DISCOURSE ANALYSIS (A Small Research Paper)

Compiled by: WAHYU ASIKIN Class A2 Lecturer: Prof. Dr. Indawan Syahri, M. Pd 20126012031

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF PGRI UNIVERSITY PALEMBANG 2012-2013

Introduction The purpose of this paper is primarily to study ritual routines in telephone conversations and in an official meeting in Bangladesh. Specifically, it zooms in on the interactional organization of the ritual opening and closing in Bangladeshi culture. Further, it illustrates how the ritual sequences is expanded in these Bangladeshi conversations. In general, the beginning of conversations has received much attention in the fields of sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and conversation analysis. One context in which the beginning of conversations has been extensively studied is telephone conversations (Godard, 1977; Schegloff, 1979; Schegloff, 1986; Sifianou, 1989; Lindstrm, 1994; Houtkoop-Steenstra, 1991; Pavlidou, 1994). Schegloff (1972, 1979, 1986) describes telephone conversation openings in American English in terms of an ordered set of four core opening sequences: (1) the summons-answer sequence (the phone ring and hello); (2) the identification-recognition sequence (i.e. partners display each others recognition of the other) (for example, hello Clara?/yeah); (3) the exchange of greeting tokens (hi/hi), and (4) the how are you sequence (how are you/I'm all right. how are you). Procedure The findings presented in this paper is based on a data corpus of 2 recorded telephone calls and an official meeting. All calls were made by middle-class Bangladeshi, ranging in age between 25-45 years old. The telephone calls include conversations between friends and an official of an English medium school. And each dialogues is of five minutes. The meeting was recorded from an educational institution. Discussion As mentioned earlier in this paper, the focus of this paper is on the sequences in the telephone conversation those are present in opening /closing signal. The analysis of telephone calls in Bangladesh suggests that Bangladeshis ordinarily go through the four opening sequences (summons/answer; identification/recognition; greetings, and an exchange of how are you). However, there are some cross-cultural differences in the ways these actions are carried out. The collected data suggest that there is a cultural variation in the number of occurrences of the how are yous in telephone conversation openings. A note to be highlighted here is that in the Bangladeshi culture, it is important when people meet each

other to spend some time in what is called AssaalamoAlaikum, mostly in formal conversations between younger and older, teacher and student, employee and employer. That is, an exchange of polite phrases which are mainly inquiries about the health and well-being of each other and of their respective families. This interactional behavior was also observed in Bangladeshi telephone conversation openings: Frequently, Bangladeshi co-participants not only inquire about each others well-being but also about their respective familys well-being. In other words, compared to how are you sequence in American English telephone openings, Bangladeshis how are you sequence seems to be more elaborate. Similar to the inquiry about each others well-being, this is practiced in a rather routinized fashion. A telephone conversation between two friends Opening of the conversation: Regularly, these rituals (explained above) exchanges are performed before getting to talk about the reason for the call. This is illustrated in the following telephone conversation opening between two friends in Bangladesh. Sumaiya calls his friend, Nabila. Note that both coparticipants inquire about the well-being of their families after asking about each others state of health (lines 1-9) (opening sequence). After identification and recognition (3-4) Sumaiya asks first ritual inquiries "what's up" (how are you sequence). Both are inquire about the wellbeing of the co-participant. After going through the how are yous the first topic position is relevant. In line 9, Nabila does topic elicitation by producing "SO" (line 9 ). This is an opportunity for the answerer (Suamiya) to talk about whats talkable. However, the answerer (Sumaiya) chooses to inquire whether Nabila is going to give a "TREAT" for her new job (line 10). Gumperz (1982:131) notes that linguistic forms in a conversation may function as what he describes as contextualization cues by which speakers signal and listeners interpret what the activity is. In the above data segment, Nabila's (answerer) initial inquiry about the callers family members well-being is understood by the caller as the how is the family activity. In other words, the answerers ritual inquiries about the well-being of the callers family create constraints on the part of the caller to also make similar inquiries about the answerers family members states.

Closing of the conversation: The closing sequence seems to be friendly, and shorter than opening sequence. As soon as Nabila says "gotta go now" and ''take care" , Sumaiya at once close her conversation by saying "bye". Transcribed conversation between Sumaiya & Nabila: (1) Ring (2) Nabila : Hello (3) Sumaiya : Hello, Nabila Assalamu Alaikum= (.5), Hey [hahaha] whas(what's) up (4) Nabila : = Sumaiya WALAIKUMU ASSALAM (5) Nabila : Nothing great (.1), what about you (6) Sumaiya : As usual (7) Nabila : And your mom is ok now (8) Sumaiya : yeh (.2) everyone is fine in your home I hope= (9) Nabila : yeh yeh everyone is ok SO= (10) Sumaiya : =so you are going to give us TREAT (.2) aren't you (11) Nabila : for// (12) Sumaiya : // for your new JOB= (13) Nabila : = o::: yeh(yes) SURE so (.3) which time do you prefer (14) Sumaiya : You jes (just) say WHEN (15) Nabila : Any time in summa (summer) vacation (16) Sumaiya : oh:: GREAT (17) Nabila : so jes (just) gimme (give me) a call // when it starts*

(18) Sumaiya : //OK no worry (19) Nabila : Gotta (got to) go now, take care, // BYE (20) Sumaiya : // BYE A formal phone call between an employer and employee Opening of the conversation: In general, a conversation between an employee and employer is very formal of kind. The opening is sometimes lengthy (mostly the identification and recognition sequence)as we can see in the following conversation within the lines 2-6, very formal and much polite. It is much more 'informative' (line 1-6) . There may not be any how are you sequence. The caller (A) directly jumps to the reason for calling(line 7-18) by asking to be started with some questions to the answerer (B). The caller (A) inquires about the information. Closing of the conversation: As soon as the inquiry ends the closing of the conversation begins from the line 19 when the caller (A) says "OK Miss B ......". The closing seems to be very polite , formal and rule maintained (line 19-25). Transcribed conversation between employer (A) & employee(B): (1) Ring (2) B : Hello (3) A : Hello (.2) Assalamu Alaikum= (.3) may I speak to Miss B (4) B : =Walaikumu Assalam, (5) B : Yes I am (5) A : Nice, I'm from 'XY School' did you apply for a job here (6) B : amm (.1) o (.1) yes I DID (7) A : OK, I'll start by asking you a few questions. (8) B : (.2) please go ahead

(9) A : What is your FULL name= (10) B : =ITS B (11) A : (.2)When is your DATE of BIRTH B= (12) B : My date of birth is (.3) 14th february,1985 (13) A : Where do you live now (14) B : I live at (.1) X (15) A : Do you (.3) work anywhere= (16) B : YES and I (.2) mentioned it on my cv (17) A : So:: (.1) is it possible for you (.3) to join us from, next month= (18) B : =YES sure, I'd glad to (19) A : OK (.2) Miss B thank you for your participation (20) B : You are Wecome (welcome) sir (21) A : Well:: we'll send you the appointment letter (22) B : Thank you sir (23) A : OK Miss B take care (24) B : yeh sir (.1) have a nice day (25) A : You too An official meeting Opening of a meeting Meeting commencing is followed by a format sequenced with (i) greeting, (ii) welcoming, (iii) agenda, (iv)turn taking. The following meeting also been commenced sequentially. First the meeting chairman opens by saying "good morning.....", then he starts welcoming the

members over there and having a pause after uttering their name he is giving the floor to that person (line 1-5). Each person takes their turn and say something (line 2-4). After completion of welcoming, the chairman Starts discussing agenda (line 6) and finishes by giving turn to one of the member who is supposed to give the report. This is how a meeting is commenced. The commencement of a meeting is much more format based. It should not lack the sequence of commencing. Closing of a meeting As the meeting comes to an end the chairman declared the meeting closed by thanking all participants and the guest there. The chairman formally ends the meeting according to the format i.e. i)deciding another date of meeting, ii) thanking the participants, iii) thanking the guest and iv)declaring the meeting closed. Transcribed official meeting (1)Meeting Chairman: Good Morning and Assalamu Alaikum if we are all here, let's get started FIRST of all I'd like you to please join me in welcoming Ms. Lakshmi, our Vice President.= (2)Ms. Lakshmi: =Thank you for having me, I'm looking forward to today's meeting. (3)Meeting Chairman: I'd also like to introduce Miss Jolly who recently joined our team. (4)Ms. Aleya: (.2) May I also INTRODUCE my assistant BOBY HAMID= (5)Meeting Chairman: =Welcome Boby (.3) I'm afraid our director, Miss Anne can't be with us today. She is in Khulna at the moment (.2) developing our another project. Beginning the Meeting (6)Meeting Chairman: (.4) SO if there is nothing else we need to discuss (.3) let's move on to today's agenda. Have you all (.1) received a copy of today's agenda (.2) If you don't mind (.2)I'd like to skip item 1 and move on to item 2: Improvement in high school education in rural area. Nancy has kindly(.1) agreed to give us a report on this matter(.2) Nancy?

Discussing Items (7)Nancy: (.3) Before I begin the report, I'd like to get some ideas (.2) from you all. How do you feel (.2)about HIGH SCHOOL education. I suggest (.2) we go round the table first to get all of your input. (8)Miss Jolly: In my opinion(.2) we have been focusing umm:: too much on this issue. The way (.2) I see things (.4) we need to return to our rural based education:: by developing (.2) an advertising campaign to focus on their particular needs. (9)Ms. Alice : I'm afraid ((cough)) I can't agree with you. I think:: rural students want to (.2) feel as important as our students (.2) living in cities. I suggest (.5) we give our rural teams umm: more help with an (.2)ADVANCED STUDENTS information reporting. (10)Mr. Peters : [Excuse me (.2) I didn't catch that (.1) Could you repeat that please] (11)Ms. Alice : I just stated (.2) that we need to give our rural teams (.1) better STUDENT INFORMATION reporting= (12)Miss Jolly : =I don't (.3) quite follow you WHAT exactly do you mean? (13)Ms. Alice: Well:: we provide our city school(.3) with database information umm:: we SHOULD be (.3) providing the same sort of knowledge(.2) on our rural students to our staff there. (14)Ms. Nancy : WOULD you like to add anything (.3) Jennifer= (15)Jennifer Azad : =I must admit: I never thought about(.2) rural students that way before(.1) I:: (.2) have to agree with Alice. (16)Ms. Nancy : Well:: let me begin:: with this(.2) Power Point presentation (Nancy presents her report). (17)Ms. Nancy : AS you can SEE (.3) we are developing (.2) new methods (.2) to reach out to our RURAL STUDENTS. (18)Miss Jolly : I suggest (.2)we break up into groups(.3) and discuss the ideas we've:: seen presented

Finishing the Meeting (19)Meeting Chairman: Unfortunately(.3) we're running short of time(.2) We'll have to leave that(.1) to another time= (20)Nancy : =Before we close(.2), let me just summarize(.1) the main points: Rural Students (.2) need SPECIAL help to feel MORE valued. Our teams need (.2)MORE ACCURATE IMFORMATION. A survey will be completed(.3) to collect (.2) data on spending habits in these areas. The results of this survey(.2) will be delivered (.2) to our teams. We are considering umm:: specific data (.1) mining procedures to help(.1) deepen our understanding. (21)Meeting Chairman: THANK YOU (.2)very much Nancy: Right, it looks as though(.2) we've covered the main items(.4) Is there any, other business++ (22)Mr. Peters : Can we (.2) fix the next meeting(.1) please+ (23)Meeting Chairman: Good idea Peters (.2)umm:: How does (.2)Friday in two weeks time (.1)sound to everyone LET'S meet at the same time, 9 o'clock. Is that OK for everyone (.2) Excellent. I'd like to thank Lakshmi(.2) for coming to our meeting today(.2) The meeting is closed. So different types of opening/closing and commencing of conversation are seen in three different context and dialogues. Pattern: From the differences in the conversational pattern it can be said that the first conversation is in informal pattern, second conversation is in formal pattern and the meeting is a format based pattern. The differences among the three dialogues. There is a set of constraints on all communication in all languages. these constraints met varies according to communation channel (face to face; telephone; writing etc). According to Goffman (1976) there are eight constraints which are universal in all human communication. They are : Channel open/ close signal, turnover signals, acoustically adequate and interpretable messages , bracket signals, non participant constraint, preempt signals, and a set of Gricean norms.

We can find the differences among the three dialogues within these constraints. there are 2 kinds of constraints: 1 2 System constraint: universal to all languages Ritual constraints: required to smooth social interaction

And the observed dialogues belong to ritual constraints as these happen in a particular country and a particular context. Channel open/ close signal: Dialogue (1): in this conversation the opening is short. The speakers seem to be known to each other so the identification and recognition is quick and informal. How are you sequence is long (in context to our country). But in case of very close friend How are you signal may be short. dialogue (2): all features of opening are present in this conversation. The features are maintained very steadily , carefully and systematically. Here the identification and recognition is long in this dialogue. dialogue (3): the commencing features of a meeting are present systematically as it starts with greeting > welcoming>agenda>introduction to the members. Generally people follow a certain format to commence an official meeting and this meeting is no exception. Turnover signals: Dialogue (1): frequent turnover and overlapping are seen in this conversation. And also some unusual pauses and gaps are marked here. Floor is taken according to speaker's wish in this chatting. dialogue (2): is seen with usual turnover and rare overlapping. The turn is taken only when the speaker gives signal with usual pausing and intonation. Dialogue (3): turn over is seen with no overlapping. The speakers speak following the last utterances and anybody can take turn if s/he has good reason and logic in a meeting. Acoustically adequate and interpretable messages: Dialogue (1): sometimes this kind of conversation lacks Acoustically adequate and interpretable messages as the frequent overlapping is going on. Dialogue (2): the messages are conveyed clearly and completely in a formal conversation. Dialogue (3): rarely lacks this feature. But if the message is not clear to anyone it can be repeated and explained.

Bracket signals: Dialogue (1): the bracket signal can be produced by the speaker if s/he wishes. Dialogue (2): this feature is absent in this type of formal conversation. Dialogue (3): sometimes this signal may be used by the participants if emergency. Back channel signal: Dialogue (1): these signals are given in this situation verbally as the speakers are talking over telephone. Dialogue (2): when any of the speaker requires Back channel signal only then it is produced in formal conversation. Dialogue (3): frequent use of verbal and non verbal back channel signal is produced in a meeting. Preempt signal: Dialogue (1): in an informal conversation this signal is produced by both of the speakers. Dialogue (2): mostly no use of this signal is found in formal conversation. Dialogue (3): very rare use of this signal is found in a meeting. Gricean norms: Dialogue (1): flouting and hedging are most common in informal conversation. Dialogue (2): messages are conveyed as relevant, clear and brief in formal conversation. Hedging can be seen rarely sometimes. Dialogue (3): messages given in a meeting is relevant enough, clear and brief but not too short. These are the criteria on which we can differentiate the above conversation and dialogues. All the differentiation above are observed from the referred dialogues. These difference lead the dialogues to ascribe as Formal and Informal. The first conversation between two friends is undoubtedly informal. It can be assumed from the language they use, unusual pauses, intonation, pitch, frequent overlapping, quick answering and contractions while conversing. The second conversation can be measured as formal. The formal tone of speaking, low pitch, usual and natural pauses, complete utterances lead to ascribe the form in formal.

The official meeting mostly happen in formal situation. The utterances are work related and the members are in a workplace environment in a meeting. And the findings above also lead to ascribe the it to formal category.