Conversation Structures
Terminology:
floor: the right to speak
turn: having control of the floor
turn-taking: the action of change of the turn
local management system: conventions of turn-taking in a social group
Transition Relevance Place (TRP): any possible change-of-turn point
→ a conversation consists of speakers taking turns in having the floor; these conversations ‘work’ because the speakers know the local management system for a TRP
Pauses:
short pauses are hesitations, longer pauses are silences
attributable silence: speaker A turns the floor over to speaker B but B does not speak -> the silence is attributed to speaker B
Overlaps:
expectation: participants of a conversation speak one at a time
overlaps can be solved by one speaker letting the other have the floor
different kinds of overlaps: expression of solidarity (e.g. ‘oh my god, your’re so right!), expression of unfamiliarity (e.g. ‘wait, what do you mean?’), expression of competition (e.g. ‘can i finish??’)
Floor-holding devices:
-> extending your turn by indicating that there is a larger structure to it
Examples:
‘There are three points I'd like to make – first…’
‘Didn't you know about Melvin? – oh it was last October…’
Backchannels:
verbal and non-verbal signals that provide feedback to the speaker that their message is being received -> sounds like ‘uh-huh’, ‘yeah’, and ‘hmm’ serve as verbal signals
lack of backchannels can be interpreted differently: either the listener is not there (e.g. telephone conversation) or the listener is withholding agreement (e.g. face-to-face conversation)
Conversational Style
High Involvement Style: very active, fast speaking rate, no pausing between turns, overlap/completion of the other’s turn
High Considernateness Style: slow rate, long pauses between turns, no overlapping, avoidance of interruption/completion of the other’s turn -> non-interrupting/non-imposing style
Adjacency Pairs
automatic sequences in nearly every conversation
consists of a first and a second participants → first part creates expectation of a second part
Examples:
greeting and goodbye sequence
question and answer sequence
thanking and response sequence
request and acceptance sequence
Insertion sequence:
not all first parts of adjacency pairs immediately get a second part
possibility of adjacency pair within another adjacency pair
Example:
A: Can you mail this letter for me?
B: Does it have a stamp?
A: Yes.
B: Okay.
→ Delay of acceptance
Preference Structure
first part (A) → assessment, invitation, offer, propsal, request
second part (B) -> preferred – agree, accept (expected; quick & close connection); dispreferred - decline, refuse, disagree, silence (unexpected; distance & lack of communication); -> examples for dispreferred: delay/hesitation, preface, doubt, apology, mentioning obligations, appeal for understanding, making it non-personal, using mitigators, hedging the negative
.
Sources:
Becker, Bieswanger. (2017): Introduction to Linguistics. 4th Ed. UTB
Yule, George. (1996): Pragmatics. Oxford
