week 4- spoken discourse

Hello/Hi/This is me, just calling to say good morning, and how are you/I'm fine
-weary sigh
I know, morning, how are you/
fingers drumming, mind not with herself, not with him,
she's just awaiting the next line, before she can reply

Sounds like lyrics but anyway, that's my adaptation of a typical phone or conversation opening in the American context, comprising 4 different sequences or adjacency pairs in which a reply from the other party has to be had or the sequence is repeated.

1. Summons/ answer: Hello (actually a response to the ring, not a greeting. I didn't know that)
2. Identification/ recognition: Self or other first
3. Greeting
4. How are you

Chinese phone openings on the other hand, have other elements such as affirmation of reconnecting(haven't heard from you for so long), voice recognition comments, disturbance check(am I interrupting your meal?) and prioritised communicative acts(in the event that a phone call was expected; sorry I overslept and didn't call you this morning).

Personally, I do many of these things, more than the western 'how are you' type of comments, and they come naturally. In some ways, I find the Chinese comments more sincere and personable than the English ones because when I say them, I mean them, while the 'Good morning's and 'How are you's are often said as mere formalities. On the other hand, I guess it depends on the individual, and there are as many sincere English speakers as there are Chinese ones making small talk just to fill awkward silences.

From what was observed in class, Singaporean phone openings are a mix of the two or as my classmates concurred, a different sequence altogether...it seems like there is no sequence and we just go straight to the point! Well, the Chinese and Singaporean styles are most common in my repertoire. Sometimes a phone conversation lasts two sentences: Hey XY, are you going to ____?/ Yup, I'll see you later, bye; definitely a product of our 'time is money' society where productivity and efficiency are emphasized. And yet another example as to how different ways of communication are borne out of various cultures, and distinctively reflect them.

As for phone closings, sometimes there are announcements to end the conversation(I have to go now), summaries of the topics of conversation, and warrants(ok...). Other times, it is silence which proposes an end, and just needs await acceptance.

week 3- speech events

Speech events are more than a sequence of speech acts, encompassing implicit rules and norms that govern how such an exchange might be culturally-specific. Dissecting a speech act in order to analyse it gives you its components: Genre, Topic, Purpose or Function, Setting, Key, Participants, Message Form, Act Sequence, Rules for Interaction, and Norms of Interpretation. So there's not only the things most of us can think of offhand- purpose, setting, parties involved..there are also other things to take note of, like the tone of the situation(funeral or party). Even the setting, like whether its a phone conversation, face-to-face or online, on MSN, would affect the other components, such as how serious a group meeting is, or the topics permissible.

At first, I was surprised(unbelievably, yet again!) at the intricacies and complexity of events that we take for granted everyday. The difference a subjective and objective perspective makes. Things like having a conversation, buying food from a canteen stall or even accepting or rejecting a marriage proposal..these seem like second-nature to most of us(ok, not the latter) but it's really interesting how we learn these implicit, culturally-specific rules. In Psychology, competing theories say language is either innate or learnt, and so far, it seems like the answer is a mix of both.. things like turn-taking, we are born with, which is why we play with our mothers/caregivers in a relay-fashion. Other aspects of language are socially, culturally built. Japanese are born with, but lose the ability to pronounce the 'l' consonant by the time they are 9 months old, because there isn't such a phoneme in the Japanese language. Rule-wise, etiquette such as who is introduced first at a party (typically the less important/senior person to the more senior) is culturally-driven. Especially if patriarchy means the less important person is always the female.

I'm starting to ramble again. But most important thoughts before I end:

-Is everything scripted- a wedding proposal, a rejection, an interview, a restaurant reservation, a transaction? How free are we?

Answer: Foucault says we are not free at all. Levi-Strauss and Althusser say we are not free, but if we can see that, it must mean we are free to a certain extent. Sounds philosophical, but I agree with them. At least we determine the topics of conversation, and are free to 'exit scene' whenever we wish to.

-Are we over analysing, classifying and compartmentalising things?

Answer: My friend asked this about Psychology, how everything, an emotion, a relationship, problem-solving, is quantified and qualified and reduced to statistics and pathways and components, but it seemed to apply to the study of speech too(ref. opening paragraph). I guess, it seems sad to think about it that way. Reductionism is directly at odds with the human nature to think about ourselves as unique and special, about human abilities as indescribable; it is what makes us different from machines or robots that are programmed to do things, like produce speech. That said, breaking things down, taking things apart is how we learn. Simple as that.