Quant: Lecture 14 Flashcards
What is the history of identity?
Identity in mainstream psychology (cognition) (private) vs identity in discourse (public). Aka realism (epistemology) vs relativism (constructionism, questions things rather than taking them for granted). Social constructionism looks at who we are to each other and how identity is performed.
What is conversation analysis
It’s the analysis of talk in interaction and social elements (rather than individual). The best method is naturalistic observation.
What does conversation analysis focus on?
It focuses on how we coordinate with each other, what we do with our language and speech, how we achieve this (verbally, through gestures, posture etc.) and the responses available from each action.
What has conversation analysis got to do with psychology?
It shows us interactions and how they’re independent from the flow of actions, it shows us how conversation isn’t planned and that it’s anti-cognitivistic, it shows us how we react instantly to very subtle things in talk, aka interactional competence and it shows us how we are constantly adapting with our co-interactant.
How can we find regularity in conversation?
We find it by looking at the smaller components of a conversation that can be predicted and then we can look at the combination of smaller components and predict the larger components of interaction.
When does turn-taking occur?
It occurs during interaction but also during things like traffic or board games. It isn’t limited to language as it’s a self-organised property of life (especially social) that allows common good and understanding to occur.
Why do we turn-take?
We turn-take because it allows coordination between speakers over time, also, it ensures that the conversation is smooth as it reduces long silences or over-lapping speech.
How do we know when it’s our turn to speak?
You identify a point when the transition of speakers can occur and whether you will be able to speak or we signal that we may speak at the next available point. We know when the transition of speakers can occur because of TRPs (transition relevant points), which are basically built into talk when someone finishes a unit of speech, signalled via a TCU (turn constructional unit).
What is a TCU?
It’s a unit of speech signals the end of the turn via grammar, syntax and/or intonation, allowing the listener to understand that they can now speak. A TCU, mainly the end of it, is highly predictable, allowing a smooth transition of speakers to occur. TCUs can be one word, a clause (contains a verb) or a phrase.
What is the difference between a turn and a TCU?
A turn is everything the speaker says before and after someone else’s speech whereas a TCU is the predictable part that constructs the turn. There can be multiple TCUs per turn but it is an achievement as it is at the bottom of the TCU rule hierarchy.
What is the difference between a pause and a gap?
A pause occurs during a TCU whereas a gap occurs at a TRP. Gaps are given a separate line whereas pause aren’t. The usual maximum silence in a conversation is 1.5 seconds.
What three things, aka rules, happen after a TCU?
The current speaker allocates another speaker, perhaps with a question
A listener self-selects themselves to be the speaker
The current speaker continues after the TRP
This forms a hierarchy.
Do TRPs correspond to gaps?
No because there might not be a gap, the new speaker doesn’t wait for silence before speaking, they speak because of the TCU format.
How do we know that turns are built out of TCUs?
Because participants show an orientation towards the TCU, for example, over laps occur because people are attending to the TCU, also speakers often show intonation, signals, rhythm etc. to highlight their TCU and listeners may change posture or signal before a TRP.
Why do overlaps occur?
What are the two types?
They occur because people are ensuring conversational pace and it reflects the orientation towards the TCU. Also they can occur because of the rules that occur after a TCU, e.g. question, so multiple rules may take place or multiple speakers follow a rule simultaneously.
Terminal overlap: occurs prematurely, just before the TRP
Recognitional overlap: residual content from the original speaker is predictable.
