Unit 2

The Ethnography
of Speaking and
the Structure of
Conversations
 The structure of conversations

Whats the purpose of conversations?

According to Brown and Yule (1983) conversations
have two main purposes:
Transactional vs Interactional
 The structure of conversations

Transactional spoken language used to obtain

goods or services also referred to as service
encounters.
Interactional spoken language used to allow
people to interact with each other which features
a phatic use of language whose purpose is to
establish an atmosphere and allow people to
socialize.
The structure of conversations

Macro and micro structure of conversations

 The structure of conversations

Macro structure of conversations

Opening section (sociability)
Main body or substance section (shifting topical
focus . topical organization)
Closing section (sociability)
 The structure of conversations

Micro structure of Conversations

Made up of a number of features that make up
human conversation.
What features can we consider?
 The structure of conversations
1. Turn-taking
2. Feedback
3. Turns: adjacency pairs
4. Insertion sequence
5. Error and repair
6. Overlap in speeches
The Cooperative Principle
The Principle of Politeness
 The structure of conversations

1. Turn-taking
Mechanical and interactional definitions
Mechanical a turn is the opportunity to hold the
floor, not necessarily what is said while holding it.
Interactional definitions are concerned with what
happens during the interaction, and take into
consideration the intention of the turn taker.
 The structure of conversations

Turn taking mechanisms may vary between cultures and

languages.
Some features of conversational interaction:
Typically, only one person speaks at a time.
Usually, silence is avoided.
If two people talk at the same time, one of them stops.
 The structure of conversations
Turn taking varies according to
The situation: in a classroom for example a teacher nominates
who can take a turn, a student may or may not respond.
The topic : people take a turn when they have something to say,
or when they want to change the topic.
Relationship: a child may be instructed not to speak with adult
guests unless spoken to
Rank: To some degree, turn taking is by rank, the right to talk is
an indicator of the status of the speaker and the degree to which
all participants are from the same rank.
 The structure of conversations

Turn Construction Unit (TCU) - A building component of

a turn in a conversation. A unit of conversation that
completes a communicative act.
Lexical TCU Yes
Phrasal TCU I mean
Clausal TCU once you finish
Sentential TCU You sure deserve the prize
 The structure of conversations

Transition Relevance Place (TRP -the end of a TCU),

marks a point where the turn may go to another
speaker, or the present speaker may continue with
another TCU. The change of turn occurs only in the TRP.
 The structure of conversations
Transition Relevance Place
Change-of-turn points in discourse: TRPs differ
from social group to group
TRP features: speakers 1. cooperate or
2. fight for floor
Floor: "the right to speak", who controls the floor
has the turn
 The structure of conversations

Fillers
Sounds or words that are spoken to fill up gaps in
utterances.
They include:
- filled pauses
- discourse markers
 The structure of conversations

End-of-turn fillers
...and I went to the store, you know.
Fillers at the Start of a Turn
Seemy company has a much stricter policy than
yours.
Um the ththe one thing I'm thinking is, that it
might be hard to see the stage from way back here.
(filler + disfluency)
 The structure of conversations

Fillers as Complete Turns

A: But it's just really bizarre, if you ask me.
B: Um
A: The whole criminal justice system.
B: Um but I don't think, the police are the biggest
system.
 The structure of conversations

Discourse Markers - words or phrases used to structure

units of spoken language.
To the listener, a DM signals the speaker's intention to
mark a boundary in discourse(framing move).
DMs are active contributions to the discourse and
signal activities such as change in speaker, taking or
holding control of the floor, relinquishing control of
the floor, or the beginning of a new topic.
 The structure of conversations

Examples:
That gets on my nerves, too. Anyway, tell me about your
new job.
A: So,how do you make this soup?
B: First you take a couple of carrots and chop them.
Okay. And then you fry them in butter.
 The structure of conversations

We consider as DMs only those instances that structure

the discourse and do not carry separate meaning.
It can sometimes be difficult to distinguish when a
word or phrase is functioning as a discourse marker
and when it is acting as a content word.
 The structure of conversations

Some common discourse markers

actually basically anyway and yeah
yeah I mean let's see like
oh now okay see
so well you know you see
you know what I mean
 The structure of conversations

2. Feedback
Used to show that participants are actively
involved and follow the utterances of other
participants by providing feedback.
 The structure of conversations

Backchannels
Words or phrases that provide feedback to the
dominant speaker by indicating that the non-dominant
speaker is still engaged in the conversation (though
not actively participating at the moment).
All types of fillers can be used as backchannels (both
discourse markers and filled pauses).
 The structure of conversations

In the example below, okay is functioning as a

backchannel rather than a DM:
A: I've lived in Friendship Heights for years.
B: Okay.
A: But I'm thinking of moving a little further out .
 The structure of conversations

Karen: Brent might learn a little lesson if his security camera got stolen.
Hank: Yeah.
Karen: By someone.
Hank: Hmm.
Karen: Someone he trusts.
Hank: Yeah, I suppose.
Karen: Someone he would never suspect.
Hank: Yeah.
Karen: Plot the camera's motion and approach from a blind spot. You could
pull it off.
 The structure of conversations

Two major types of conversational style:

1. high involvement style: active talk, almost no
breaks, some overlap
2. high considerateness style: slower rate, longer
pauses, no overlap, no interruption
 The structure of conversations

3. Adjacency Pairs
An adjacency pair is composed of two turns produced
by different speakers which are placed adjacently
and where the second utterance is identified as
related to the first.
 The structure of conversations

Adjacency pairs include the following patterns:

question/answer; complaint/denial; offer/accept;
request/grant; compliment/rejection;
challenge/rejection, instruct/receipt, etc.
 The structure of conversations
Adjacency pairs typically have three characteristics:
they consist of two utterances;
in most cases, the utterances are adjacent, that is
the first immediately follows the second; and
different speakers produce each utterance
 The structure of conversations
Question Answer Pair
Q. When will you be home
A. At 5 oclock
Greeting Greeting Pair
G. Good morning Sam.
G: Good morning.
Request Acceptance/Rejection
R: Can I use your pen for one minute.
A: Yes, please have it/ R: I am sorry. Its the only one I have
 The structure of conversations
Inform Acknowledgement
I: You have to see the head of department before he leaves for the
Senate meeting at 4.
A: Okay.
Apology Acceptance/Rejection
App.: I am sorry, I could not make the appointment
Acc.: Thats okay, we can fix another time/ Rej.: You have no excuse.
You just kept me waiting.
Congratulations Thanks
C: Congratulations on your PhD. T: Oh, thanks
 The structure of conversations

In an adjacency pair, the first pair part invites,

limits, and partially determines the meaning and
range of possible second pair part.
- Tag Questions
Play a special role in adjacency pairs. How a tag
question operates depends very much on intonation
and the context it is used in
 The structure of conversations

Tag questions can indicate a desire for agreement or

support:
this is a nice colour, isnt it?
They can also be assertive devices for prompting a
response or for directing what the response should be:
youre not leaving now, are you?
 The structure of conversations

Tag questions can indicate a desire for agreement or

support:
this is a nice colour, isnt it?
They can also be assertive devices for prompting a
response or for directing what the response should be:
youre not leaving now, are you?
 The structure of conversations

Adjacency pairs are normal

in conversations, but
sometimes they do not
necessarily occur.
Do you know why?
 The structure of conversations

Some instances may affect the flow of adjacency

pairs. e.g. when a person decides to ask another
question after being asked a question, the flow is
disrupted.
This is called an insertion into what would have been
a normal sequence of conversation. This is called
insertion sequence.
 The structure of conversations

4. Insertion Sequence
Conversations usually occur in pairs - we have question-
answer, request acceptance/rejection, invitation-
acceptance/rejection, etc.
An insertion sequence is a sequence of turns or
interventions between the first and second parts of an
adjacency pair.
.
 The structure of conversations

It is a kind of delay in which the response expected is not given,

rather, an entirely different, though related response is given- e.g.
Sam: When are you traveling back to London?
Eve: Why do you ask?
Sam: I would like to send you with a parcel to my auntie in
Woolwich.
Eve: Okay, I will be going in a weeks time.
 The structure of conversations

A: shall I wear the blue shoes?

B: youve got the black ones.
A: Theyre not comfortable
B: Yeah, theyre the best then, wear the blue ones.
Insertion sequences occur in situations when people do
not want to provide a direct response to an elicitation
until they are sure of the intention of the speaker as we
can see in the conversation pieces above.
 The structure of conversations

- Preferred and dispreferred responses

Questions are expected to be complemented by an
answer. (preferred response)
Not to answer a question, or to answer at inappropriate
length, either too shortly or at excessive length, or to
answer a question with another question, are considered
dispreferred responses and tend to interrupt the smooth
flow of a conversation.
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5. Error repair Mechanisms

In conversation, we do not always say things the
correct ways we desire to say them. When we did not
say what we ought to say, we still have a way of
saying them. This is called error repair used by
both participants to ensure:
- co-operation
- full understanding
 The structure of conversations

6. Overlap in speeches
An overlap in speech occurs when two or more
interlocutors are talking at the same time. It can also
be described as occurrences of two or more
participants trying to take their turns at the same
time after the previous speaker had finished or is
about to finish his turn.
 The structure of conversations

The real overlap occurs when the two participants

start their turns simultaneously and none of them
relinquishes the floor for the other. This is not always
the case in a normal conversation.