VCE English Language (Year 12) · Unit 3 — Informal Language · 16m read

Spoken Discourse — Turn-taking and Conversation Management

Conversation looks messy but follows hidden rules. Turn-taking, topic shifts and repairs reveal relationships, power and politeness.

Learning objective: Analyse discourse features of spoken interaction including turn-taking, overlap and repair.

By the end of this lesson you can:

• I can identify adjacency pairs, overlaps and back-channelling.
• I can explain topic management and repair.
• I can analyse power and politeness in conversation.

Conversation is a game of table tennis. Players take turns hitting the ball (turn-taking), sometimes overlap or interrupt, rally with short shots (adjacency pairs) and occasionally drop the ball (repair).

Spoken Discourse — Turn-taking and Conversation Management

TURN TAKING:
• ADJACENCY PAIRS — question/answer, greeting/greeting, offer/acceptance.
• Turn-yielding signals: falling intonation, pauses, tag questions.
• OVERLAPPING SPEECH — supportive (enthusiasm) or competitive (interruption).
• BACK-CHANNELLING — "mm", "yeah" to show listening.

TOPIC MANAGEMENT:
• Topic initiation, shift, change and closing.

REPAIR:
• Self-repair and other-repair after errors or misunderstandings.

CONVERSATION STRATEGIES:
• Politeness (positive and negative face), hedging ("sort of"), inclusive pronouns.
• Power is shown by controlling topics, interrupting, and length of turns.

TRANSCRIPTION CONVENTIONS:
• Pauses (.), overlaps marked with brackets, stressed words, rising intonation.

| Feature | Example |
|---|---|
| Adjacency pair | Q: "Coffee?" A: "Sure." |
| Overlap | Speakers talk simultaneously |
| Interruption | Taking the floor before TRP |
| Back-channel | "Mm", "yeah" |
| Discourse marker | "So", "anyway", "well" |
| Repair | "I mean…", self-correction |
| Topic management | Shifting/closing topics |
| Non-fluency features | Fillers, false starts, pauses |

Key ideas at a glance

• Identify who controls the floor: Power.
• Non-fluency is normal: Not errors.
• Cooperative principle: Grice's maxims.
• Politeness strategies: Face.

Worked example (Hard)

In a transcript, speaker A initiates three topics and interrupts twice. What does this suggest?

1. Features. Topic control and competitive overlap.
2. Interpretation. Speaker A holds more conversational power.
3. Context. Check whether status (e.g. manager) or personality explains it.

Answer: Speaker A dominates the interaction, likely reflecting higher status or confidence.

Worked example (Hard)

Analyse a transcript where a manager interrupts an employee twice and sets topics.

1. Interruptions. Manager takes the floor.
2. Topic control. Manager initiates and closes topics.
3. Effect. Asserts power and status.

Answer: Interruptions and topic control signal unequal power.

Common mistakes

• Assuming all overlap is rude Supportive overlap shows enthusiasm. Fix: Decide whether overlap is supportive or competitive.
• Calling fillers "mistakes" They're functional. Fix: Explain functions — holding the floor, planning.

Grice's cooperative principle

Paul Grice proposed four maxims speakers assume others follow:

• Quantity — say enough, not too much.
• Quality — be truthful.
• Relation — be relevant.
• Manner — be clear.

Flouting a maxim creates implied meaning — e.g. sarcasm flouts quality.

Practice questions

1. "How are you?" / "Good thanks" is an example of:

   1. Repair
   2. Adjacency pair
   3. Back-channel
   4. Overlap

   (1 marks)

2. Explain the function of back-channelling.

   (2 marks)

3. "Mm-hmm" while someone talks is a:

   1. Back-channel
   2. Interruption
   3. Repair
   4. Adjacency pair

   (1 marks)

4. Sarcasm flouts which maxim?

   1. Quantity
   2. Quality
   3. Relation
   4. Manner

   (1 marks)

5. Explain the function of discourse markers.

   (2 marks)

Summary

• Adjacency pairs and turn-yielding signals.
• Topic management and repair.
• Power and politeness in conversation.
• Turn-taking, repair, maxims and power.