules • Propositional content • Preparatory conditions/situational rules • Sincerity conditions • Essential conditions

  23. Speech Acts Theory • Types of speech acts (p. 242) • Representative • Directive • Commissive • Expressive • Declarative • Miscommunication • Implicature (again!)

  24. Indirect speech acts • Transparency • Illocutionary • Propositional; • Conventionality thesis • Question preparatory conditions • Emphasize sincerity condition • Prediction of future act • Pragmatic duality • Conventional and unconventionalpoliteness

  25. Compare level of transcription with CA… • Locate adjacency pair • What happens in each turn (speech acts)? • Are Grice’s maxims observed or violated? • Does conversational implicature occur? Blum-Kulka, 1997, p. 44

  26. Politeness! • Save this reading! We will come back to the section on politeness later! • I mean… • Can you save this reading…? • Would you mind possibly saving this reading…? • Would you be able to save this reading…? • Would you be kind enough to save this reading…? • Perhaps it would be better to… • This section is not relevant now, but will be important later… • WOULD YOU JUST SAVE THIS FRIGGIN’ READING!?

  27. Other Approaches (Tracy, 1991)

  28. Two Examples • Evasions • Apologies

  29. Evasions • Types of evasions? • Type of research? (how do you know?( • Applications?

  30. Apologies • Form and function • Unambiguous: I’m sorry for eating your hamster (responsibility, regret, intention not to do it again) • Regret: I’m sorry about your hamster • Redirected responsibility: Well, someone left the hamster in the refrigerator • No wrongdoing: Well, that’s what hamsters are for, right?

  31. Apologies • When would you want a “full, canonical apology?” • When would you not? • When can the following not really be apologies? • Public official apologies • Legal court apologies • “I’m sorry, Mr. Smith is out of town until Monday”

  32. Nonverbal behavior and apologies • Lexical semantics: The Function of Apologies • Apologies, Excuses, Justifications, and Explanations • The parts of an apology (p. 205) • One-ups and one-downs • Syntax and the apology: • What are some ways we distance ourselves from apologies?

  33. 4. Pragmatics: Speech acts: What are the “felicity conditions” of an apology? (pp. 207-208) 5. Speech Event: How is an apology situated within a larger conversational event? • Register: • Genre: • Key: • Maxims? Speech Acts? Implicature?

  34. CA: Preferred 2nd-pair parts, etc. • Narrative analysis (rhetoric) • Apologies and sociolinguistics • Culture • Gender/sex 9. Textual analysis: Apology as document (more rhetoric)

  35. Apologies • Kanye West: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYqYB1UpAQQ • Tiger Wood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xs8nseNP4s0 • The apology song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZctK51RwK8A • Another apology song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tjyr90S1DmQ&feature=related • I didn’t mean it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5TKUonQLns

  36. Conversation Analysis: • Apologies in adjacency pairs

  37. http://adt.curtin.edu.au/theses/available/adt-WCU20030626.150323/unrestricted/09appendixAB.pdfhttp://adt.curtin.edu.au/theses/available/adt-WCU20030626.150323/unrestricted/09appendixAB.pdf

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