Discourse Flashcards
TRIPE
Transactional - getting something done
Referential - providing information relying on context
Interactional - Main emphasis is on social relationship between participants, often informal
Phatic - small talk
Expressive - expressive feelings
Discourse structures
List/instructions - logical progression through stages, imperative verbs - recipe, guide, instructions
Problem solution - identifies a problem - product advertisement
Analysis - breaks down ideas into key evaluated and explored parts - articles newspapers
Narrative - details of a series of events - novels,witness accounts
Labovs Narrative Structure
Abstract - indication that the narrative is about to begin - speaker wants your attention
Orientation – the who, what, why, where – setting the scene
Complicating action – the main body of the story with a range of detail
Resolution – the final events, rounding off the narrative
Evaluation – additions to the story,highlighting attitudes or commanding attention
Coda – a sign that the narrative iscomplete
Back channelling
Non-verbal or verbal communication from the listener to show support to the speaker
e.g head nod, yes, ooh, smile
Discourse marker
Signal a shift in conversation and topic areas; can also introduce a counter-argument
e.g okay, so, but
Fillers
Sounds used to fill gaps in sentences
E.g er,um
Hedging
Strategies to avoid directness or minimise a potentially face-threatening act
e.g kind of, sort of, maybe, could, might
False starts/repairs
When a speaker begins to speak, pauses, then recommences (corrections to something previously stated)
e.g wait, hold on, sorry, actually
Skip connectors
Indicates a return to a previous topic
e.g anyway, back to what we were saying
Fixed expressions
Conventional and routine expressions - often metaphorical (cliches and idioms)
e.g at the end of the day, as a matter of fact
Vague expressions
Similar to hedging - deliberately non-committal expressions
e.g something, anything, thing
Ellipsis
Removing or replacing words or phrases to shorten sentences
e.g “just seen jack” “drink?”
Tag questions
Used for clarification
Auxiliary verb + pronoun + negative
e.g it’s cold today, isn’t it?, we weren’t allowed, were we?
Deixis
Pointing words’ – instead of a fixed referent‚ the meaning depends on the context
e.g yesterday, here, you
Non - fluency features
A catch-all term for pauses‚ hesitations‚ repetition etc.
e.g hmm, like, well, stuttering
Adjacent pairs
Conversation turn taking
e.g hello how are you?
fine thanks.
Transition relevance point
A point where it is natural for another speaker to
take a turn
e.g natural pause in a conversation, asked a question
Accommodation theory
Giles - we adjust our speech to accommodate the person we are talking to by using convergence (moving closer to the style of their speech)
Downward convergence - RP -> less
Upward convergence - less -> RP
Mutual convergence - meet in the middle
Divergence (empathising differences between people)
The cooperative principle
Conversations only work because we follow certain rules
Grice - we have common goals
Grices 4 maxims for successful conversations (cooperative)
Quantity - say neither more nor less than is required
Relevance - be relevant to the ongoing context of the situation
Manner - avoid ambiguity, obscurity or disorder
Quality - be truthful
Grices 4 maxims for successful conversations (cooperative)
Quantity - say neither more nor less than is required
Relevance - be relevant to the ongoing context of the situation
Manner - avoid ambiguity, obscurity or disorder
Quality - be truthful
Face principle
Goffman - different interactions we present different images of
ourselves, this image is referred to as face
Sometimes we may reject or threaten the face that
someone presents – this is termed a face-threatening act
Two different types of face
Brown and Levison
Positive - need to be liked or admired
Negative - need not to be imposed upon
Politeness principle (3 rules)
Lakoff
Don’t impose
Give options
Make the receiver feel good
