Submitted to: Ma’am Alia Mehar

Submitted by: Shafaq Sehar

Department: Bs English

Semester: 2

Course title: General Linguistics

Project title: Conversation Analysis

Contents: page no.

Abstract by Shafaq 4

Introduction and objectives by Shafaq 4

Research questions by Ammara 5

Literature revier by Hajra 5

Key termsby Hajra 6

Research methodology by Seema 6

Transcription by Sameen, Shafaq and Ammara 6

(Transcription typed by Seema)

Analysis by shafaq 8

Conclusion by Ammara 12

Abstract:

The present project proceeds from the view of language use for communication as practical social activity and studies formal realization of adjacency pairs in interlanguage. The theoretical aim of the present project is to develop a descriptive model that would make it possible to provide comprehensive analysis of adjacency pairs realized in interlanguage in the social setting. Therefore, the project critically approaches the qualitative-descriptive method of conversation analysis, that how adjacency pair affects the speech and what information it gives about the speakers. The main objectives of this analysis include to analyze that how one can make his/her speech better, to focus on participants' contextualized perspectives and interpretations of behavior, events, and situations, to understand what language looks like in natural use situations, and how people and institutions deal with each other in practical interaction and to evaluate how well communication functions in institutions’ verbal contact with the public, and to improve it. This analysis reveals that how participants in a conversation divide the discourse between themselves, how they make sure they understand each other, how the interpersonal relationship to the conversational partner is developed, how overlapping and adjacency pairs occur in conversation and how they affect the conversation

Introduction:

Conversation analysis (commonly abbreviated as CA) is an approach to the study of social interaction, embracing both verbal and non-verbal conduct, in situations of everyday life. CA focuses extensively on issues of meaning and context in interaction. However CA is distinctive in developing this focus by linking both meaning and context to the idea of sequence. It tells that previous actions are primary aspects of context of an action that the meaning of an action is heavily shaped by the sequence of previous actions from which it emerges and that social context itself is a dynamically created thing that is expressed in and through the sequential organization of interaction.

Objectives:

Following are the objectives of our research:

To know how different people interact with each other. To know the profile of people who are involved in conversation.

To know how different aspects like rise and fall of tone, overlapping and adjacency pairs etc effects the conversation.

To analyze that how one can make his/her speech better.

To focus on participants' contextualized perspectives and interpretations of behavior, events, and situations.

To understand what language looks like in natural use situations, and how people and institutions deal with each other in practical interaction.

To evaluate how well communication functions in institutions’ verbal contact with the public, and to improve it.

Research questions:

How participants in a conversation divide the discourse between themselves?

How they make sure they understand each other?

How the interpersonal relationship to the conversational partner is developed?

How adjacency pairs occur in conversation and how they affect the conversation?

Literature review

•RESEARCH ON adjacency pairs BY JIPING SUN AND LI DENG

It is a research by Jiping Sun and Li Deng University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ont, Canada,current address: Microsoft Research, Redmond, WA 98052. In this research Sun and Deng talks about the recent development of an overlapping-feature based phonological model that represents the dependency of long contexts in speech acoustic. In this research high-level linguistic constriction, automatic constructions of the patters followed by overlapping features and of the hidden Markov model (HMM) states tempted by those patterns are combined. The constraint component specifies various contexts to constrain feature-overlapping. Experimental results are described on the use of the overlapping-feature model in an HMM-based system for speech recognition.

•RESEARCH ON ADJACENCY PAIRS BY AHMED FATHY

Adjacency pairs are the pair of utterances which are mutually dependent. It is consist of an automatic sequence which involves two parts. These parts are produced by different speakers in conservation. When one speaker finishes his first part, he expects the next person to utter the second part of the pair. Good examples of adjacency pairs are thanking-response, request-acceptance and question- answer sequences. Other than these examples, opening sequences and greeting are also involved in adjacency pair. There occurs conversation disrupt if the second speaker fails to utter the second part. Thus, the adjacency pairs are considered to be one of the factor that contribute to the flow of conversation. There are several possible areas of difficulty with Adjacency pairs. First is that a particular utterance may be intended as one of several first pair parts of adjacency pairs. “Hello” may be a greeting, or a summons, as when answering the telephone. Questions may be information questions or requests for action.

• RESEARCH ON ADJACENCY PAIRS BY FARCHA

The adjacency pairs are the automatic sequences in the structure of conversation. Different speakers produce first and second part. These are studied in conversational analysis. Second utterance is always in response to the first one. When a person utters the first part, he immediately expects from the other person to utter the second part. Adjacency pair occurs when the utterance of one speaker makes a particular kind of response very likely. Greeting is an example of adjacency pairs in which a greeting is likely to be answered by another greeting. There are several possible areas of difficulty with adjacency pairs. First is that a particular utterance may be intended as one of several first pair parts of adjacency pairs. “Hello” may be a greeting, or a summons, as when answering the telephone. Questions may be information questions or requests for action.

Key terms:

Members involved in the conversation are denoted in transcription as:

Shafaq Sehar as “Sh”

Sameen Naseer as “S”

Seema Ali as “Se”

Hajra Jami as “H”

Ammara Ikram as “A”

“Ye” refers to recording.

“Wo” refres to Maria

Research methodology:

First of all, our group took the sample from our conversational talk which we had done earlier. We were five members in total and whole group was involved in the conversation. We were thinking before the start of our conversation that we would try to make it as natural as it could be. So in this regard we randomly start a conversation and recorded it. We would not give it a specific name because we just cover topics ranging from personel level to asking questions about Gilgit Baltistan as our one member belongs to that part of Pakistan. Moreover, our recording was a bit lengthier so we discarded some portions as they contained long duration laughters and pauses which we considered unimportant. In addition, our conversation is consisted of overlaps, laughter, pauses, high pitch, low pitch and much more. We have written the transcription in Italic and the other things, for example, names of participants of talk in Regular form. Overall, it is about four to five minutes recording.

Transcription:

H: Acha bata na:a Khair tou hai? Aj hijaab q le k ayi hai?

SH: Ha:an, baal ganday thay, nahana tha aj is liye.

SA: Mein samjhi oiling kar k ayi hai aj.

A: Kab ja rahi hai tu?

H: 11:30am pe gate khulay ga.

SE: Kahan ja rahi ho?

H: Shopping karney ja rahi hn.

SH: Shakal dekh apni (.3) paisey kitney hain? [Ye muft mein hai.

SA: Is ke jo dost hai na wo karaye gi shopping] Boh:ot ameer hai.

SH: >Isi liye tu ney usey pakra hua hai.<

H: Or Seema tum sunao?

SE: Err, me kia sunao'n yarr?

H: Kaisi ja rahi hai zindagi?

SH: >Zindagi tou haram ki hui hai< kuch Fatima Jinnah walu'n ney kuch ghar walu'n ney.

A: Mujhe hi dekh lo ab.

SH: = Tujhe dekh dekh k na ankhein kharab ho gai hain.

A: Acha:a phir nayi dost bana lo.

SA: yar, mein hn na tumharay sath.

A: <Haan yar tu ney mujhe bari tasal'liyaan di hain. >=[ banda nei bhulta mushkil waqt mein sath denay walu'n ko.

SA: Thank u yar. Haan, mushkil waqt mein jo sath deta hai na Usko nei bhulta banda.

A: u r welcum yar.

SA: Tum kis side pe rahti ho?

SE: Ghizer.

SA: =Ghizer?

H: Ghizer naam suna hua hai. (.5) hum gaye thay na Astor, Sikardu wali side pe bhi gaye thay.

SE: Acha, mein kabi nei gai us side pe, hum se bohot door hai. (.3) acha kesa hai Gilgit?

H: Mast hai.

SE: By road gaye thay?

H: <Haan>

SE: Road tou bohot kharab hai.

H: Nei theak hai.

H: Babusar top gai ho kbi?

SE: Mein ney just naam suna hai gayi nei hn.

SH: Ye Saliha log tum logu'n k sath school mein thi ya_

SE: Hum logu'n ka gao'n or school dono same thay.

SA: Tou tum ney yahan ka hostel q nei join kiya?

SE: Yar mein ney apply nei kiya tha hostel k liye.

SH: Wo kuch chara hua hai keera.

SA: >Yar:r YE KIYA HAI CHUNTIYOON KO MERAY UPPER HI CHARNA THA< Ajeeb hain ye.

SH: Wo dekh tu ney us k upper phaink dia hai.

SA: Ajee:b si uljhan hoti hai aesa lagta hai jaisey upper char rahi hain.

(.3)

A: Yaad hai na us din kia hua tha?

SH: PAPER MEIN.

A: [Jab us din hum beth k parh rahay thay.

SA: Ha:an,]

SH: Tujhe tou yaad hi hoga.

H: Tumy kesi lagti hai Maria?

SE: Yaar pata nei, kabi wasta nei parha hai us sey.

SA: Dekho agar ye recording sab k samney khul gai na.] Hajra Jami ki tou class le gi wo.

H: Shafaq ki le gi.

SH: TOU ME DARTI HN KIYA US SEY?

H: Dekh, shuru ho gai hai = isi liye mein ney bola tha mujhe pata tha ye bolay gi agay sey.

A: Ya:r achi hai bechari.

SA: [Ye chaskay laga rahi hai.

H: LOTA.

SA: Sahi ek number ka lota hai ye.]

(.5)

SA: Yar ye dekh kitni rehti hai? SH: Saray paanch minute ki ho gai hai. is mein jo chawalliyaan mari hain ^ kiya lagta hai mein add karungi?

SE: Ha:an wo kaat dein.

SH: Ma’am kahien gi achi recording ki hai inhu’n ney.

H: Kuch ziada hi natural ho gai hai.

A: Acha hai na.

Analysis:

This analysis is on one of the aspect of conversation that is adjacency pairs. An adjacency pair is one of the examples of conversational turn taking. An adjacency pair is two utterances by two speakers one after the other. The first utterance of the speaker provokes the second utterance of second speaker. Contents of adjacency pair consist of utterances like greeting-greeting; we can see it in the following segment:

H: Or Seema tum sunao?

SE: Err, me kia sunao'n yarr?

SA: Kaisi ja rahi hai zindagi?

SH: >Zindagi tou haram ki hui hai< kuch Fatima Jinnah walu'n ney kuch ghar walu'n ney.

From the above segment it is understood that greeting is in a form of question and again in response there is a question instead of answer but that question is relevant to the first utterance. Again there is a question in response to the second utterance which is now become a first utterance. It’s a series of questions all relevant to one another and meaning is conveyed properly although there is no answer seen. This type of sequence is called “insertion sequence” in which the pair occurs and fix with other adjacency pairs. In the fourth utterance there is an answer but another person in a group is giving the answer and the answer is like the inner most and course feelings of a person about home life and university life. This shows that the persons involved in this conversation know each other very well and they are very friendly too. So, they are sharing their personal feelings with each other easily and without any fear. This also shows that may be they belong to same university and same age group. This also shows that the person who has given the answer is outspoken. In the above four utterances speakers are not giving the exact information of the question asked so it is also violating “conversational maxim.”

Second example of adjacency pair consist of question answer which ca be seen in the following segments extracted from the transcription:

segment:1

H: Acha bata na:a Khair tou hai? Aj hijaab q le k ayi hai?

SH: Ha:an, baal ganday thay, nahana tha aj is liye.

Segment:2

SA:Kab ja rahi hai tu?

H: 11:30am pe gate khulay ga.

SE: Kahan ja rahi ho?

H: Shopping karney ja rahi hn.

SH: Shakal dekh apni (.3) paisey kitney hain? [Ye muft mein hai.

SA: Is ke jo dost hai na wo karaye gi shopping] Bohot ameer hai.

Segment:3

SA: Tum kis side pe rahti ho?

SE: Ghizer.

SA: =Ghizer?

H: Ghizer naam suna hua hai. (.5) hum gaye thay na Astor, Sikardu wali side pe bhi gaye thay.

SE: Acha, mein kabi nei gai us side pe, hum se bohot door hai. (.3) acha kesa hai Gilgit?

H: Mast hai.

SE: By road gaye thay?

H: <Haan>

SE: Road tou bohot kharab hai.

H: Nei theak hai.

H: Babusar top gai ho kbi?

SE: Mein ney just naam suna hai gayi nei hn

In the first segment question is asked about the physical appearance of a girl. The first utterence shows that there is an unusual thing in the physical appearance of that girl at that day. In the second utterance that girl is giving reason why she has done the hijab.

In the second segment question is asked in the first utterance about the time of departure and in the second utterancee she replied. Now if we look the second utterance we will come to know that the answer is not complete but everyone got its meanings this may be because everyone know that the gate will open at 11:30 and then she will be able to leave this shows one more thig that they (members involved in conversation) are studying or sitting in some institute and they all belong to that institute. From this we can conclude that adjacecny pairs also tells about persons’ profiles the context in which they are talking and a little bit of the background knowledge of speakers.

The next utterances tell us about the level of familiarity, friendliness. It also talks about the relation between the speakers that is in this case is friendship. May be they belong to the same age and same class that is they are age fellow and class fellow. So adjacency pair also tells us about the relationships that exist between different people involved in conversation.

In the third segment again the conversation tells about the background of one speaker that where she is actually or basically belongs to. It also gives some information about a particular place. There is also a slight element of confirmation. It is an exchange of adjacency pair like statement-confirmation or inform-acknowledge which can be seen in the following segments too:

Segment: 1

A: Yaad hai na us din kia hua tha?

SH: PAPER MEIN.

A: [Jab us din hum beth k parh rahay thay.

SA: Ha:an]

SH: Tujhe tou yaad hi hoga.

In the above segment speakers are talking about some particular event that occurred on the day of paper. First utterance is in the form of question that is pointing towards the statement which is to be confirmed in the fourth utterance. Second utterance confirms the time or day on which the situation occurred and the fourth utterance confirms that the girl remembered the event. In the fifth utterance speaker is again confirming but there is no answer to that question. In other words given a question is a “conditional relevance” for an answer to occur. (Schegloff 1972). If an answer fails to occur it is noticeably absent. If we look at the context may be the following pair can give answer which is also a question-answer pair:

H: Tumy kesi lagti hai Maria?

SE: Yaar pata nei, kabi wasta nei parha hai us sey.

This tells that the speakers were talking about something that was related to a girl named Maria and second part of the pair tells that the speaker is not very social and interactive. The speaker is may be introvert. She is may be shy and can’t converse with others freely. She is not very outspoken. She is unfamiliar of the girl they were talking about. These all aspects are related to the personality of a person so; this pair tells us about the personality of that girl. In the lights of above arguments one can conclude that the girl is not dominating and can’t hold the speech floor too long. The girl may be poor in communication skills as well. May be she don’t liked the girl they were talking about so she never tried to communicate with her.

Segment: 2

A: <Haan yar tu ney mujhe bari tasal'liyaan di hain. >=[ banda nei bhulta mushkil waqt mein sath denay walu'n ko.

SA: Thank u yar. Haan, mushkil waqt mein jo sath deta hai na Usko nei bhulta banda.

In the above segment there is also information-acknowlegement pair. In the first utterance information is given in the form of fact in the second half of the sentence and the second speaker is accepting/acknowledging/confirming the first utterance that yes “it happens”. The above pair is also a complimet-acceptance pair as in the first half of first utterance speaker is giving the compliment to the second speaker and the second speaker is accepting that compliment as the word “thank you” indicates that.

It is again a question-answer or offer-acceptance pair and in the last utterance speaker is advising.

Another example of adjacency pair is offer-denial which can be seen in the following part of transcription but according to the context:

A: Mujhe hi dekh lo ab.

SH: = Tujhe dekh dekhk na ankhein kharab ho gai hain

In the above part, in the first utterance speaker is offering to look at her but in the second utterance the second speaker is denying to look at her not directly but indirectly in the form of satire. If we look into the above two utterences we will come to know that both of the speakers know each other for long time because of the satirical element and the patience against this satire. In the above pair there is dispreffered respnse. Offer-denial pair can also be seen in an answer of the second utterance of the above pair which is given below:

A: Acha:a phir nayi dost bana lo.

SA: yar, mein hn na tumharay sath

Again in the second utterance the denial is not directly insted another speaker involved in the conversation and gave the answer hich is in the form of denial. The form of denial shows the love of speaker for each other if we look deeply in the utterances.

SA: Yar ye dekh kitni rehti hai? SH: Saray paanch minute ki ho gai hai. is mein jo chawalliyaan mari hain ^ kiya lagta hai mein add karungi?

SE: Ha:an wo kaat dein.

The above utterances are in the form of question-answer pair and in the second utterance there is an answer in the first half and a question in the second half and the question is asked to confirm something and in the last utterance there is an answer to that question in the form of confirmation. So, we can call the second and the third utterance as question/statement-confirmation pair.

Conclusion:

Adjacency pair turned to be co-operative in conversations. Exclamations are odd because they are non-interactive. The idea of adjacency pairs is interesting because it is a way of understanding two kinds of ebb and flow in a conversation. There is the ebb and flow of cohesion that is the connection between things said and the way in which things move from one to another through a text, spoken or written. A question/answer format sets up a series of adjacency pairs in a rather rigid framework. If, on the other hand, the person usually answering turns the tables and asks a question, there is a blip in the adjacency pairs which affects another kind of ebb and flow in conversations, namely the ebb and flow of power. Power doesn't have to be thought of as taking advantage in a menacing, underhand or overbearing way. It is an effect in the grammatical choices, especially in the use of questions and commands. Responding to a question with a question causes a break in any pattern of adjacency pairs, as does replying to a command with a question. Interestingly, exclamations do not seem to assume or confer power.

Some researchers have observed that whilst adjacency pairs are a normal feature of much everyday conversation, they tend to be rounded off by a third element in conversations of unequal power distribution, such as those of doctor/patient, teacher/pupil or parent/child

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