英语文体学 Chapter 7 The English of Conversation.ppt

1、English Stylistics,Chapter 7 The English of Conversation,Contents,7.1 Necessity of Studying Speech 7.3 Object of Study 7.5 A Sample Text of Casual Conversation 7.6 General Features 7.7 Stylistic Features in Terms of Levels of Language 7.9 Other Kinds of Conversation,7.1 Necessity of Studying Speech,

2、Saussure emphasized speech over writing Language is a system of arbitrary vocal symbols used for human communication People talk and they communicate their thoughts and feelings by means of oral sounds. Speech is the most basic form of language activity Indian languages, etc,7.2 Necessity of Studyin

3、g Conversation,Language is essentially a social activity A teacher, for instance, will talk with his wife at home, with his colleagues at school, with his students in the classroom, with shop assistants when shopping, with friends on the phone, etc. He is likely to engage in monologue as well Clearl

4、y, conversing is the most basic of spoken varieties.,7.3 Object of Study,In terms of field, conversation covers a wide range. In terms of mode, conversation can be spontaneous or non-spontaneous In terms of personal tenor, conversations can be very informal/intimate or more formal; in terms of funct

5、ional tenor, conversations can be informative or phatic We just take casual conversation as our subject of study.,7.5 A Sample Text of Casual Conversation,Here is a sample text of a dialogue between two educated women in their thirties. A: You got a cold? B: No, just a bit sniffy, cos Im Im cold and

6、 Ill be all right once Ive warmed up. Do I look as though Ive got a cold? A: No I thought you sounded as if you were. 5 B: M - - A: Pull your chair close if you want. Is it - - B: Yes, Ill be all right in a minute. Its just that I am A: What have you got? 10,7.5 A Sample Text of Casual Conversation,

7、B: Stupid. I had er about five thousand books - - to take back to Senate House yesterday, - and I got all the way through the college to where the car was at the parking meter, at the other end, and realized Id left my coat in my locker. 15 And I just couldnt A: M. B: face going all the way back aga

8、in with this great you know my arms were aching. A: M- 20,7.5 A Sample Text of Casual Conversation,B: And I thought, well, Ill get it on Tuesday. Its a bit silly cos I need it. A: M. Its gone very cold, hasnt it? B: M- - - Its freezing. A: M- Im 25 B: Youre knitting. (laugh quietly for-) What are yo

9、u knitting? Thats not a tiny garment? A: No. B: (laughs for-) A: No, its for me. But its very plain. 30,7.5 A Sample Text of Casual Conversation,B: Its a lovely colour- - - A: Its nice. B: Yeah. I never di- I could never take to knitting except on these double o needles with string, you know, thats

10、my sort of knitting. 35 A: Yeah.,7.6 General Features,1) it shows inexplicitness of language, as this great and the other end have to be understood on the immediate extralinguistic context or shared background knowledge. 2) it shows randomness of subject-matter and lack of planning. 3) there is the

11、phenomenon of normal non-fluency, as hesitation, slips of the tongue, overlapping or simultaneous speech.,7.7 Stylistic Features in Terms of Levels of Language,7.7.1 Grammatical Features 7.7.2 Lexical Features 7.7.4 Semantic Features,7.7.1 Grammatical Features,1) Preference for short and loose sente

12、nces 2) High incidence of elliptical and incomplete sentences 3) Frequency of interrogative sentences 4) Simple nominal and verbal group structure,1) Preference for short and loose sentences,Speakers tend to use short utterances when talking. Keeping with the fact that our short-term memory is only

13、seven or eight words long. The longer sentences are loosely joined together: usually the main clause comes the first, with other clauses of phrases running on behind, very often joined by and or so.,2) High incidence of elliptical sentences,In order to be brief and informal/intimate, participants in

14、 casual conversation tend to omit parts/elements of an utterance which in formal context are not ellipted. More examples: Want some tea? (Do you want some tea?) You Okay? (Are you Okay?) Got to go now. (I”ve got to go now.) Youve what? (What have you had?),2) High incidence of incomplete sentences,3

15、 cases: The speaker may restart a sentence to conform more to what he/she wants to say. Speaker A may want to complete Speaker Bs sentence or vice versa The two speakers may provide an ending simultaneously.,3) Frequency of interrogative sentences,As a verbal transaction between two people conversin

16、g, questions and answers are the basic form. Hence the higher incidence of interrogative sentences. Vocatives are used to call the attention of the addressee (to get him or her involved).,4) Simple nominal and verbal group structure,Nominal groups tend to be “Det+(Adj)+Noun”; with not much postmodif

17、ication or adjective sequence Relative clauses omit an optional relative pronoun and the prep. is put at the end Object forms as subjects (Me too) Verbal groups are composed of one verb or of “Aux+Verb” Contracted verbal forms Informal filler verbs such as got Passives are few; less modal verbs,7.7.

18、2 Lexical Features,Preference for short words and vague expressions Frequent use of colloquial items and idioms and a great many phrasal verbs. Use of lexical hyperbole and slang,1) Preference for short words and vague expressions,The words are short. The vocabulary reflects the relative domesticity

19、 of the subject matter: weather, health, car, knitting; words having to do with phatic communication, and vocal sounds such as “m”, “mhm”, etc to keep the conversation going. For example, - Id like fifty pence, Dad. - Why? - Because we want some things from the shops. (cf need to buy) Its been very

20、nice having you. (cf to have your company),1) Preference for short words and vague expressions,Specialized terms and formal phraseology are generally kept to the minimum, and whenever they have to be used their force is played down either through the use of hesitation, or the use of parenthetic stru

21、ctures like you know, sort of, kind of, and so on. For example, This s syou know, its a sort of - out-dated policy which just goes on and on. And it is even possible to replace a special lexical item with a vague terms; as in I cant screw up the whats-it. Will you try? Mary gone out with whats-his-n

22、ame- you know, the boy with a curly beard?,2) Frequent use of colloquial items and idioms and a great many phrasal verbs,Certain items such as yeah, cos, got, just, a bit, all right, OK, fed up, sort of, kind of, well, I mean, you see, thing; and idioms such as in a minute, just couldnt face, the si

23、mple truth is, the thing to do, as far as I can gather are very frequently used in conversation. For example, - Are you ready for the driving test? - Well, I dont know. Kind of. Phrasal verbs are used in place of one-word verbs. For example, The prisoner finally broke down. (collapsed) She turned up

24、 unexpectedly. (appeared) Theyve call off the strikes. (cancelled),2) Use of lexical hyperbole and slang,People often make use of a great number of lexical items for emphasis. Our sample gives us a glimpse of this: (I am) stupid, about five thousand (books), (its) freezing, all the way (through the

25、college), etc. Other favorite emphatics are possible, e.g The performance was superb. My pain was awful. What marvelous weather!,slang,- Didnt you, I mean, didnt you give the impression that you were actually dying to go to Malaysia? - Im not a very good liar actually. God. I put my foot in it. He h

26、ad some prizeblerk, and afterwards he took me aside and said, um, you did put your foot in it at least three times, but we didnt hold it against you. And, you know, at one stage some old geezer in the corner who mustve been at least a hundred and eighty says, er, In this dialogue, we see slang words

27、 or expressions: prizeblerk for No. 1 idiot, old geezer for old man.,7.7.3 Phonological Features,Frequent use of some basic prosodic patterns Prosodic variation within the tone-unit Frequency of pause and uneven tempo Free occurrence of paralinguistic effects,1) Frequent use of some basic prosodic p

28、atterns,There is a high proportion of simple falling tones The tone units tend to be short End-of-utterance pauses are not common A narrow pitch range,2) Prosodic variation within the tone-unit,In order to avoid mechanic repetitiveness, the speaker often uses prosodic contrasts at various points wit

29、hin the tone-unit Contrastive tonicity is extremely frequent, often occurring with compound tones,3) Frequency of pause and uneven tempo,There is frequent silence for a contrastive pause. Voiceless hesitation is frequent, and can occur anywhere, not just at places of major grammatical junction; voic

30、ed hesitation is frequent with some speakers Tempo is flexible; on the whole, conversation tends to be quite fast,4) Free occurrence of paralinguistic effects,Laugh, sob, cry, breathiness, falsetto and body language,7.7.4 Semantic Features,Semantically the most important feature is randomness of sub

31、ject matter and general lack of planning, as the speaker is in the position of having “to think on his/her feet”, of having to encode the message under pressure of time, and hence the occurrence of markers of all kinds of spontaneous effects, such as simultaneous start, A supplying Bs end of speech,

32、 afterthoughts (as is shown above in the sample); and the loose string of ideas, rough synonyms (eg a good school, a beautiful school, very nice).,7.7.4 Semantic Features,What is more, in everyday conversation, there is often the appearance of “illogicality”; as in My watch is half past nine. ( Its half past nine by my watch.) Its a better job than you have now. (Its a better job than the one you have now.),7.7.4 Semantic Features,Jumps in the train of th