Conversation and Preference Structure
Conversation Analysis
Conversation analysis is a popular approach to the study of
discourse. Conversation analysis (CA) is a method for
investigating the structure and process of social interaction
between humans. It is a way of thinking about and analyzing
the pragmatics of ordinary conversation, focusing on the
interactive, practical construction of everyday interchanges.
"Conversation is a process in which people interact on a
moment-by-moment, turn-by-turn basis. During a sequence of
turns participants exchange talk with each other, but, more
important, they exchange social or communicative actions.
These actions are the moves of conversation considered as a
collection of games. Indeed, conversational actions are some
of the most important moves of the broader game of everyday
life." (Nofsinger, p. 10)
"Conversation may be taken to be that familiar predominant
kind of talk in which two or more participants freely alternate
in speaking, which generally occurs outside specific
institutional settings like religious services, law courts,
classrooms and the like" (Levinson, 1983, p. 284)
 Turn
 Turn-taking
 Floor
 Transition Relevance Place
 Local management System
(TRP)
Pauses, overlaps, and
backchannels
Overlap
 Smooth transitions from one speaker to the next seem
to be valued. Transitions with a long silence between
turns or with substantial Overlap (both speakers trying
to speak at the same time) are felt to be awkward.
 For example you can see on page 73 number 1. The
type of overlap shown in conversation between Mr.
Strait and Dave is simply part of difficult first
conversation with an unfamiliar person
Attributable Silence
 Attributable silence is if one speaker actually turns over
the floor to another and the other does not speak,
then the silence is attributed to the second speaker
and becomes significant. Example: on page 73
number 2
Overlap Communicate
Closeness
 overlapped talk appears to function like an
expression of solidarity or closeness in expressing
similar opinions or values. the effect of the
overlapping talk creates a feeling of two voices
collaborating as one, in harmony.
Overlap Communicate
Competition
 For example you can open page 74 number 4
 the speakers may appear to be having a discussion,
but they are, in fact, competing for the floor. The point
at overlap occurs is treated as an interruption and the
first speaker actually has to make a comment about
procedure with a louder voice, shown by the capital
letters in ‘wait CAN I FINISH?’
Backchannels
Caller: if you use your long distance service a lot then you’ll
Mary :
uh-uh
Caller: be interested in the discount I’m talking about because
Mary :
Yeah
Caller: it can only save you money to switch to a cheaper service
Mary :
mmm
 These type of signal (‘uh-uh’, ’yeah’, ’mmm’) provide feedback to
the current speaker that the message is being received. They
normally indicate that the listener is following, and not objecting to,
what speaker is saying.
Conversational Style
 High involvement style
 High considerateness style
Adjacency Pairs
An adjacency pair is a unit of conversation that
contains an exchange of one turn each by two
speakers. The turns are functionally related to each
other in such a fashion that the first turn requires a
certain type or range of types of second turn.
question → answer
"What does this big red button do?" → "It causes two-thirds of the
universe to implode"
complaint → excuse/remedy
"It's awfully cold in here" → "Oh, sorry, I'll close the window"
inform → acknowledge
"Your phone is over there" → "I know"
Automatic Pattern
greeting → response
“Assalamu’alaikum” → “Wa’alaikumsalam”
Insertion Sequence (Q1—Q2—A2—A1)
Form Q1 - Q2 - A2 - A1 (one adjacency pair within another):
Agent: Do you want the early flight? (Q1)
Client: What time does it arrive? (Q2)
Agent: Nine forty-five
(A2)
Client: Yeah - that's great
(A1)
Mix of different sequences possible:
Jean: Could you mail this letter for me?
Fred: Does it have a stamp on?
Jean: Yeah.
Fred: Okay
(Request)
(Q2)
(A2)
(Acceptance)
Also with temporary interactional exit:
A: Uhm, what’s the price now with VAT? (Q1)
B: Er, I’ll just work that out for you
(Hold)
Opening Sections (Summons-Answer Sequences)
Child : Mommy?
summons
Mum: Yes, dear.
answer
Child : Can I have chocolate?
reason for summons
In telephone conversations the ringing of the telephone acts as the summons.
Additional potential problems are identification/recognition
A: (causes telephone to ring at B’s location)
summons
B: Hello
answer + display for recognition
A: Hi
has recognized B +
greeting 1 + claim that A
claim that B can recognize A
B: Oh hi!
recognized A
greeting 2 + claim thatB has
Closing Sections
A: Why don’t we all have lunch?
B: Okay, so that would be in St. Jude’s wouldn’t it?
A: Yes
B: Okay so …
A: One o’clock in the bar
closing implicative topic (arrangement)
B: Okay
A: Okay?
one or more pairs of passing turns with
B: Okay then thanks very much indeed George –
…)
A: - Alright
B: //See you there
A: //See you there
B: Okay
pre-closing items (okay, alright, so
Preference Structure
 Preference structure divides second parts into preferred and
dispreferred social acts
 The preferred is the structurally expected next act
 The dispreferred is the structurally unexpected next act.
 The general patterns of preferred and dispreferred structures are
presented in the table 8.I. (page 79)
In considering requests of offers as first parts,
acceptance is the
preferred and refusal is the
dispreferred second part
 Acceptance in agreement is the preferred second part
response to a request, an offer, an assessment, or a
proposal.
 Look at the examples in page 79 [8.1] , [I5]
page 80 [ I6] , [I7]
page 81 [ I8]
 The patterns associated with a dispreferred second in
English in page 81 [I9]