DISCOURSE ANALYSIS

CASUAL CONVERSATION ANALYSIS

Ranti Harvi Rahimi (0203516041)

Andini Syita Savitri (0203516069)
ROMBEL 2 REGULER PPS
Introduction

• Thornbury stated that discourse analysis is the study of such

language, and the analysis of the features and uses of texts or
text analysis is an integral component of discourse analysis.
He also mentioned that to differentiate between discourse and
text was to think that discourse as the process and text as the
product.
• Spoken language is the focus of this paper. It could be
described as a language that produced by sounds and has no
written form.
• This paper would analyze some points that listed on Thornbury’s
book called ‘Beyond the Sentence’.
• There were six of them, they were; 1) Evidence of Spontaneity
(Repetitions and false start; Filled pause and Common tails-slot
fillers; and Formulaic language or chunks), 2) Evidence of
interactivity (Questions; Back-channeling; Interruptions and
overlapping turns), 3) Interpersonal features (Hedging language;
Discourse markers; and Evaluative language), 4) Topic consistency
(Lexical repetitions; Referring expressions; Substitutions; and
Linkers), 5) Macrostructures (Adjacency pairs; and Story structure),
and 6) Negotiation patterns (Interpersonal and Logicosemantic).
• This paper used a 5 minutes casual conversation that have been
recorded before between 2 people.
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

a. Evidence of Spontaneity
Repetitions and False Start
• (66) Sekar : ...... background is lots of people. There are no,
there is no scenery in my picture.....
• (68) Sekar : yes, oh so i have to.. so whre’s the place to buy
souvenir there ?
• (80) Sekar : .... tried to use the bracelet but it was really... i’m
really dissapointed...
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

Filled Pauses and Common Tail-Slot-Fillers

• (5) Maryo : really? May I know Who they are?
• (14) Sekar : ... Eee Last week, I and mba ranti searching in
instagram ...
• (59) Maryo : Actually, when we want to buy something,.....
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury
Formulaic Language (Chunks)
• (1) Maryo : Hi Sekar, how are you?
• (2) Sekar : Hi mas Maryo, I’m fine thanks. How about
you?
• (72) Sekar : Yes, I ever bought a bracelet made from you
know...
• (91) Maryo : thanks for accompany me. See you sekar.
• (92) Sekar : okay you’re welcome, see you.
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

b. Evidence of Interactivity
Questions
• (1) Maryo : Hi sekar, how are you?
• (28) Sekar : hey, that will be my next holiday. Why you go to
Bandung?
• (32) Sekar : .... Anyway, are you planning to visit factory
outlets too?
• (55) Maryo : ...... people call it indrayanti. Have you ever
heard?
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

Back Channeling
(i)
• (17) Maryo : sculpture?
• (18) Sekar : yes yes sculpture
(ii)
• (78) Sekar : yeah this is a really expensive.
• (79) Mario : oh okayy... then what happend next ?
 Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

Interruptions and Overlapping turns

(i)
• (59) Mario : actually, when we want to buy something, especially
in some area, it’s better for you to ask for the lower price from the
.....
• (60) Sekar : Oh, I see (interruptions)
(ii)
• (74) Sekar : ... for like 2 thousand rupiah but when i ...
• (75) Mario : 2 thousand ?(interruptions)
• (76) Sekar : ...really2 expensive . but when i’m home...
• (77) Mario : pardon ? 2 thousand ? Really?
?? (interruptions)
 Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott
Thornbury
c. Interpersonal features
Hedging Language
• ( 56) Sekar : oh, indrayanti.. i heard that. I just passed the beach,
but i never visited that. I just .. ah you know.
• (58) Sekar : oh really ? maybe tonight I’ll searching about the
scenery in indrayanti beach. Do you know how to get.....
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

Discourse Markers
(i)
• Sekar : oh, indrayanti.. i heard that. I just passed the beach, but i
never visited that. I just .. ah you know.
• Mario : Sometimes you must visit the beach. Because
after now is very very popular. We can see many people upload
it. Ah the scenery or the photography of the beach has been
uploaded in insta, in whatsapp or something.
(ii)
• Sekar : maybe the seller sell the expired food. So we have to
check the expire date of the food before we buy it.
• Mario : okay. And one more thing, you have to be critical
choosing wht are you going to buy, because .....
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott
Thornbury

Evaluative Language
• (3) Maryo : i’m pretty good. Anyway .....
• (7) Maryo : oh I see. That’s really great. That’s must be fun.
....
• (58) Sekar : ....I want to go to the beach. I confused. What
should....
• (69) Maryo : .... to my neighbours, so it was shameful for me.
• (80) Sekar : ...but it was really... i’m really dissapointed,
because the..
 Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott
Thornbury
d. Topic Consistency
• Lexical Repetitions
Train (2x), Hometown (2x), Temanggung (2x), Purwokerto (3x),
Mountain (4x), Bandung (2x), Ushanka (3x), Beach (19x),
Souvenirs (4x), Malioboro (4x), Bracelet (5x), Jogjakarta (4x)
• Referring Expressions
This transcript mostly used referring expressions such as it, there,
they, we, you and this.
(66) Sekar : There are no, there is no scenery in my picture.
There are just lots of people there.
(55) Maryo : eee that was a beautiful beach, people call it
indrayanti. Have you ever heard?
 Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott
Thornbury
Substitutions
(8) Sekar : we are going to go there by train. Can you
imagine that? ...
(56) Sekar : ...I just passed the beach, but i never visited that. I
just .. ah..
(83) Maryo : ... so you will not be dissapointed like that.
• Linkers
This transcript mostly used linkers such as and, because, but, so
and for example.
(69) Maryo : yeah. Because i have some experience, when i....
(67) Maryo : I mean it’s better for you to go to the real shop. For
example you want to buy cakes or crackers for your neighbours.
Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott Thornbury

e. Macrostructures
• Adjacency Pairs
(1) Maryo : Hi sekar, how are you?
(2) Sekar : Hi mas maryo, i’m fine thanks. How about you?

• Story Structure
In the transcript it happened in utterances number (14), the
second speaker said that her friend and herself searched about the
tourism places in Purwokerto on Instagram as a reference from
them before they went there. Here the second speaker used a
present tense when she supposed to use past. All the participants
were clear but she used the wrong temporal location that simply
in the past.
 Features of Spoken Language Based on Scott
Thornbury
f. Negotiation Patterns

`
Based on the calculation. The first speaker got the least
percentage in negotiation patterns turns. He got 39 % with 14
turns in interpersonal negotiation and 50 % with 74 turns in
logicosemantic negotiation. While the second speaker got the
most turns in negotiation patterns turns. She got 61 % with 22
turns in interpersonal negotiation and 50 % with 74 turns in
logicosemantic negotiation.
Pie chart for Evidence of Spontaneity
Sekar used so many repetitions and a false start, while Maryo
didn’t. It means that she hesitated herself very often, for 3 times
by kept repeating words and started with the wrong words or
phrases. For filled pauses and common tails slot, both of them
used such as eee, really, and actually. Sekar used about 10 turns
for this while Maryo only took 8 turns.
The second speaker used lots of them such as do you want, do
you like, do you know, I see and etc. While Maryo used do you,
have you heard, what do you think and etc, but only for 6 turns.
Pie chart for Evidance of Interactivity
Here, Sekar used 8 turns in questioning Maryo and 15 turns in
back channeling. While Maryo himself used 9 turns in
questioning and 11 turns for back channeling. We could conclude
that Sekar was way more interactive than Maryo since she asked
more questions than him. She also let him talk more often since
she used so many back channeling words such as yeah, yes, okay
and oh really. She let him take the floor in speaking by not
giving herself turns to speak or to interrupt him.
Pie chart for Interpersonal Features
This function serves trust and solidarity between both speakers.
Even though if one of the speaker doesn’t agree to other’s
statement, they tend to do it in a smooth way in order not to
threat other’s face. There are some strategies to achieve the goal
of interpersonal function such as laughter, chuckles, using
hedges words, vague language or evaluative language.
Pie Chart for Topic Consistency
On the conversation, both speakers repeat some words very often
such beach (19x), bracelets (5x), souvenirs (4x), Jogjakarta (4x),
Malioboro (4x), and mountain (4x). It stated that the topic of the
conversation was mostly about holiday and tourism places in
Malioboro, Jogjakarta.
Pie Chart for Negotiation Patterns
Pie Chart for Negotiation Patterns
Based on the chart above, both speakers delivered the same
function in negotiation patterns in logicosemantic negotiation. It
means that both speakers did their job fairly in a good
communication. Even though in some parts, the first speaker
didn’t catch the exact meaning from the second speaker and
asked a question for clarification. But the conversation kept going
smoothly until the end. In interpersonal negotiation, Sekar as the
second speaker got 61 % using the most turns around 22 turns
while Maryo as the first speaker got 39 turns with 14 turns.
 Conclusion
• Analyzing a spoken text is interesting since people could do so
many different ways and strategies in delivering their messages
within the communication. With the help of Thornbury’s book,
we could see that there are 6 point’s in analyzing a spoken text.
• Both of the speakers did communicate good but the second
speaker holds the most percentage in 6 points.
• No matter how different the result was, the good communication
should be build based on the same topic that both speakers
understand, the relevance to each other, various strategies in
taking-giving turns, use various discourse markers and so on.
REFERENCE
• SCOTT THORNBURRY “BEYOND THE SENTENCE”

The full conversation is listed on the paper.

THANK YOU !