sniffy

Stylistic

AnalysisofaConversation

系名称：外语系

年级：10级

班级：一班

姓名：孙国庆

学号：2

StylisticAnalysisofaConversation

Introduction

Conversationiswithoutdoubtthemostcommonlyudkindoflanguage,and

therefore,

varietyisudineveryone’

itisnecessaryforustoanalyzeitfromtheperspectiveofgeneralstylistics.

Thematerialforanalysisisaconversationbetweentwohouwiveswhoarein

thesameagerank

occasionisthatBisinvitedtoA'houforaneveningchatovercoffee.

oresuch

articipantsmaychatabout

sofsubjectscanbeoftenfound.

StylisticAnalysis

honologicalLevel

,themainfocusison

stress,elision,pau,para-linguisticdevicesandoverlappingofwords.

Conversationcanbedividedintotwomajorkinds:spontaneousconversationand

o

bespokensoundverynaturalandspontaneous(agenerallackofplanning).

1.1Stress

eryimportantwayof

expressing

hasthefollowingfunctionsinthisconversation:

a)Toshowemphasis:

I'llbeallrightinaMINUTE.

Itimplies“Itisinaminute(nottoolong)I'llbeallright.”

STUpidIhaderaboutfivethousandBOOKStotakebacktonateHOUSE

YESterday.

ItemphasizeshowstupidIwas,what,where,andwhen.

b)Toshowsurpri,anger,doubt,horrororexcitement:

YougotaCOLD

Inthisntence,“cold”isstresd,whichindicatesA'sdoubtasifsaying

“Didyougetacold?”.

1.2Elision

Elisionisoneofthedistinctphonologicalstylemakersinconversation,whichis

onversation,themostfrequent

elisionsareI'm,I've,I'll,it's,I'd,hasn’t,you're,andthat'lisionscanperfectly

indicatetheinformalityoftheconversationaswellasintimaterelationshipbetween

twoneighbors.

1.3Pau

ish,thereare

voicedpaus(um,er,ah),andsilentpaus-silentbreaksbetweenwords,suchasthe

pauattheendofantence,thepaubetweenadependentclauanditsmain

clau,conversation,bothkindsof

pauscanbefrequentlyfound.

/=shortpau//=longpau

Inthisconversation,theusuallyoveruofpausmayreflectcertainfeelingor

attitudeofspeaker,suchasnervousness,hesitation,confusion,oruncertainty.

1.4Para-linguisticdevices

AandBintheconversationoftenresortsomepara-linguisticdevices,suchas

laughters(laughsfor/laughsquietlyfor-)andmonitoringsignals(suchasyouknow,

well,Ithought,whathaveyougot)tohelpconveythemeaningsandfeelings.

Forexample,"no,Ithoughtyousoundedasifyouwere"

1.5Overlappingofwordsorphras

OverlappingofwordsorphrasofAandBisalsoverycommoninthis

conversation.

*=overlappingofwordsoftwoparticipants

Whenonepersoncomesupwithanewidea,hemaynotalwayswaitforhisturn

d,heuttershiswordsinahighpitch

andaquicktempotilltheotherpersonstops.

1.6Normalnon-fluency

Normalnon-fluencyisverycommoninthis,whichisresultedfromoverlapping

ofwordsandotherfactorssuchassuddenchangeofsubjectmatter,hesitation,

nervousness,mple:

No,justabitsniffycosI'm-Iamcold

exicalLevel

Lexisreferstothechoiceofwordsandexpressionsandhere,wewillfocusour

attentionontheuofcolloquialwordsandgeneralwords.

2.1Uofcolloquialwords

Itisnormalandnaturaltoesomanycolloquialwordsinthisconversation,

suchasyeah,got,just,well,cos(becau),ordscanexpressthespeaker's

attitudeorsurpri,disgust,uialwordsarealsothesignalof

informality.

2.2Generalwords

Generalwordsarealsoudveryfrequentlyinthisconversation,suchasdo,

clour,go,and,nice,eneralwordsmaynotconveyspecificmeanings,but

bablygeneralmeaning

iswhattheparticipantsrequire.

yntactic/GrammaticalLevel

part,we

mostlyconcentrateonntencetypesandvoice.

Itisfoundthatntences(asfaraslengthandstructuresareconcerned)inthe

norntencesandshort

ntencesareud,whicharestylemakersofinformality.

3.1Preferenceforinterrogativentences

Interrogativentencesappearfrequentlyinthisshortconversation.

lytakesthe

waytheoralcommunicationbetweenpeople

,apartfromdeclarativentences,whichareudmostfrequently

re7

interrogativentencesinall30ntences,occupying23percentofthetotalnumber

ofntences,whichismuchhighercomparedwithothervarieties.

3.2Uofactivevoice

Inconversations,ords

way,activevoicewillbe

conversation,mostofntence

tofthemhavesuchbeginning“I+verb”.Forexample,

yougot,Ithought,youwant,Igot,itis,Iget,ingtothis,wecan

assumeintheprocessofconversationthespeakerisusuallythemostimportantfactor,

whowillconductorleadtheproceedingofconversation.

3.3Frequentuofellipticalntences

icalntencesare

icalntencessometimesmaycauinexplicitnessofthe

rduetotheirintimaterelationships,andpara-linguisticmeans,such

asgestures,laughters,orfacialexpressions,thecharacterscanunderstandeachother

necessarytoucompletentences.

emanticLevel

Semanticsreferstothemeaningofwordsorexpression,andbywhatmeansthe

,wewilltouchuponsome

figuresoftheconversation.

Inthisconversation,therearenotverydistinctmanticstylemakers.

,the

occasionalufigurescanbefoundhere.

/No/justa/bitsniffy/cosI’m——IAMCOLD/

uof“I’m”appearedtwotimes,whichcan

implyB’sdoubtandnervousness.

/That’snotatinnyGARment./

dtoexpressthatthisisabiggarment.

inthedayswhenIwasahumanBEing.//*

Satirecanbefoundhere.

tualFactorsAnalysis

Firstly,theconversationallhappenedininformalplace-A'uesin

ly,theintimaterelationshipamong

lkedabouttheirlifetrivial

er,sometimeswordsmayrevealthespeaker'sstatus,job,education

mple,

A:It/GROWSquickly//

B:/YEAH/IgetveryfedUP//

ItimpliesAispregnant.

Furthermore,sationis

characterizedbyrandomnessofsubjectmatter,

subjects,rangingfromhealthtowork,comebacktogarment.

Conclusion

Wehavemadeaveryroughstylisticanalysisoftheconversation,mainly

concentratingonthephonological,lexical,syntactic/grammaticalandmanticlevel

theanalysinto

consideration,conversation,there

arestillsomeperspectivesuntouchedupon,suchastextualanalysis,graphological

thefactorsintoconsideration,itstillneedsourfurther

rearches.

References

EnglishStylistics:ANewCourbook(新编语言学教程董启明编著).

Appendix

A:yougota/COLD//----

B:/NO/justa/bitSNIFFY/cosI’m----

I/AMCOLD/andI’ll/beallrightonce

I’vewarmedup//----doI/LOOK/asthoughtI’vegotaCOLD//

A:noIthoughtyouSOUNDedasifyouwere//

B:/M/

A:/pullyourCHAIRUPcloifYOUWANT//

/isit----*(obscuredspeech)*/

B:*/YES/I’llbeallrightinaMINUTE/*/it’s/justthatI’m

A:(whathaveyouGOT//)

B:STUpid//I//haderaboutfivethousand

BOOKS/--to/takebacktonate

HOUSEYESterday//---andIgot/all

thewaythroughthecollege/to

/wheretheCARwas/atthe/parking

MeterattheOTHERend/and/realized

I’dleftmyCOATinmy

/LOCKer/andI*justcouldn’t*

A:*/M/*

B:FACEgoing/allthewayBACK

again/with/thisgreat//youknowmy/ARMS

wereaching/

A:(M)

B:andIthought/WELL/I’ll/getitonTUESday/---it’sabit/SILLY?Cos

I/NEEDit//

A:/M/it’sgone/veryCOLD?/HASn’tit//

B:/M/---it’sFREEZING//

A:/M/I’m(2syllable)//*

B:*you’re/KNITTING?//*(laughsquietlyfor---)/whatareyouKNITTING//

//That’snotatinyGARment//

A:/No/

B:(laughsfor---)

A:/noit’sforME/butit’s/veryPLAIN//

B:it’sa/lovelyCOLour//---

A:it/isNICE//

B:/YEAH/---I/neverdiIcould/neverTAKEtoKNITTING/ex/cepton

there/doubleoneedleswithSTRING//youKNOW/That’sMYsort

ofknitting//*

A:*/YEAH//

B:It/GROWSquickly//

A:/YEAH/Igetveryfedup//

B:/(3or4syllables)thePROcessthought//doyou/SEW/I/udto

walot(when)*

A:/NO(I/DON”T)//

B:inthe/dayswhenIwasahumanBEing//*

Notes:

/=shortpau

//=longpau

Capitalism=stress

()=wordsforexplanation

*=overlappingwordsofthetwoparticipants