KAMALA HARRIS + MIKE PENCE
- PARA 1 - DISCOURSE + PRAGMATICS
- vice presidential debate between kamala h and mike pence on oct 7 2020
discourse :
- freq interruptions by pence signal conversational dominance and attempt to steer the topic
- harris uses formulaic interruption to reclaim her floor and reestablish turn taking
- pence breaks theorised conversational norms and adjacency pair violations
- harris uses mitigated assertion to make her interruption more polite
- discourse markers to establish being firm and declarative
pragmatics :
- competitive interruptions by pence act as a power move
- harris uses polite imperatives and face saving reassertion
- establishes her illocutionary right to speak
theories :
- zimmerman + west
- cameron - harris must use speech management strategies as an attempt to be heard
- tannen - men use more dominance / report talk
challenge :
- beattie - interruptions can be supportive, cooperative overlap and not always for dominance
- historically in business and media women have more dominating speech roles and cameron argues it is misleading to label women as powerless speakers
- mixed gender convos are dynamic and depend on context
TRANSCRIPT 1
- PARA 1 - DISCOURSE + PRAGMATICS
- conversation in college canteen between amir and zainab about submitting in there coursework
- interruptions - nah nah it’s calm ill look at one online or suttin
- amir interrupts zainab mid offer which violates adjaceny pairs and asserts his conversational dominance
- amirs competitive interruptions rejects zainab’s help which also establishes his control over the topic - minimal responses - yeah yeah safe
- amir uses minimal backchanelling and discourse markers to try and shut down the conversation
- these brief responses minimise engagement and signal disinterest which contrast with zainab’s cooperative style - politeness and face saving
- zainab uses polite hedges and conditional structure to try and avoid sounding demanding
- demonstrates her relational intent which is typical of female speech
theories
- z + w
- tannen - women = rapport and men = report , zainab aims to facilitate bonding whereas amir tries to disengage and redirect convo
- cameron - verbal hygiene - zainab aims to be taken seriously and her offer shows how she remains non confrontational
challenge
- beattie - interruptions depend and that context is more important than gender
- o’barr and atkins - social roles and status were more relevant - perhaps amir is dismissive of zainab because of his personality
TALKS AT GOOGLE
- PARA 2 - MORPHOLOGY + SYNTAX
- women tend to use more grammar to a point of hyper correctness and men use less standard grammar
- talks between mark ( interviewer ) and alice who is an expect in anatomy at google
morphology :
- non standard contractions - you’ve gotta - morphological blend which is typical of casual male speech
- compound nouns - bone marrow - reflect a higher formal register and is more scientific to show precision
- derived adjectives - more academic and elevated tone
syntax :
- elliptical clauses - they’re so…uh…alive - mark omits subject clarification and minimal sentences show his informal spoken style syntax
- compound-complex sentences
- discourse markers - well actually.. - form of syntactic mitigation to try and correct politely
theories
- lakoff - women tend to use more standard grammar as a response to societal pressure and be more lady like
- labov- women across all social classes tend to use more standard grammar in formal speech compared to men
challenge :
- o’barr and atkins - language is dependent upon the context and role - here alice is an expert so this may suggest why she speaks like that
- historically the assumption that women use more standard grammar dates back to victorian prescriptivist which states that women were expected to model linguistic propriety
TRANSCRIPT 2
- PARA 2 - MORPHOLOGY AND SYNTAX
- study session between jay and ella
- non standard m - jay says ain’t got time - use of ain’t instead of haven’t shows that he has non standard inflectional morphology
- morphological clipping - probs instead of probably
- standard verb morphology - ella uses full auxiliaries and infinitives to show her standard grammar
- use of imperatives to show direct and advice
theories :
- cameron - language links more to context and identity rather than gender alone - ella’s academic personality reflects her standard g whereas jays peer groups reflect his non standard g
- trudgill also found that men are more likely to use non standard grammar due to covert prestige and that standard grammar may be more important in the identities of females
challenge :
- o’barr and atkins who suggest that language is linked to context and social roles instead - ella may be more academically engaged hence why her language is this way
SAORISE RONAN
- LEXIS AND SEMANTICS
- talk show graham norton - 25th october 2024
- gender imbalance - men dominate the banter and conversation until a woman speaks up
- female experiences are silenced until ronan asserts herself
- audience applause marks approval of her interjection
- semantics - semantic shift to context of female experiences
- direct gendered terms like girls which reflect seriousness
- girls - collective identity
- have to - modal of obligation
- all the time - ongoing onbilgation and shows is an intensifier of frequeny and emotional weight
- declarative structure , no hedging ( authoritative )
theories :
- cameron - verbal hygiene - women need to asser themselves in order to be heard
- tannen - men and women have different conversational goals , men - dominance , women - aim to build connection etc hence the am i right ladies
TRANSCRIPT 3
- LEXS AND SEMANTICS
- emotive lexis - adorable ! - express emotion and intimacy - relational bonding
- hyperbolic male slang - pelted, got smoked - empahsises humour and experience
- interpersonal responses - oh my god stop! sounds adorable! - positive feedback and maintains cooperative discourse
theories :
- coates - female speech is more to establish a connection + prioritise social closeness
- cameron - language shaped by gender and identity
- kupier - study - found in make rugby teams men used more insults and banter to build solidarity
- pilkington - study - found men can use polite speech in informal settings too so it suggested lexical choice is fluid and not entirely based on gender
