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DIALOGUE ANALYSISBY ROSNIZA AND PESHAMINI

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INTRODUCTION

Conversation between the

interviewer and the famous

Bollywood actress,AishwaryaRai.

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Cont..

Referring expression

Connotative and denotativeAmbiguities

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Reference

relationships between language and

the world.when a speaker utters something itindicates which things in the (includingpersons) are being talked about.

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Referring expression

any expression used in an utterance to refer tosomething or someone that the speaker already has as a

referent in his mind.

Sometimes, it is possible that an expression could be areferring expression or not.

This is based on the indefinite noun phrases that areused. Using the word certain right after the indefinitearticle can solve these ambiguities.

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Cont..

Examples (from the interview)

1. Not the only but one ofthe initiators.

the initiators in the example above is a referring expressionbecause the speaker has a group of people in her mind andreferring to them as the initiators.

2. Actually way back when Abhishek and I were just co-actors, I kept telling him 'let's be a part of a troupe and go ona world tour'.

The personal pronoun him is a referring expression as itrefers to Abishek in the sentence.

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3. I am happy that Abhishek gave me such a wonderful

and caring family.

The expression a wonderful and caring family is referringto Abisheks family members. Although this expression

is using the indefinite article it is still a referring

expression.

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Ambiguity

Ambiguityis a term used in writing,

and under conditions whereinformation can be understood or

interpreted in more than one way and is

distinct fromvagueness. Context mayplay a role in resolving ambiguity.

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You too are married for over a year. Are you more 'aBachchanbahu' or Abhishek's wife?Both are the same.

When she was asked if she is more a Bachchanbahu orAbhisheks wife, she answered Both are the same. Thiscan be interpreted, in this context, as she has to carry hername well as she is related to the two famous people inIndia. When a woman gets married, she has to carry herhusbands name. In this case, AishwaryaRai will change to

AishwaryaBachchan. So that makes it the same to be the

daughter in law of AmitabhBachchan or the wife ofAbhishekBachchan.

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Connotation and Denotation

Connotation is a subjectivecultural and/or

emotionalcoloration in addition to the explicit or

Denotation is the literal meaningof any specific word or

phrase in a language,

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Cont..

Examples in the interview

I am already a superwoman in real

life. When Aishwarya said that, shemeant that she is a woman who is

capable of doing a lot of thing not

that she is a woman withsupernatural powers.

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Conclusion

All three referring expression, ambiguities and

connotative and denotative are important aspects of

semantics in a conversation

They help make the conversation more interesting yet

confusing at times due to different contexts