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SPOKEN DISCOURSE VS. WRITTEN DISCOURSE
Task:
Read the extract from the conversation first and note anything
which would seem wrong if this
were a piece of written English (+ indicates that the speaker
pauses)
I.: can I + !ust "efore we get on I I the correct response in
these little social niceties + !ustsay that I don#t find the + I
don$t find the name %tanley + my father is&is %tanley and
'.R.: that#s a very low "low aurie
I..: no + it#s !ust that he is a %tanley + he#s a perfect
%tanley + he#s nothing like a %tan + %tan
doesn#t seem to me to "e a diminutive of %tanley + it seems to
"e a completely different
name altogether + my
'.R.: there are exceptions to every rule
I..: my father#s always "een a %tanley and he#s proud to "ear
the name and I can only suggest
that the word %tanley is so low in your esteem "ecause
occasionally it is shortened to%tan
*.%.: I mean + I could have had + you could have had the
opposite + I suppose er + if at certain
stages I think er if em en ynen had "een called enneth he would
have er have saidplease enneth + my name is en + not enneth + it#s
very interesting that + that
particular aspect of er diminutives + kind of rather
class,conscious aspect + en
ivingstone is en ivingstone and not enneth ivingstone + eh +
-uite a different
character + ony Eden + -uite different from nthony Eden.
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012 RE3 4E RE'1R 15 4E 6107ER%I10
3iminutives 8 -uestion of eti-uette
radio programme "roadcast last week posed an interesting
-uestion of social eti-uette. 4ow
%hould you respond to a stranger who addresses you using a
shortened form of your name whichyou dislike intensely9 he -uestion
arose as the result of an incident in which a person using the
diminutive %tan in this way had "een curtly re"uffed.
he programme which presented itself as a conversation "etween
friends offered a variety of
views and attitudes. It was felt for instance that a diminutive
is not !ust another version of the
same name "ut a different name altogether and that some people
feel more comforta"le identified
with the short version and others with the long. here was a
suggestion that class,consciousness
plays a part here. en ivingstone the %ocialist leader of the
reater ondon 6ouncil identifies
himself with the working class and for that reason would "e very
unlikely to call himself
enneth. 1n the other hand it would seem improper to refer to a
certain former 'rime *inister
as ony rather than nthony Eden. 5urthermore some people actually
change from one version
to another to suit various social purposes.
he -uestion of the correct response was not finally settled. 0o
dou"t this was "ecause different
temperaments will respond differently in any social situation.
here will always "e those who
prefer politeness and harmony at any cost and those who feel so
strongly a"out something thatthey are prepared to disrupt that
harmony in order to make a point.
5I I0 4E 5112I0 64R 2I4 RE5ERE06E 1 4E 21 E;% 01I00< 'R1=E*%
47E
2ritten report 6onversation
0um"er of sentences
0um"er of contracted forms
0um"er of informal words
?
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WRITTEN VS. SPOKEN COMMUNICATION
LANGUAGE
2ritten %poken
'lanned unplanned
6omplex sentences @incomplete sentences#
6omplex syntax (hypotaxis) simplified syntax (parataxis)
*any discourse markers fewer discourse markers
6orrect grammar false starts
6omplex$precise voca"ulary simpler$less specific voca"ulary
5ormal style informal style slang
6omplex 0's stock phrases idioms
%ustained functions alternating functions
ittle redundancy much redundancy
MESSAGE
2ritten %poken
4igh info density low info density
ransactional interactional
ogical A concise ram"ling A repetitious
6ontext independent context dependent
'lanned unplanned
INTERACTION
2ritten %poken
3oes not take place in real time takes place in real time
0on,reciprocal reciprocal
0o feed"ack instant feed"ack
0o negotiation message negotiated
0o non,ver"al support non,ver"al support
ong turns short A long turns
B
