Fairclough's unequal encounters

Fairclough's unequal encounters

Fairclough believes that in any conversation there is always a more dominant/powerful speaker.

Maureen: well (.) there's a problem (1) he couldn't ||get them       ||
Juliane:                                                                     ||you're joking||


Juliane interrupts Maureen which asserts her power and shows that she is the more dominant speaker because she is able to talk over Maureen and she straight away stops. The fact that Juliane uses the declarative and determiner "you're" makes it seem as though not getting the tickets is being blamed on Maureen and made out as though it's a big deal. It comes across in a harsh tone, although possibly may have been said differently, which suggests that she has the power to blame Maureen and knows that Maureen won't say anything back. This shows that Fairclough was correct when saying that there is always a more dominant speaker because even though they're friends one of them is still more powerful.

PEE Paragraph -power

Plan -
Overview - describing and explaining the text and what is happening, starting with 'because' or 'although'
PEE paragraph 1: Barrister intimidating Mr Neil as he has more instrumental and influential power, obvious signs that Mr Neil is battling for status, quotes "you cant remember whether they came to see you or not?" "I don't think they did no" - Goffman's face theory, Wareing's instrumental/influential power - political, Fairclough's unequal encounters - power asymmetry

Overview -
Because of the Barristers instrumental power, he appears to also have more influential power as opposed to Mr Neil, the power that the Barrister displays is reinforced by the judges. This shows a clear indication of power asymmetry between the participant. Despite the fact that Mr Neil doesn't have any instrumental power, there are obvious signs that there is a battle for status.

PEE Paragraph 1 -
"You cant remember whether they came to see you or not?". The Barrister's use of the personal pronoun 'you' displays influential power as it comes across as being intimidating which would make Mr Neil feel belittled. He uses his instrumental power to make Mr Neil feel of little value, this is because he is higher up. In a typical courtroom layout, the Barrister would be stood in front f the defendant which could also show a clear power asymmetry between the two participants. The defendant, in this case being Mr Neil is currently the low power participant in this spoken discourse as he is being patronised, perhaps the tone of the Barristers voice is harsh and probably making him feel uncomfortable. Mr Neil then interrupt the Barrister by saying "I don't think they did no", this could perhaps indicate that Mr Neil is battling for status as he is trying to become the more power participant despite the fact that he has neither the instrumental or the influential power that the Barrister upholds. It could also suggest that by Mr Neil not giving the Barrister a straight answer he is trying to avoid the question and raise his status by not being imposed on which is one Goffman's face theories.



                                                     

Essay plan

Essay plan - paragraph 1 and summary

Throughout text CC, it is made apparent that Juliane is the more dominant speaker. Maureen's use of negative face, makes Juliane feel more powerful as Maureen lowers her own status to avoid the face threatening acts. When Maureen says 'do you (.) can you' she flouts the maxim of manner because she doesn't ask the question, she merely hints at it, also the use of the pause makes it clear that Maureen is nervous asking and she then repairs the sentence to change it to 'can' which lowers her status even more by asking a question. She does this also to avoid the face threatening acts, which forces us to look at the implicature using our pragmatic understanding. Fairclough believes that there is always a more dominant speaker in any conversation, and text CC supports his theory. Juliane interrupts Maureen twice during the conversation possibly to assert her dominance and reduce Maureen's whilst belittling her. The declarative 'you're' in 'you're joking' makes it seem as though Juliane thinks it's Maureen's fault as opposed to the man she tried to get the tickets off of. This implies that Juliane is more powerful because she directly addresses Maureen and isn't worried about what she would reply as she knows she is the dominant person in the conversation and Maureen isn't.

Because of Maureen's use of negative face whilst talking to Juliane to avoid the face threatening acts, Juliane is much more powerful in the conversation and by far the more dominant speaker. This shows that Fairclough was correct when he said that in a conversation there is always someone more dominant, therefore being unequal encounters.

Grouping texts

Grouping texts:

Grouping 1 - imperatives
Texts C,D,E and F all have imperatives in them. Text C is a stronger inclusion since it is a label from a sparkling water bottle, therefore it features many imperatives such as 'consume', 'keep cool' and 'see bottle neck'. Text C also has mitigated imperatives which are weaker since it says 'please return' and 'please check'. Text E, a leaflet persuading and informing about 'blueislands.com' also has imperatives; 'just visit' and 'see website for details'. They want you to be persuaded to apply for the chance to win a holiday. By writing 'win a luxury trip to Jersey' which is also an imperative 'win', it makes the reader feel addressed so more people would try to win it. Text D which is a conversation on iMessage between two friends is a weaker inclusion, this is because it has a cloaked imperative. 'I needed reassuring' is said by person C as they are wanting person S to reassure them, so subtly hints at it as opposed to saying 'reassure me' which would come across much more demanding. My last text, which is also a weaker inclusion is text F, an email from the Royal Bank of Scotland early career team. 'We would like you to participate in the next stage of our selection process...' This is also a cloaked imperative because rather than saying 'do the next part' they phrase it to make the person it's addressed to feel like they have a choice, when really they don't because if they don't take part in the next stage they won't get the apprenticeship, and if the person didn't want it, they wouldn't have applied for it in the first place.

Grouping 2 - formality
All three texts, A, B and F have different levels of formality. Text D is very informal as it features many colloquialisms, 'gunna' instead of 'going to' which is also elision. Also missing out the word 'are' when saying 'what time we going tomorrow' is elliptical construction. This happens a lot particularly with younger people over iMessage and instant messaging because it is easier and since it is semi-synchronous (because it's not spoken however people read it almost straight away) it is much quicker to do so in order to get a quicker response and as person S is 'about to go to bed' they may be rushing to get a reply. Text F is the complete opposite to text D as it is very formal. Written by the early career team of the Royal Bank of Scotland, it is expected to be formal. 'This message is as follows; Dear Sophie', this is not something you would see in a conversation between friends since it is over email and therefore would have been thought through and re-read a few times before initially sending, this Is synchronous text. Text A which is a mini saga, I also think is quite informal because it says the phrase 'daft old woman', the use of the lexis daft makes the text feel informal because it is a slang term, and due to it being positioned as the very first word of the mini saga, the rest of the text is read in a rather informal tone. Furthermore because it has to be written in exactly 50 words they use elision 'could've' instead of 'could have' which is more informal, so that they can fit it in.

Grouping 3 - lexical field
My last grouping is lexical field, the three texts A, C and E include different lexical fields. Text A, which is a mini saga has a lexical field of bereavement as it features the words 'grave', 'lost' and 'pining' which all relate to bereaving someone's or something's death. The word 'weak' makes you think that someone is grieving so much that they physically and mentally become weak and that it breaks them down. Text C which is a wrapper from around a cranberry and raspberry sparkling water bottle has a lexical field of being healthy because of the words 'mineral' and 'natural' and informs you of the 'nutrition information'. These words relate to being healthy because the words 'natural' amd 'mineral' have connotations of purity and freshness. Using such words make the product more appealing and appetising to shoppers because they will see it as being good for them, despite all the sugar in it to make it sparkling and sweet. My last text to include in this grouping is text E; a travel leaflet from 'blueislands.com', it has a lexical field of holidays as it contains the words 'island', 'hotel' and 'luxurious' makes you imagine a sunny holiday which would help to persuade the target audience, most likely a couple as it's for a two night stay at a manor house and doesn't advertise any children's activities. 'A world away in just an hour!' also makes you imagine a different world and makes you think you can't find a holiday like it, implying that it's 'out of this world'.

The affordnaces of Imessage

Imessage has multiple affordances; one of them being that all the messages both sent and received are permanent, unless you decide to delete them for whatever reason. Also you can send pictures and voice notes as well for free. However, in order to do so, you must have either internet (3G or 4G) or WiFi, otherwise it will cost you. Another advantage of imessage is that you can turn on read receipts so the other person knows if you've seen their message or you can turn it off, which is good because you can ignore people and they don't even know! Some disadvantages of imessage are that sometimes they send as text for no reason which can cost you and is just inconvenient.

Analysis of conversation

Sophie: the bottom of the E? is it where the bottom of the E starts or the/
Isabel: the top of the E starts uh we're gonna do a big (.) uh (.) same size as the E (.) eight
Sophie: the letter eight?
Isabel: yeah
Sophie [laughs] i mean the number eight
Isabel: [laughs] the number eight yeah (3) right (.) and then once you've done the number eight (.) you do two circles inside so its like a bubble eight (4) okay (2) and then (.) same width apart that you did the eight and the E (.) backwards E obviously (.) we're gonna do a big X

Throughout the conversation, there is a lot of colloquialism used, due to the fact we are friends so therefore talk informally to each other. Fillers are also present in the conversation and utterances such as 'uh' which breaks up the speech and allows Isabel to think about what to say next. Pauses also give her time to think of how to describe the next shape, the pauses show that it's spontaneous speech. We also used elision which is when we slurred our syllables together and said 'gonna' instead of going to, we say this as it's easier than saying two words.

Dried Humour

Dried Humour

Jane was sat on a date.
The sun was shining.
"I love picnics" Jane said aloud, the aroma of fresh cut grass strong in the air.
She began to feel slightly uncomfortable, risen from her seat, to her astonishment, she caught
a glimpse of the pulverised raisin In her presence.

SOPHIE CRANMER