Watch the following video

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbHYXM3Zb4A

• What do they talk about? (Topics)• Who do they talk about? (People)

Cohesion in conversation• What is cohesion?

Cohesion in conversation• One element in the discourse depends on

another.• Connections are created and threaded.• (Halliday and Hasan, 1985) Grammatical

and lexical cohesive devices.• Grammatical: Pronouns and

demonstratives → People, things or propositions.• Substitution and ellipsis: Use of auxiliary

and modal verbs.

Cohesion in conversation• Substitution:• So do I• Did she?• Yes, I do

• Ellipsis:• I don’t know (where the umbrella is)• I can’t (go to the cinema)• She should (pay for the damage)

Cohesion in conversation• Discourse markers such as

conjunctions are also cohesive devices because they connect or thread the discourse.

• AND• OR• BUT• BECAUSE• OTHERS

Cohesion in conversation• Lexical cohesive devices:• REPETITION: You repeat the same

words along the discourse to emphasize, remind, highlight, clarify, etc.

• SYNONYMS: You use them to avoid repetition or monotony in the discourse.

• LEXICAL CHAINS: You use words related to the ones mentioned. E.g. died – dead – death – buried – funeral – coffin, etc.

Cohesion in conversation• Penny: Now, let’s assume, by some miracle, you actually

catch a fish. You’re going to have to know how to gut it. So, what you’re going to do is you’re going to take your knife, slice him right up the belly. (Howard gags) You want me to stop?

• Howard: No, I’m fine. Keep going.

• Penny: All right. Now, you don’t want to cut too deep into its guts, or the blood will just squirt all over your face. (Howard, Leonard and Raj gag) Oh, my God. What is with you guys?

• Leonard: It’s not our fault. Our dads never did anything like this with us.

• Penny: What, never?

• Leonard: My dad was an anthropologist. The only father-son time he spent was with a 2,000-year-old skeleton of an Etruscan boy. I hated that kid.

Cohesion in conversation

COHESION

Cohesion in conversation• Common mistakes of cohesion:• Wrong use of pronouns • Wrong use of relative pronouns

(where)• Wrong use of conjunctions• Wrong use of substitute verbs• Wrong use of ellipsis (modals)• Non-paralell use of structures• Overrepetition• Lack of synonyms• Lack of repertoire for topic related

words.

Interaction in conversation

Interaction in conversation• ADJACENCY PAIRS

• TURNTAKING

• TOPIC MANAGEMENT

• CONVERSATION MAINTENANCE

Interaction in conversation• ADJACENCY PAIRS:

utterances that usually occur together. The most often used adjacency pair is question-answer but there are others such as: a.greeting-greeting; b. congratulations-thanks; c. apology-acceptance; d.

inform-acknowledge; e. leave taking-leave taking

Interaction in conversation

Interaction in conversation

Interaction in conversation• Moves and exchanges:• COMMAND : Use of imperatives

• STATEMENT: Use of declaratives

• OFFER: No congruent form

• QUESTION: Interrogatives

Interaction in conversation

Interaction in conversation• Discretionary alternatives:

•TRACKING MOVES

•CHALENGING MOVES

Interaction in conversation

Let’s analyze a script together

• COHESIVE DEVICES• GRAMMATICAL• LEXICAL

• INTERACTIONAL MOVES• ADJACENCY PAIRS

• Use of vague language• Use of fillers• Use of lexical phrases• Use of discourse markers• Use of interactional signals• Use of cohesive devices• Use of adjacency pairs

References

Thornbury, S. and Slade, D. (2006). Conversation: From description to pedagogy, p. 108. CUP