Conversational Structure

COM 370--John R. Baldwin

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/long_light.png

Review

GRICE Cooperative principle Maxims

Qualilty Quantity Relevance (Relation) Manner

Implicature (with some examples)

Review Speech Acts Theory

Three levels or “forces” Locutionary Illocutionary Perlocutionary

Five main classifications Representatives Directives Expressives Commissives Declaratives

Brief exercise

At a Job Interview: “Well, you impress me with your education and enthusiasm. Consider yourself now a member of the firm.”

Where’s the beef?

Sally: “Have you started the burgers, yet?”

Hubby: “Hey, I’ve had a lot to do today, okay? Why don’t you start them yourself!”

In COM 370: It’s almost noon and Jaemie’s hungry

Jaemie: You guys wanna get some lunch?Sue: I’ve got to study for an exam.

Sam: Is the Pope Catholic?

Ron: “Jill, I-, I-, I love you”

Jill: “No you don’t. You can’t love me. We have only been dating for a month.”

Why are speech acts and Grice important for our everyday communication?

Can you think of a time when “speech act confusion” got in the way in your own communication?

Felicity conditions/constitutive rules Propositional content Preparatory conditions (situational

rules) Sincerity conditions Essential conditions

Speech Acts: Kickin’ it up a notch…

Nofsinger Chs 2 & 3

Request Threat Offer

Propositional Future

Preparatory Sp is ableAct is not ordinaryH can do the act

Sincerity Sp must want H to do the act

Essential Sp is attempting to get H to do s.thing

Coordinated Management of Meaning

Constitutive: what makes it what it is?

Regulative: how does one do it? (deontic logic, p. 40)

Example: Sarcasm in organizational culture

Two types of rules

Hierarchy of Meanings

TEXT CONTEXTS

Content Speech Act

Episode

Relationship/Contract

Self-concept

Cultural Patterns

Life script/self-concept

Relationship

Episode

Speech Act

Text

Ex: “Would you stop that?!”

Interruptions & Overlaps

TRP: Turn-Relevant Place TCU: Turn-constructional units. Our utterances

(“turns”) may be made up of several of these

Interruption: 2nd speaker comes in in place other than TCU (i.e., where TCU is “not projected.”

Overlap: 2nd speaker comes in at/near TCU “Continuer”: Overlap that continues S1’s turn LRRM: Listener-Response Relevant Moments

Types of Discourse (The Mysterious Ch. 9)

Attributes Debate Ceremony Meeting Convers.

Number of people

Topic

Turn order

Turn length

Conversation issues

Participants and non-participants Type of relationship (friends versus

acquaintances) Demographic differences (e.g., gender) Specific genre of conversation (job

interview, therapy, openings, closings)

Global Coherence: Narratives

Narratives: Stories told in interaction with characters, events, time sequence. They can be true or false, but are generally assumed to be true by the speaker. How long must a narrative be? Preferential or Obligatory rules? Narrative must surround a “narratable event” Repairs can be used to fix problems in referencing,

sequencing, or evaluating Repairs can be initiated by the speaker or hearer

E.g., insertions, retracking

Narrative reportability

Teller’s involvement (if hearer knows the teller)

Culturally significant information “Inherently and permanently reportable”

versus “reportable in context”

NarrativeA typical narrative has these components: Setting Orientation Complication Resolution Evaluation Conclusion [How are van Dijk’s prejudiced narratives

different? Why is this important?]

Narrative Rules: who & what? (Metts) Contexting rule:

Speaker When/how?

Relevant to the topic At prior topic close (e.g., the “lull”) Introduced with relevance accounted forOff-topic, but with prefatory signalMay be similar in “theme” (e.g.,

embarassment, failure, joy)

Alignment rule: Hearer Wait for interruption Can express “minimal responses of

attention and appreciation” at Listener Response Relevant Moments (LRRMs)

Concision rules: I. Unnecessary Events: Omit

“subevents” not necessary for understanding.

II. Audience familiarity: Shorten narratives with which audience is familiar.

Comprehension rules: I. Referencing: avoid vague references to

people, places, events not understood by hearer

II. Sequencing: narrative should have logical (sequential) order

III. Evaluating: For narrative to be understood, you must “evaluate” the central action, indicate meaning of narrative at that point in the conversation.

Appropriateness rules: I. [Formality]: Story should match

appropriate level of formality for the situatuation

II. [Altercasting]: Avoid stories that cast your interaction partner (i.e., make a “role bid”) in a role that she or he would not appreciate in the context.

[might there be others?]

Narrative Receipt Rule: Responding rule: Assume the narrative fit

within the interaction context. “At the first indication of the narrative’s completion, you must offer an implicative turn that indicates your understanding or appreciation of for the evaluative point of the narrative”

Application

CMM: normative and constitutive rules Schema Cohesion:

Local (utterance by utterance) Global

Effectiveness (per Thompson) Narrative rules

The Funeral http

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfDyTUiL8xs