Analysis of Discourse Depending on Audience, Goals, and Settings - Research Paper Example

Analysis of a Discourse A significant fact about the behavior of human beings in relation to their social environment is that a large part of it is linguistic behavior. The study of social man presupposes the study of language and social man Michael Halliday (1973) 1. Introduction Human communication systems are based on discourse or conversation. We indulge in discourse (textual or spoken) quite frequently in our life and cannot think of expressing our ideas without it. Whenever we speak, we address specific audience, for specific goals, and in specific settings. Halliday proposed that a discourse can be understood in a better way if we understand its context of situation which includes register and genre (Thompson 1996). The discourse chosen for the present analysis is set in a formal environment where an interviewer named Kate is talking to the interviewee Jackie. The discourse is about the famous doll Barbie. 1.1 Preliminary Statistics Primarily, the discourse can be divided on the basis of number of exchanges, utterances, and lines it has. This information provides the basic data for the analysis: No of Exchanges 16 No of Utterances 36 No of Lines 76 2. Analysis Model 1: SPEAKING Acronym The model based on SPEAKING acronym is used for analysis of a communicative event. This model was initially used by Hymes (1967; 1972) and Friedrich (1972). In this model SPEAKING stands for the following: S: Situation (setting, scene) P: Participants (addressor & addressee: their age, sex, ethnicity, social status etc.) E: Ends (goals and outcomes) A: Act Sequence (message form of message content) K: Key (tone, manner) I: Instrumentalities (channel, forms of speech) N: Norms of Interpretation (norms of interaction and norms of interpretation) G: Genre (text or event types e.g. joke, story, lecture, greeting) 2.1 Situation The conversation under consideration is a formal interview which is taking place in a television studio. They are talking in a comfortable and environment. The studio also has the facility of playing certain clips of interviews, recorded before this particular interview. The situation also implies that the studio, where the interview is taking place, also has certain professionals related to television and are handling the recording equipment in the background. 2.2 Participants Turdgill, while throwing light on sex differences in social discourse, posits that women signal their social status more often than men (1974). Gumperz and Tannen (1979) also emphasize on social differences in language use. We cannot, however, compare the social standing of male and female speakers here since there are no male participants in the present discourse. Kate and Jackie are the participants in this conversation. Kate is the interviewer and Jackie is the interviewee. Both the participants are female and their ages, guessed through their voices, appear to be between 25 and 35 years. Both Kate and Jackie speak very clear and fluent English; this shows that both are native English speakers. Their accent also shows that both are educated and both belong to almost the same social class. That is why, there are almost no traces of ethnic differences. The social status of the interviewer and the interviewee regarding this particular conversation can, however, be determined. Kate, the interviewer, sounds superior as regards the preference of speaking; being an interviewer, she has the privilege of starting a point of discussion and leading the conversation towards her desired end. Jackie, on the other hand, has the secondary privilege of speaking. She, most of the times, waits for the questions posed by Kate and her answers are usually to the point, straightforward and limited to the scope of the question. An interviewee, usually, is interviewed with a presupposition that s/he has better or expert knowledge than the interviewer. In this conversation, however, the interviewer, sometimes seem to be more authoritative and informative than the interviewee e.g. Kate seems to know more than Jackie when she says, “OK, well we’ll see if you’re right at the end of the programme.” (Line 20). At times, the interviewer seems to assume the role of a teacher, asking questions to check the knowledge of her student. This somewhat unusual attitude appears to be an outcome of the fact that the interview was recorded for pedagogical purposes. 2.3 Ends The literal or more obvious goal of the conversation is to gather information and have better understanding about the name, fame, physical structure, and impact, of Barbie dolls on children. The desired outcome is a better understanding of cultural, social and psychological value of the cultural icon called Barbie doll. The information conveyed by the interviewee and the interviewer is interesting enough for the audience to make them listen carefully. The questions, raised by Kate, also provide a great amount of curiosity to the audience: Kate: [….] We all know that Barbie dolls have a worldwide appeal. In fact, when they first went on sale in 1959, around 350,000 were sold in the first year. But how many dolls do you think sell today? The broader purpose of the interview is pedagogical. The goal of the speakers, in this regard, is to teach the students how to talk in a formal situation like an interview. It also teaches the language students, how to understand and answer a question in a right context. 2.4 Act Sequence The act sequence comprises of formal greeting and then small informative chunks of information that are revealed through questions and answers, that are often descriptive in nature. A very short introduction of the interviewee is followed by formal greetings from both the sides. Soon after the greetings, the interviewer introduces the topic, and also tells about the theme of the interview. Kate: Hello this is ‘6 Minute English’. I’m Kate Colin and I’m joined today by Jackie Dalton. Hello Jackie! Jackie: Hello! Kate: The topic for today’s programme is the cultural icon – Barbie. Believe it or not, the blonde-haired doll is 50 years old this year. She’s certainly looking good for it! Did you ever have a Barbie doll Jackie? (Lines 1-6) A lot of turn taking is involved in the conversation. The first ‘Hello’ is directed towards the audience. The introduction of the two participants is also given for the information of the audience. Soon after that, Kate’s speech takes a turn when she says ‘hello Jackie’. Another example of turn taking is in Kate’s second utterance. She starts this utterance with an introduction to the program but in the middle the utterance, she takes a turn asks her first question ‘did you ever have a Barbie doll Jackie?’. 2.5 Key The tone of the conversation is highly formal; there is not a tinge of colloquialism or roughness in the language. See this dialogue for example: Kate: Moving on….in the next clip you might hear the following words. ‘Portraying’ – what does ‘portraying’ mean? Jackie: It means ‘to represent or show’ (Lines 60-62) Both the interviewer and the interviewee seem to be serious. They don’t indulge into any informal or frivolous talk. The sound clips presented by the interviewer during the interview, however, are quite in an informal language. Some informality can be seen in these clips since these are recorded outdoor, in some informal environment. ‘I don’t think she is a role model – I think she’s a doll you know and it’s like everyone going politically correct mad. It’s a doll and it’s a dressing up doll and that’s fine, yeah, no problem with it’. (Lines 72-74) 2.6 Instrumentality The channel of communication or the instrument of communication used in this conversation is spoken language. 2.7 Norms Kate and Jackie play the role of interviewer and interviewee. In such roles, the interviewer always has an upper hand. This means that Kate preference is given to Kate since it is always Kate who directs, modifies and controls the conversation. Jackie’s role is secondary, she has the secondary preference. Jackie, most of the times, remains passive and limits her speech/answer to the range of the question. Both the speakers, however, are having a smooth, comprehendible, and well organized talk. 2.8 Genre Genres are abstract and socially recognized way of using language. Genre, according to Thompson, can be defined as “register plus purpose”; genre includes “the more general idea of what the interactants are doing through language, and how they organize the language event in order to achieve that purpose.” (1996: 36). The discourse under analysis is taking place in a formal situation. The vocabulary and structures used by the interviewer and the interviewee are formal and seem to conform to the standards of the Received Pronunciation (RP). The purpose of the conversation is to have a better understanding about the iconic figure of Barbie doll. The two speakers have attained that purpose successfully through a good interpersonal and ideational relationship. The organization of the event is very well structured. Kate’s questions are organized in order of their value and the questions and answers expose the required information quite sequentially and logically. 3. Analysis Model 2: M. A. K Halliday’s Context of Situation Gumperz (1977) has emphasized on the significance of socio-cultural knowledge for conversational inferences. Halliday, too, gave the concepts of Register and Genre regarding social and cultural understanding of a text. Register comprises of three components i.e. Field, Tenor and Mode. We can analyze the text on the basis of these three characteristic of Register (1967; Thompson 1996). 3.1 Field Field refers to the purpose or what is being talked about. The purpose of this conversation has already been discussed under the heading Ends. 3.2 Tenor Tenor refers to the interpersonal relationship of the participants. This has been discussed in the heading participants. 3.3 Mode Mode refers to the medium or channel of communication and it deals with the textual meanings of the text. This has been discussed under the heading Instrumentality. 4. Speech Acts Speech acts can be interpreted in three different ways; utterances act on three different levels: 1. Locutionary (literal level) 2. Illocutionary (Implied level) 3. Perlocutionary (consequence of implied act) In the present discourse these three types of speech acts can be under stood through the following examples. Utterances Locutionary Level Illocutionary Level Perlocutionary Level 1. ‘hello Jackie’ (line 2) Hello Jackie (literal) Greeting ‘Hello’ (line 3): Greeting in response 2. ‘How many countries is Barbie sold in?’ (Line 25) Literal meanings (a question is asked). Repetition of info. For Emphasis. Checking interviewee’s level of attention. ‘He said 150 countries’ (Line 26): Recollection and repetition of information. 3. ‘No I don’t think she is’ (line 58) Negative reply Disagreement ‘I agree, I don’t think she is either’ (Line 59): Agreement 5. Conclusion The discourse was set in a formal environment and most of its text contained formal expressions. Some diversity was introduced through the shorter audio clips of certain individuals talking in somewhat informal manner. The purpose and organization of the discourse was quite vivid and comprehendible. Roles of the two participants were also well defined very well coordinated. Works Cited Gumperz, J. (1977). ‘Sociocultural Knowledge in Conversational Inferences’, in Saville- Troike, M. (ed). Georgetown University Round Table on Languages and Linguistics 1977. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. Gumperz, J. and Tannen, D. (1979). ‘Individual and Social Differences in Language Use’, in Fillmore, C. J., Kempler, W. and Wang, W. S.-Y. (eds). Individual Differences in Language Ability and Language Behavior. New York: Academic Press. Friedrich, P. (1972). ‘Social Context and Semantic Feature: The Russian Pronominal Usage’, in Gumperz, J. J. and Hymes, D. (eds) Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication. New Youk: Rinehart & Wintson. pp. 270-300. Halliday, M. A. K. (1973). Exploration in the Functions of Language. London: Edward Arnold, pp. 47. Halliday, M. A. K. (1967). ‘Notes on Transitivity and Theme in English, Part 2’, Journal of Linguistics, 3(2), pp. 199-244. Hymes, D. (1967). ‘Models of Interaction of Language and Social Setting’. Journal of Social Issues, 33(2), pp. 8-28. Hymes, D. (1972). ‘Models of the Interaction of Language and Social Life’, in Gumperz, J. J. and Hymes, D. (eds) Directions in Sociolinguistics: The Ethnography of Communication. New Youk: Rinehart & Wintson. pp. 35-71. Thompson, Geoff. (1996). Introducing Functional Grammar. New Youk: Oxford U P. Trudgill, Peter. (1974). ‘the Co-variation of Phonological Variables with Social Parameters’, in The Social Differentiation of English in Norwich. Cambridge: Cambridge U P, pp.90-95. Read More