Charlie S's A-Level English Language blog

Spoken Language- Genres of speech

· Characteristics of unplanned speech-Many non-fluency features, usually informal register, deictic & phatic expressions, non-standard grammar common

· Characteristics of semi-planned speech- Fewer non-fluency features and deictic expressions, usually more formal register, phatic expressions, more standard grammar

· Characteristics of planned speech-Usually an absence of non-fluency features & few deictic expressions, formal register and standard grammar – usually complete sentences, addressing an audience (though not necessarily using ‘everyday' phatic expressions)

· We use phatic utterances to make contact with others- phatic utterances are short greetings or exchanges that show that we are being polite or that we want to begin a conversation. They don't contain much meaning in themselves – but as indicators of our feelings and intentions, they are very important. These featured in each conversation shown on the previous screen – but they differed in type.

· We use interactional exchanges to exchange ideas and social information with friends- interactional exchanges are primarily social. They allow us to share experiences with those around us and help us to develop our relationships.

· We use expressive utterances- Expressive utterances convey the speaker's feelings and emotions – from the highly personal exchanges we have with those closest to us, to simpler expressions of how we feel.

· We use referential utterances to provide information- Referential utterances communicate facts, such as the passing on of information in the classroom.

· We use transactional exchanges to get something done- transactional exchanges serve a particular, usually practical, purpose – often involving goods or services.

Main differences between speech and writing:

1. Permanence

When you have a normal conversation it's not usually recorded – so it remains only in the memory of yourself and those who heard it.

In contrast, writing can be re-read and remains a permanent record for as long as the text is kept. It's this feature of writing that has made the written mode so valued as societies developed.

2. Expressing feelings

When we talk, we use facial expressions, different tones of voice and body language to convey our feelings. Whereas writing relies on expressive words, on punctuation and graphological features to try to convey feelings.

For example, if you want to convey surprise, shock or an outburst of emotion in writing, you'll probably use an exclamation mark. If you want to add emphasis to a particular word, you could write it in capital letters.

2. A moment in time

When you talk to someone, you do this during a particular time period – another way of expressing this is by saying that it is ‘temporally bound'.

In contrast, when you read something, the chances are that you weren't present at the time that the writing was produced. Therefore the spoken mode has an immediacy that the written mode rarely possesses.

4. Context

In addition to being temporally bound, speech is also ‘context bound'. That is, it takes place in a particular situation with all the participants aware of who is talking to whom about what. This can lead to speakers not needing to be precise about certain details. They may, for example, refer to ‘him', ‘that', ‘it', ‘over there', without needing to explain exactly what they mean because everyone present understands. These expressions are deictic – in order to fully understand them, you need to know the context in which they are being used.

A written text cannot easily get away with using these expressions and needs to explain more precisely who or what it is referring to.

5. Interaction

Speech is usually an interactive process between two or more people – it's active. Writing, on the other hand is not dynamic in this way – the audience is more distant.

To try to achieve more interaction with the reader, writers have to use different approaches. For instance, using the interrogative mood and/or the second person.

Some example of characteristics for:

Speech: Temporally bound, active, context bound.

Writing: Undynamic, permanent

Characteristics of:

Unplanned speech:

· The register is informal

· There's a lot of interaction

· There are a number of deictic expressions

· There are interruptions and overlaps

Planned speech:

· Fewer non-fluency features

· In ‘conversations' there are fewer overlaps and interruptions

· The words that are used are very carefully chosen

· In many cases the register is more formal

Rhetoric (public speaking):

Important rhetorical techniques:

Ask them questions-

One way of gaining a sense of interaction with the audience is to ask questions. Rhetorical questions can be asked – there's no reply expected and the answer is usually obvious. The speaker can also ask a question and then follow it up with an answer, thereby driving home a point.

Show emotion-

· Emotive language – powerful language with strong connotations – is designed to provoke an emotional response from the audience.

· A sudden outburst of emotion – usually a single exclamatory statement – also makes the audience feel that the speaker is serious and concerned about the topic.

· Hyperbole – or extravagant exaggeration – can also help to emphasise the speaker's point.

Build it up-

The use of listing (often in threes) adds weight to the line of argument and can often have the effect of building up to an important point. It can also act in a similar way to repetition by further emphasising an idea by accumulating more examples.

Be imaginative-

Carefully chosen metaphors and similes can help to enrich the message by leaving the audience with effective images.

Trust me-

Many political speeches emphasise, in some way or another, the speaker's credentials and his or her trustworthiness and ability to do a good job. Use of the first person singular pronoun (I) is particularly important here and will be placed very carefully in the speech for maximum impact.

Don’t trust my opponents-

Many political speeches involve criticism of the opposing viewpoint. There are numerous ways in which this can manifest itself. Two very common devices are:

· To threaten disaster if the opposition is allowed to have its way

· Using ridicule - mocking your opponents can seriously undermine them

Spoken Language- Conversation Analysis

Spontaneity and expectations:

· Most interactions begin with an opening sequence which signals to a listener that we want to talk-

These opening sequences are carefully, yet often unconsciously, adapted to make them appropriate to the situation. Here are some examples:

“I'm Karen Marshall. Did you have a good journey?” = meeting a business contact

“Hiya. You ok?” = meeting a friend in the street

“Excuse me.” = approaching a stranger for information

Different situations have their own appropriate opening sequences. The more formal the situation, the more formal the opening. The listener will pick up the verbal cue and usually respond in what is regarded as a socially appropriate way.

· We expect that certain utterances will be followed by others that fit our expectations-

For example, we expect that a greeting will be followed by a returned greeting:

James: “Hello there”

Claire: “Hi”

We expect a question to be followed by an answer:

JamClaire: “He said he'd see you tomorrow”

We expect that a response will be appropriate to the topic or situation:

Claire: “This pizza's awful”

James: “I know – mine is too”

The main building blocks of our conversations are called adjacency pairs or two-part exchanges.

es: “What did Tom say?”

· Adjacency pairs involve two utterances - one utterance leads on to another in quick succession. Straight-forward examples of adjacency pairs are two utterances which contain a rational link such as a question followed by an answer or a statement followed by an agreement.

Adjacency pairs:

· Have each part of the pair spoken by a different person

· Always have a link

· Always involve a second utterance following on from the first (although it may not follow on directly – there could be a short interruption).

But they can be interrupted through insertion sequences.

The ‘chains' of adjacency pairs can be broken up or interrupted. This might happen if, for example:

· someone comes into a room and joins in the conversation

· the flow of the conversation is temporarily redirected for a few utterances, perhaps so that clarification can be sought

· These temporary interruptions are known as insertion sequences when someone from ‘outside' joins, and side sequences when, for example, there is a need to clarify something before the original thread of the conversation is resumed.

· Conversion Analysts Checklist

· How do the participants maintain and change topics?

· ~The subjects of our conversations – what we talk about – are called topics. A topic is normally initiated by one person and pursued until that person, or someone else, wishes to end the conversation or move onto another topic. When a change of topic takes place, it's known as a topic shift and the verbal cues to make the change are called topic shifters. Control of topics can be a sign of conversational dominance – where one participant has more control over what is said than others.~

· Do the participants correct any repairs and, if so, how do they go about this?

· Repairs occur when there's a need to correct a mistake. Sometimes the speaker will realise that s/he needs to make a correction, sometimes another participant will correct. Here's Tracey and Faye, both repairing a couple of Tracey's mistakes:

· T: “I got this really nice top from Next (.) no not Next (.) from what you call it (.)? Wallis (.) it's just off Surrey Street”

· F: “you mean Norfolk Street?”

· T: “yeah (.) that's the one”

· In what ways do the participants feedback to one another?

· Do the participants correct any repairs and, if so, how do they go about this?

· T: “I got this really nice top from Next (.) no not Next (.) from what you call it (.)? Wallis (.) it's just off Surrey Street”

· F: “you mean Norfolk Street?”

· T: “yeah (.) that's the one”

· In what ways do the participants feedback to one another?

· When you're talking to someone, it's important that you get a sense that they're listening to you. One way the listener might indicate this is to:

give minimal responses like hum and uh huh

utter words such as ‘really?', ‘right', ‘OK' etc. (also known as back-channelling)

provide non-verbal responses like nodding

How do the participants bring their conversation to a close?

When we're aware that we're coming towards the end of a conversation, we usually try to bring it to a close in a way that is socially acceptable and ‘polite'. To end too abruptly is usually a sign that something has gone wrong.

Here are a couple of ways that Tracey ends her conversations on a particular day:

On the phone:
T: “right (.) well (.) look Jade (.) it's been really nice talking to you (1) yeah (.)! Well we must meet up again soon (.) yeah (.) perhaps on Friday (.) ok (1) see you then (.) by::e”

At college:
T “anyway Faye (.) gotta dash (1) see you later (1) by::e”

Conversation Theories

You've been introduced to some of the practices, processes and terminology associated with conversations. Now it's time to look at some of the theories that have been developed to help us understand how we behave when we talk to each other. Are you familiar with Grice and Goffman?

The cooperative principal

A linguist called H.P.Grice developed the idea that there are 4 maxims for successful conversation:
The maxim of quantity.
Say just the right amount for the situation.
The maxim of relevance.
What you say should be relevant to the topic being discussed.
The maxim of manner.
You should speak in a clear, orderly way.
The maxim of quality.
What you say should be truthful.

Clearly, we don't always follow these maxims, but we have an idea that we should. When we're aware that we're flouting them, we often say something like, ‘I'm sorry, that wasn't very clear' or someone else may criticise us if they think we're not telling the truth.

Positive and negative politeness

Being aware of a person's face needs is an important aspect of being polite to those we talk to. Some linguists developed Goffman's ideas – like Robin Lakoff in the 1970s and Brown & Levinson in the 1980s. Some main points of their theories are summarised below. Why not ask your tutor to explain them in greater detail?

Summary of conversation analysis;

Our conversations are structured around adjacency pairs which link the interactions of the participants.

The linking of these adjacency pairs is called chaining because each pair is attached to the previous one like the links in a chain.

We naturally acquire the skill of anticipating when it's possible to take our turn to speak by interpreting a range of complex verbal and non-verbal signals.

There are accepted ways of opening and closing a conversation. We also adjust the way we speak (our footing) according to the person we are talking to.

Grice's maxims illustrate the ‘rules' or principles of successful conversation and we are conscious of when they are being flouted. We are also aware of politeness strategies and other people's face needs when talking to them.

Levels and skills for essay writing

GCSE:
Knowledge, understanding, application
Clarity
Description
A-LEVEL: The above skills, plus:
Detail, comment, analysis, problem-solving
Thinking for yourself
Using facts to back up opinion
Introduction to research

Tips for coursework

Make sure that you’ve chosen a topic that’s neither too narrow nor too broad

Collecting your primary data can be time-consuming, so don’t leave it till the last minute

Ask permission to record people by saying something like, ‘Im going to be recording over the next few days. Is that ok?’

If you want to tape a conversation, like an interaction between friends or family, make sure you’ve got a tape-recorder that can do the job.

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