conversational structure (lecture 2 & 3)

8/2/2019 Conversational Structure (Lecture 2 & 3)

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What is it?

“The most fruitful and natural exercise of our mind isconversation” Michel de Montaigne.

CONVERSATION ~ the most pervasive form of

human communication. A form of oral discourse that is distinguished by the

absence of explicit rules.

Varies according to social settings that shapes the

conversational processes.



LECTURE 2 AND 3

CONVERSATION: THEINTRODUCTION AND THE

STRUCTURE



introduction

Conversation requires at least two parties – twoindividuals to select meanings, form syntacticoutlines and so on.

Conversation can be, among friends, a nearly effortless flow of topics, thoughts, and events that isattractive precisely because it does not appear tohave any rules.

However, it is not entirely correct to say that

conversation operates without rules, rather, they have been internalized to the point that they are notthought of in order to have a conversation.



Cont.

The most fundamental rule to describe a conversation inthat of a joint action.

Herbert Clark (1996, 2002) describes it as one that iscarried out by an ensemble of people acting incoordination with one another.

Example: think of two people waltzing, paddling a canoeor playing a piano duet ~ when Fred Astaire and GingerRogers waltz, they each move around the ballroom in aspecial way individually in coordination.

Waltzing is the joint account of them doing theirindividual steps in coordination, together.



The Structure of Conversation

Conversation is the least formal of all types of oraldiscourse (debate, ceremony, meeting)

The number of participants, the topic, the length of a

given speaker’s contribution and many other factorsare left undecided/decided on the spot.

The relaxation of formal rules is one of the primeenjoyment of a good, rich conversation.

Yet, in the absence of formal rules, there are implicitcommunicative conventions that help organizeeveryday conversations.



Cont.

There are five types of conventions that are related toconversation:

Opening conversation

Closing conversation Taking turns

Negotiating topics

Identifying participants and nonparticipants



Opening Conversations

While theoretically the number of possibilities foropening conversations is infinite, in practice we do so ina limited number of ways.

Most commonly ~

We address another person ( Hey, Carl ) Request information ( Do you know what time it is? ) Offer information ( Are you looking for someone? ) Or, use some form of stereotyped expression ( Hello) or

topic ( Strange weather today, eh? ) These serve to get the listener’s attention and

often lead to stock replies, which quickly establishes the alternation of turns that is centralto conversation.



Closing Conversations

Schegloff and Sacks (1973) suggest that one way toend a conversation is to present a preclosingstatement like we-ll , so-o-o, or OK, which signalsreadiness to end the conversation.

The listener may accept the statement with anutterance such as yeah or OK .

Alternatively, he might bring up another topic and

the conversation would continue. Albert and Kessler (1978) list several ways in which

we end conversations.



Cont.

Including ~ Summarizing the content of the conversation Justifying ending contact at this time ( I have another

meeting)

Expressing pleasure about each other, making referenceto the ongoing relationship and planning for futurecontact ( See you later)

Wishing each other well (Take care, have a good trip) These closing moves form a sequence where

speakers were more likely to use summary statements at the beginning of the endingsequence and well-wishes at the end



Cont.

The use of sequences was reciprocal – listeners tendto respond to summaries with agreement, to positivestatements with similar statements and to well-

wishes with goodbye.



Taking Turns

Conversation become more complicated when there aremore than two people are present.

Sacks and colleagues (1974) – turn taking duringconversation operates by three implicit rules.

1. The current speaker is allowed to select the next speaker,often done by directing a question to another person.2. Self-selection; if the first rule is not used another person

may speak up.3. The current speaker can continue, although he is not

obligated to do so. These rules are ordered; the first one takes

priority over the second, which takes priority over the third.



Cont.

Nonverbal turn-yielding signals – six behavioural cuesthat appear to indicate a willingness to conclude one’sturn.

1. A drop of pitch

2. A drawl on the final syllable or final stressed syllable of afinal clause

3. The termination of hand-gestures

4. The use of stereotyped expressions (you know…or

something…but, uh…)5. A drop in loudness

6. Completion of a grammatical clause



Negotiating Topics of Conversation

Be RELEVANT – in conversation, this meanssticking to the topic and tying one’s comments tothose of the previous speaker.

The rules of coherence apply to this conversational

discourse. This is reflected in the observation that while some

responses are clearly odd, a wide range of acceptableresponses to any statement is possible.

Schank (1977) – the topics of conversation can bedefined in terms of the intersection of propositionsacross sentences.



Cont.

An implication of this definition of topic is that only conversations, not individual sentences or evenspeaker turns, have topics.

Example:

Speaker A says John bought a red car in Baltimoreyesterday, numerous propositions are beingadvanced John bought a car, the car is red, Johnbought it in Baltimore, John bought it yesterday.

If speaker B says I think a red car would be ugly, theintersection of these two sentences is the propositionthe car is red .



Identifying Participants and Nonparticipants

Suppose Alan asks Barbara a question, Alan andBarbara then are participants in a conversation.

Suppose Connie is present during the conversation

but is not directly involved in the question, she is aside participant.

Others within earshot are overhearers who comein two varieties – Bystanders who are openly

present but do not participate in the conversationand eavesdroppers who listen in without thespeakers’ awareness.



Different roles in conversation

Figure 1.

eavesdropper

bystanderside PSpeaker Addressee

conversational structure (lecture 2 & 3)

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