Conversational analysis of a Transcript

The conversation between female 1, male 1 and male 2 begins with a interrogative sentence which is written as an ellipsis, where the question had been shortened. Instead of the conversation starting with ‘’Is it on monday?’’ the question is asked simply as ‘’monday?’’ - this is low register and is informal which is representative of the closeness of their relationship, the idea that they don’t need to impress each other with their speech and speak formally, as many people would if it was their first time meeting someone, to make a good impression. An adjacency pair is used at the beginning of the conversation where the two interlocutors are responding to one another. The first question is asked by female 1, which shows that she has the power at the beginning of the conversation. However, as the conversation continues, there is a shift in power between the interlocutors. There is also evidence of occupational power in the transcript which is shown through the adjacency pair used. The question, again is asked by the female which shows that she is the more dominating person in the situation as she holds the most control over the topic, which is followed by an answer from male 2, who is part of  the younger generation.In my transcript, there is only two overlaps where there is an interruption between who is speaking. Both of these interruptions are by male 1, which shows the change in power. Men are stereotypically competitive and more eager to get involved with the conversation, hence the fact that male 1 is the only one interrupting. Females are more likely to be polite and wait for their turn to speak during each other's conversations as they are generally more compassionate and enjoy hearing what others are saying. In contrast, men are more likely to interrupt as they are eager to get their side across, regardless of the fact that someone else might be speaking.  The majority of pauses, gaps and fillers are all used by female 1. This could be because as male 1 is so competitive to talk, there is no time to stop and think about what he is going to say, particularly as my transcript has shown that men are more likely to interrupt. There is also a wide use of ellipsis used, which are usually by the female speaker. For example, female 1 says ‘’i dunno (.) can’t you get a days holiday’’ and further on in the conversation, she says ‘.(.) i’ll try sort summin’ out’’. The use of these ellipses is significant , especially as they are all by the female speaker because it shows that female 1 may not be as well spoken as male 1. This could be symbolic of their relationship, with the idea that they do not need to constantly impress each other with good words, they can be comfortable around each other.

Throughout the transcript, it is evident that power is negotiable - it can change depending on the topic, the person speaking and when the conversation is.  Male 2, who is younger than the other interlocutors, holds the least power throughout the conversation and says the least - this shows the power of age and how it can affect how much you speak. To support this, male 2 who is significantly younger than the other interlocutors only has 5 utterances in the transcript. In contrast, male 2  has 8 utterances whilst female 1 has 9. This shows who holds the most power within the conversation and is representative of the change in the role of women throughout the past few decades. Women were often seen as being significantly less important than men and would have traditional roles. Women would also speak less in conversations because what they had to say was seen as being unvalued. In my transcript, this challenges that stereotype as the majority of questions are asked by the female, as well as the female beginning and ending the conversation, and most utterances are said by the female. Overall, the parents in this  conversation (Male 1 and Female 1) are more dominating and hold more power compared to the younger generation. This is because the amount of utterances from the parents is more than male 2. Also, male 2 asks no questions, only answers them as short answers. This shows that there is occupational power shown throughout the transcript. Throughout the transcript, there is some evidence of an exchange structure, until male 1 interrupts whilst female 1 is speaking.