Transcript analysis

Throughout this piece of text, there are 5 main speakers. There are both female and male speakers within and for the purpose of this text, they will be referred as ‘B, L, M, C and D’. B, L and M, are all male, and the rest are female. The conversation was between 5 students (friends) that were talking in the common room in their free periods.

It is clear that throughout this text, B is the most dominant, frequent speaker and normally dominates any other speaker. At the beginning of the text, L is the dominant speaker that asked all the questions such as ‘How many likes do you get on Instagram? I only get about 70’. Then cutting in, B then takes over the conversation by explaining how many likes he gets also. Throughout this section of the text, B instigates adjacency pairs, such as ‘what on Instagram?, yeah on Instagram? These are questions that have an answer to them. Later on in the text, B takes over the power of the conversation by shaping and changing topics that suit him the most. He goes on to tell C what time they’re going out tonight and where they will be going to. The whole group’s attention is diverted to B and now B and C’s conversation is the centre of attention and being discussed by everyone. B is a male and its common knowledge that men are seen as the more dominant characters and most in power at all times, this is also evident throughout this part in the text. Even without B, there are other males within the conversation that take over with their dominance and it’s most common that within, it’s the males that but in the conversations. Although there is many points were the people conversing interrupt each other, there is also a lot of turn taking in order for the conversation to run smoothly, even if there is filler and hedges involved. This shows the relationship with the friends as it suggests they are quite close as there’s no awkward silences involved. This conversation is an informal register and doesn’t have a set purpose, its clear it was just a conversation to fill time and just genuinely chat with friends.

Analysis of text- agreement between college and students

Analysis of text- Agreement between college and students.

The purpose of this text is to inform the students that attend the college the expectations and behaviour from the college and what’s expected of them. The text educates the students about the college’s facilities and what it has to offer as a whole. Throughout the first paragraph direct address is used by pronouns such as ‘you’ this informs the reader that it’s addressed to them and as readers we can see that the text is aimed at potential students and particularly new students. This is also made clearer in the subheading as it uses ‘you’ there also.

The way in which the title is formatted on the page in bold, block capitals in the centre of the page tells us that it’s one of the most important aspects of the page and the writer wants the reader to be drawn to this to begin with so the reader knows what they’re reading. Underneath this headline written in italics is a short summary of what the whole text is about, this is good for the readers that may not have a lot of time to read the whole text and want an insight about the text before they read it on a later date. It’s written in italics as it isn’t the most important piece of writing on the page therefore the readers don’t need to read it first or even read it at all. Placed below this is a list of bullet points explaining to the readers all about what the college will provide them, The use of bullet points mean that they are able to be set out in an orderly fashion and presentable so the information is clear and easy to read and understand. Below this section of the text it is written off by the director of sixth form, this gives the impression that the text was direct to you and all from the head of sixth form so it’s more reliant.

 After this section in the text there is a set of bullet points used again for the text to be set out in a way that’s easy to understand which is headed ,WHAT WE ASK OF YOU IN ORDER TO ENSURE YOUR OWN DEVELOPMENT AND SUCCESS’. This emphasises that the text is aimed at the readers and it applies to the students that attend the college. The font is a common fontl and plain therefore showing the importance and formality of the heading. This is formal so the students know that it’s an important part of the text so they know exactly what rules they need to follow at the college.

The college agreements follows a traditional structure. It is arguable that the most important information in this statement is that provided of the college about what they can offer for their students as this is a main reason as to why many would choose to enrol. Then comes the part which shows to the readers what the college expect of students should they choose to take on a course here leading us to the end of the agreement where the students signs for their commitment and formally agree that they would follow the colleges rules on behaviour.  The statements from the college are the ‘beginning of the story’ that set the scene and give background information which if the audience like what they read, they will continue on. The resolution of the text is where the student signs, if they like what they see they would then show their mutual agreement by signing off the agreement.

Within the text we are met with many different noun phrases. An example of a noun phrase would be; ‘agreement between the college and students’. In this phrase, the first word ‘agreement’ is the head word as it is a noun what explains what this text is. This is then accompanied by a preposition ‘between’ as this shows the relation between the nouns within the sentence, ‘college’ and ‘Students' ’. As we go on to read the student agreement, we reach a verb phrase ‘please read this carefully’. ‘Please’ is the auxiliary verb in the phrase as it shows the main meaning of the sentence.  The main verb in the phrase ‘read’. The adverb ‘carefully’ which gives the perspective students information about how to address this text. This is an mperative sentence and structure as it instructs and adding the word ‘please’ makes it more soft and not so harsh in the interrogative sentence. ‘The’ is the determiner which is followed by the noun ‘college’ and the pronoun ‘its’ leading to the noun ‘staff’. This is also a declarative sentence as it is ‘telling’ the reader rather than asking questions or demanding.

Grice Maxim

Grice Maxim

Grices Maxims is the theory that speakers observe conversational mains. Grice states that when we communicate, without realising the person we are talking to will conversationally cooperate, to achieve mutual conversational ends.

Grices Maxims discovered and created four maxims that follow in the common order of:

 

Quantity - Use of appropriate amount of detail when speaking to someone with right amount of conversational linguistics. 

 

Quality- Being truthful and speaking only the truth with no reason to knowingly mislead, meaning no lying and speaking truthful at all times during a conversation.

 

Relevance- Keep what is being discussed relevant and according to the topic of conversation. No need of changing the subject mid-way through conversation.

 

Manner- Avoid unclearness and vagueness when talking and being full of enthusiasm and energy.

Also what was important to Grices Maxims was the politeness element when having a conversation with someone. This is also known as the 'super maxim' that people are mindful of others personal or face needs, emphasising that being respectful and well- mannered is key for keeping the person you are talking to happy with the topic and not disrespectful. 

Ferdinand De Saussure

Ferdinand De Saussure

Saussure was the semantic theorist of the study of signals and how signs are interpreted and the study of signals. He was a Swiss linguist who was the individual that laid ideas to the foundation of many significant development in both linguistics and semiology in the 20th century.

The structure of it was:

Semantics  ----> Semiotics ----> Graphology

There are two types of signs: the iconic and the symbolic signs. As well as this, Saussure suggested that there was a two part model of the sign that included a signifier and the signified.

Iconic signs - A direct picture of the thing it represents and shows, although its often much more simple, for example an image or logo.

Symbolic signs - Drawn on an association or connotation they’re usually defined by cultural convention based on existing cultural methods.

Saussure suggested that there was a 'dyadic' or two-part model of the sign. He defined a sign as being composed of:

A 'signifier' (significant) – The form which the sign takes.

The 'signified' (signifié) - The concept it represents.

The relationship between the signifier and the signified is referred to as 'signification'

William Labov

William Labov

William Labov is the theorist who categorised the social linguist known as spoken discourse structures. Labov was best known for the work he carried out on language variation and change. Labov’s most important contributions were on the discourse analysis making a model of the structure of the spoken narrative whilst co – writing with Waletzsky in 1967. A study of therapeutic discourse which aims to start an analysis to discover structural regularities beneath the conversations between people. Mainly through a client and customer conversation. Labov then created the structural approach of the fundamental problems of discourse analysis.

They appear in the order of:

ABSTRACT - (A) The indication that a narrative is about to start and the speaker wants to get the listeners attention. 

Such as: “everyone settle down, never guess what happened today”

ORIENTATION - (O) The who,what,where and why of the narrative, set the scene by providing contextual information.

For example: "So today, I went to the beach with my mum and sister"

COMPLICATING ACTION - (CA) The main body providing a range of narrative detail.

For example: "When we was sitting on the beach, seagulls began to swarm around us, people began to run to get under cover from them when the seagull pooed"

RESOLOUTION - (R) The final events to give narrative closure.

For example"As an elderly woman began to run, she tripped over a stone and twisted her ankle, she then got rushed to the hospital as she cried out in pain"

EVALUATION - (E) Attention to the basic story to highlight attentions/attitudes/command and gets the listeners attention at the right moments.

For example: "So what seemed to be a great idea for the lovely weather, we ended up accompanying the elderly lady in the hospital for some company"

CODA - (C) A sign that the narrative is complete, may include a finish.

 

There were also four main evaluations that Labov studied:

 

EXTERNAL EVALUATION - Added by the narrator at the time of recounting and not usually part of the series of events.

INTERNAL EVALUATION - Occurring at the same time as those detailing in the complicating action.

INTENSIFYING EVALUATION - Contributing via gestures, repetitions or dramatic sounds.

EXPLICATIVE EVALUATION - Proving reasons for narrative events.

 

Erving Goffman

Erving Goffman

The sociologist ‘Erving Goffman’ developed the theory known as the face theory, it means that individuals have positive and negative facial needs. Positive faces are associated with feeling valued and appreciated, and negative face needs are the desire, to feel independent and not imposed upon. Deixis refers to words and phrases that can’t fully be understood without additional contextual information.

Politeness comes under the term of semantics as it shows the meaning of the word, to use manners it shows your gratefulness and how appreciative you are. Erving Goffman studied the theory of Face.

Goffman, a sociologist who helped to explain society through the everyday interactions of people. Who is known most for his study and analysis of everyday human interactions, did not rely on any formal type of scientific method to gather his data, instead he used the act of simple observation to explain society. Goffman's research is fundamental in understanding society's ideas, values, and beliefs through the behaviour of the individual. It is through his findings that we can better understand situational behaviour.

Interactionism views society as a framework of people living in a world full of meaningful objects. These objects may be physical, actions, relationships, or symbols. Interactionists believe that humans place a meaning on all things to understand it.

 

Deixis are words and phrases that cannot be fully understood without additional contextual language.

Person Deixis - I, me, you

Spatial Deixis – Here, there, left, right

Temporal Deixis – Now, then, today, tomorrow