CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

Conversation Analysis

Conversation Analysis

Introduction

Applied linguistics is not restricted by traditional boundaries of discipline and etiquettes. They intrude in the disciplines of others to incorporate theories in their own domain. Hence applied linguistics is open to changes and innovations. Recently, applied linguistics has attacked sociology. A branch of sociology is ethno-methodological socio linguistics which is called Conversation Analysis (Hereafter, CA). Conversation analysis is a part of applied linguistics that assess the talk in an interaction. It takes into account both verbal and non-verbal gestures in situations of life. Conversation analysis is applied to both institutional and casual conversations and it generally describes the structure, pattern, and organization of the interaction. CA was primarily developed in early 1970s by a sociologist Harvey Sacks. Harvey Sacks worked with Emanuel Schegloff and Gail Jefferson, define the term in their book Lectures on Conversation, and the study of conversation analysis has soon drawn a great attention from scholars. Today it has become an established method of assessing interactions and is being widely used in anthropology, sociology, psychology, linguistics and speech communications. “Conversation” seems to mislead the principles of Conversation Analysis, according to some. For instance, one of CA's principal practitioners, Emanuel Schegloff, has more recently identified “talk-in-interaction” as CA's main topic (Atkinson, 1984,, 187).

Conversation Analysis begins by identifying a research problem. This research problem has to be linked to the nature of conversation that is to be considered for the analysis. Data collected for CA involves an audio or video form of a recorded conversation. This data is gathered without involving the researcher. A video camera is added to the room where the conversation is to take place. An example in this scenario cans a medical consultation between two doctors and a patient. Another example can be the investigation with the perpetrators by the police. This interaction or conversation is then thoroughly studied by the researcher who then carries out a detailed transcription of the conversation. Then based on that transcription, an inductive analysis takes place which is purely data driven. This exercise is aimed at finding out recurring patterns of interactions. The researcher is then able to devise a model or a rule in order to explain the pattern of interaction in a systematic manner. During this course, the researcher makes sure that none of the components in the string of the conversation have to be ignored or missed. The patterns and the order of speech have to be very carefully monitored by the researcher (Atkinson, 1984,, 187).

Conversation analysis is hence a progressive development in which linguists focus on how the language users convey an idea to make others understand about it and how different patterns of communication exists in the human society. The exercise is complex and varies with the nature of the interaction. It can be formal or informal. In recent times we have seen that more attention is [paid to the informal conversations between people. It is no way easy to decipher based on the informality and ...