Week 13: Language of Conversation

Conversational language is characterized by its dominant interactional function, for which a variety of other labels is commonly used, e.g. expressive, emotive, interpersonal and social expressive function. The most common kind of spoken language is conversation, when one person communicates through speaking to another person or to other people. Just as there are patterns in sounds, words, and sentences, so also there are patterns in conversation. In even in the most unpredictable conversations, there are certain devices that we use time and time again. Conversations are orderly and proceed in an organised way, but all the participants have to work at the conversation, making sense of things, supporting each other, checking for meaning, and so on. A conversation, unlike a piece of written work, is very much the work of at least two people. The current section introduces the linguitic structures and principles of conversation.

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conversation-analysis.pdf (0.33 MB )

features-bof-lang-of-conv.pdf (0.24 MB )