Compare + Contrast

Question 1

Gumperz Frame Theory

Answer 1

1982
- Using past experience to structure conversation
- We pick up contextual cues, enabling us to recognise the situation and structure our responses appropriately
- Helps us to interpret the situation and anticipate what happens next
EXAMPLE: in a doctors appointment or interview there are frames which we can recognise and structure our utterances around

Question 2

Michael Hoey Problem/Resolution

Answer 2

1983
- One of the most common discourse patterns
1. A previous situation which provides context (OPTIONAL)
2. The ‘problem’ or aspect of a situation requiring a response
3. A response to the problem
4. A positive result or evaluation

EXAMPLE: 1) I was once an English teacher 2) One day, some students came to me unable to write their names 3) I taught them text analysis 4) Now they all write novels

Question 3

Labov’s Oral Narrative Theory

Answer 3

Stage 1: ABSTRACT - A brief synopsis of what the story is about, e.g. ‘you won’t believe what happened to me at college earlier…’
Stage 2: ORIENTATION - Who, what, when, where, why (setting the scene), e.g. ‘I was going up the hill with my friend Daisy and it was raining really heavily’
Stage 3: NARATIVE - What happened, the event moves the story on, e.g. ‘She slipped and fell on the ground’
Stage 4: RESOLUTION - The conclusion to the story, e.g. ‘She managed to get cleaned up and changed clothes’
Stage 5: CODA - The speaker returns to the conversation or listener, e.g. ‘anyways’, ‘how was your journey up’ etc.

Question 4

Topic management: Pre-closing items

Answer 4

Words and phrases that signal the end of conversation

Question 5

Topic management: Agenda setting

Answer 5

Introducing a new topic to the conversation

Question 6

Topic management: Terminating

Answer 6

Closing off an old topic or the entire conversation
Termination markers: ‘all right’, ‘right’, ‘there we are’

Question 7

Topic management: Changing topic

Answer 7

Abandoning the current topic in favour of a new, unrelated topic

Question 8

Topic management: Shifting topic

Answer 8

Moving from one topic to a related topic

Question 9

Topic management: Drifting topic

Answer 9

Involves moving almost imperceptibly from one topic to another - usually some kind of associated link, but not as obviously connected as a shift

Question 10

Topic management: Digressing

Answer 10

Moving temporarily from the current topic, can be spontaneous or deliberate and can be related or unrelated - often shown by digression markers such as ‘actually’, ‘by the way’

Question 11

Topic management: Resuming

Answer 11

Ending digression to go back to the topic marked by return markers such as ‘anyway’ or ‘sorry, carry on’

Question 12

Turntaking cues

Answer 12

• Interrogatives
• Tag questions, e.g. ‘It’s a lovely day, isn’t it?’
• Use of vocatives
• Fluent pauses
• Concluding statements, e.g. ‘that’s about it’
• Eye contact
• Leaning forward
• Rapid nods

Question 13

Backchannelling

Answer 13

Sounds/words like ‘mhm’, ‘uh-huh’, ‘yeah’, ‘I see’ to support the speaker and encourage them to continue

Question 14

Insertion sequences

Answer 14

One adjacency pair is embedded into another
- First adjacency pair can’t be completed until the embedded pair is completed

e.g.
John - Are you coming tonight?
Will - Is Bob going to be there?
John - I think so
Will - Okay, I’ll be there at 8

Question 15

IRF sequences

Answer 15

Initiation, e.g. ‘as you’re going to the pub, could you give me a lift?
Response, e.g. ‘yeah of course, I’ll pick you up at 8’
Feedback, e.g. ‘Brilliant thank you’

Question 16

Erving Goffman Face Theory

Answer 16

1967
Suggested that everyone wants to show a particular public image which manifests itself in how we communicate
Individuals have different ‘faces’ they want to show or protect depending on context

Question 17

Face saving devices

Answer 17

Protecting our own face and others, what we have been socialised to do

• Use of mitigation to soften imperatives
• Use of epistemic modal auxiliary verbs ‘might’ ‘may’ suggesting possibility
• Being indirect, e.g. ‘Its cold in here’ (wanting window to be shut)
• Being tentative
• Impersonalising (takes blame away)
• Understatement markers ‘quite’, ‘fairly’, ‘somewhat’
• Hedging/vague language
• Apologising
• Humour
• Plural pronouns, e.g. ‘we forgot to tell you..’

Question 18

Face threatening devices

Answer 18

When we break these rules and damage someone’s self esteem

• Dysphemism (taboo language/swearing)
• Direct imperatives
• Insults/belittling the listener
• Stronger deontic modal verbs (must/will/can) indicate obligation
• First person
• Lack of hedging
• Adverbs to suggest immediacy or certainty
• Use of declaratives/exclamatives instead of interrogatives

Question 19

Brown + Levinson Extension on face theory

Answer 19

1987

1. BALD ON RECORD - Speaker is blunt and direct, e.g. ‘Get out!’ (FT)
2. POSITIVE POLITENESS - Speaker takes a more informal approach of showing interest in and agreement with the other speaker and features may include use of a vocative, presupposition, jokes, informality and tag questions to make the other person feel good (FS)
3. NEGATIVE POLITENESS - Speaker takes a more indirect route using mitigation, indirectness, deference, apologies and formality - They know they are imposing on you (FS)
4. OFF RECORD - Where the speaker doesn’t threaten the others face at all, e.g. changing subject or walking away (FS)

Question 19

Grice’s Maxims (Cooperative Principles)

Answer 19

We agree to cooperate in conversation by following these maxims

1. QUANTITY - Say neither more nor less than required
2. QUALITY - Do not say what you believe to be false, do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence
3. RELEVANCE - Be relevant
4. MANNER - Avoid obscurity of expression, avoid ambiguity, be orderly

Question 19

Following Grice’s Maxims

Answer 19

Obeyed - Maxim is not broken
Violated - Speaker secretly breaks maxim (e.g. intentional lying)
Flouting - Speaker breaks the maxim for some kind of linguistic effect (e.g. sarcasm or irony)

Question 20

Features of Spoken Mode

Answer 20

• Incomplete utterances
• Shorter and simpler utterances reliant on using repetitive conjunctions
• Colloquial language possibly belonging to a sociolect or dialect
• Non-fluency features
• Hedges
• Deixis (pointing words)
• Discourse markers
• Direct address
• High frequency lexis
• Prosodic features

Question 21

Features of Written Mode

Answer 21

• Complete grammatical sentences
• May use more complex grammar + sentences
• May use more formal, lexical choices
• No non-fluency features
• Fewer or no hedges, more precise
• Fewer examples of deixis
• Discourse markers used to organise lexis
• More examples of low frequency lexis
• Punctuation to demarcate sentences

Question 22

Non-fluency features

Answer 22

Interruptions of fluency in speech and sometimes writing

• Hesitation
• Fillers
• Non fluent pauses
• False start
• Non fluent repetition
• Recyclying
• Self corrections
• Hedging
• Ellipsis/elision

Question 23

Non-fluency features - Fillers

Answer 23

Words and phrases used to fill a pause rather than fall silent, e.g. ‘um’ ‘er’

Question 24

Non-fluency features - False start

Answer 24

A construction/utterance which is abandoned before completion and a new one follows instead (e.g. if you don’t stop (.) please stop!)

Question 25

Non-fluency features - Recycling

Answer 25

More than one attempt to utter a word or phrase (e.g. she was pa-paralysed)

Question 25

Non-fluency features - Self corrections

Answer 25

The correction of (usually) the wrong lexical choice by the speaker (e.g. we need three (.) no (.) four)

Question 26

Non-fluency features - Ellipsis/elision

Answer 26

Missing out whole words/letters when speaking

Question 27

Diversity Theory (Cockcroft and Clerk)

Answer 27

1) Susan Cockcroft
- “Social context determines language behaviour, not simply biological difference”

= context determines language NOT gender (eg if in an interview would all use standard english du to env)

2) De Clerk
-> The rise in female swearing poses a challenge to men.
-> Verbal hygiene: women should speak with polite forms

Question 28

Difference theory (Tannen and Coates)

Answer 28

Men and women learn different ways of communicating in childhood which then influences them in adult life.

Deborah Tannen
Affective -> women use compliments to form relationships/emotional (cooperative, save face)
Referential-> men use compliments to gain info/facts (competitive, less likely to save face)

Jennifer Coates
Public discourse (men) : how to talk in workplace; competitive
Private discourse (women) : how to be supportive and look after kids; cooperative

Question 29

Dominance (Zimmerman West and Fishman)

Answer 29

Zimmerman and West (1975)
“Men are seen as controlling and commanding mixed sex interaction”
findings:
1) 96% of interruptions were male, therefore seen as restricted linguistic freedom of women compared to men
2) specific language features did not belong to certain genders
3) caused by power indifference
(REMEMBER: man in the middle interrupting)

= Fishman (female-1980)
- found women used 3x more yes/no and tag questions than men
- she analysed couples and claimed tag questions can be a feature of strength as they force listener to give feedback (challenges Lakeoff)

Question 29

Deficit theory (Lakeoff)

Answer 29

Robin Lakoff

“Female language is seen as inadequate in some way to the established norm”
Female talk features…
1) tag questions -> shows uncertainty
2) hedges and fillers -> “like “well”
3) empty adjectives -> “nice” lovely”
4) intensifiers -> “so” “really”
5) precise colour terms -> “magenta”>”purple”
6) standard grammar
7) avoidance of taboo lexis -> “shut the front door”
8) raising intonation on declaratives
9) emphatic stress on specific words -> “that’s a GORGEOUS dress”

NO RESEARCH
If you see something in a text that supports this theory, use another explanation after (criticism kind of)

Question 30

Speech Act Theory (Austin)

Answer 30

Locutionary acts -> the act of saying something ‘There’s a fly in my soup’

Illocutionary acts -> implied meaning ‘Get me another soup’

Perlocutionary acts -> result of the illocutionary acts eg waiter removes fly from soup

Question 31

Accommodation Theory (Giles)

Answer 31

accommodation : where a speaker adapts to another speaker’s accent, dialect or sociolect (relational thing).

-> convergence: speaker moves towards another speakers accent/dialect/sociolect
a) upwards convergence: more formal/prestigious (to gain power over someone else)
b) downwards convergence: more informal (ie slang)

-> divergence : when you stop/prevent yourself from sounding like other ppl (usually those we dislike)

Question 32

Overt and Covert Prestige (Trudgill)

Answer 32

People belonging to higher social classes would use more standard language forms, and the higher the social class, the closer to prestige varieties their language would be.

Overt prestige was present in the more prestigious stores demonstrates how standard forms of language are deemed as being more socially acceptable than non-standard forms.