The questions in this exercise relate to the following extract, in which two teenage sisters are having an argument.
| Key | |
| (.) | micropause |
| (2.0) | pause measured in seconds |
| // // | overlapping speech |
| = | latching on |
| my | indicates emphasis |
| some. | unfinished word |
| (indecipherable) | indecipherable speech |
| turn | | |
| 1 | Charlotte | you always use my hairbrush |
| 2 | Annabel | no I // don’t // |
| 3 | Charlotte | // yeah // you do you always use mine |
| 4 | Annabel | yeah but Charlotte that was before when I couldn’t // find my // |
| 5 | Charlotte | // yeah but // then I always let you use it yes I do = |
| 6 | Annabel | = yeah but Charlotte that’s because I ask (2.0) I always ask if I want I want to borrow // some. // |
| 7 | Charlotte | // exactly // and I always let you so (.) |
| 8 | Annabel | (indecipherable) |
| 9 | Charlotte | (indecipherable) |
| 10 | Annabel | I would Charlotte I’d happily let you (indecipherable) my hair bands if you’d just ask me rather than going through my things and saying (.) oh she’s not using that I’ll take that and then just leave it
// (indecipherable) // |
| 11 | Charlotte | // whatever // I don’t care (.) Annabel you actually mistake me for someone that actually cares |
| 12 | Annabel | yeah well exactly maybe you should start caring ‘cos // you don’t like // |
| 13 | Charlotte | // but I don’t // |
| 14 | Annabel | you wouldn’t like it if I take (.) mess up all your things and took all your things so maybe you wouldn’t // m. // |
| 15 | Charlotte | // (indecipherable) // |
| 16 | Annabel | yeah but Charlotte you really could if I just went and took all your stuff when you really needed it (.) you’d be a bit // like // |
| 17 | Charlotte | // when d’you // ever do that |
| 18 | Annabel | exactly I’m not saying that but (.) when you go (indecipherable) you could quite happily go and buy yourself a packet of new hair bands 99p (indecipherable) but you just can’t be bothered to |
| 19 | Charlotte | oh (indecipherable) |
| 20 | Annabel | oh for god’s sake it’s useless [starts to cry] you’re so horrible I hate you |
| 21 | Charlotte | I hate you too |
Question 1 (Consolidate)
Despite the fact this is a competitive, confrontational exchange, what conversational structures can be identified?
Answer/discussion
Adjacency pairs (often with follow-up responses) are clearly identifiable. For example, turns 1 and 2 make up an accusation and denial pair, and in turns 20 and 21 I hate you and I hate you too make up a statement and response pair. Frequently, the turns begin with a brief follow-up (eg yeah, exactly, whatever) before initiating a new first pair part. Several of the turns begin with yeah but which functions both as a follow-up turn and as the start of an initiating utterance.
Question 2 (Explore)
Now identify the places where conversational structure breaks down. To what extent is the argument essentially orderly?
Answer/discussion
On several occasions (turns 4, 6, 12, 14 and 16), Annabel is unable to complete her turn because she is interrupted by Charlotte. At turn 14 she begins by rephrasing you don’t like to you wouldn’t like it if..., but again is forced to abandon her turn due to Charlotte’s interruption. This breakdown in orderliness is possibly the result of Charlotte’s determination to defend herself against her sister’s complaints. The fact that the conversation is frequently indecipherable for the transcriber is a measure of the heated nature of the exchange. Despite this and the number of unfinished turns, in general (and perhaps surprisingly) the conversation seems fairly orderly.
