Here are the 7 factors of a speech event based on the document: 1. Speaker - Samira Hashimzadeh (the author) 2. Hearer - The intended audience of the document 3. Message - Information about the ethnography of speaking and structure of conversation 4. Topic - Linguistic analysis of speech acts and conversational exchanges 5. Channel - Written document 6. Setting - University coursework 7. Code - Academic language

1. The ethnography of
speaking
and the structure of
conversation
University – Azerbaijan University of Languages
Master student - Samira Hashimzadeh
Group - 203
Year - 2012

2. Ethnography of speaking
 According to sociolinguists, study of
language must go beyond the sentences,
beyond language and bring in social
context. Speech acts only acquire their
real meaning when they are studied in a
social context.
 Sentence Speech
event

3. Any communicative use of language or
speech event is constituted by 7 factors:
1. speaker-writer
2. hearer-reader
3. message
4. topic
5. channel
6. setting
7. code

4. Sermon

5. The structure of conversation
 Linguists focused on smaller units of
language – sounds, words, sentences.
 The sentence should have been
considered as the important unit to
study. But sentences are less useful in
the study of speech.
 Sociolinguistics has been one of the first
branches of Linguistics to study the
spoken discourse.
 (a) Conversations are rule-governed,
(b)common types of conversational
exchanges

6. How do we know that telephone
conversations are rule governed?
 In England – recite their
telephone number
 Telephone operators in
offices – tell the name of their company
 In some countries it is considered
impolite to ask to speak to someone
else before initiating a series of polite
social interchanges with the person
answering.

7. 2. Service encounters
 Task here is to establish channel
between speaker and hearer
 In some cultures it leads to a
preliminary social exchange, in others
it involves simply catching the eye of
the clerk, ticket-seller.
 Shop-keepers in Middle
East
 Bargaining process -
Price that satisfies both
parties

8. 3. Turn-taking
The question of who speaks
is one of intriguing aspects
of conversational exchange
- In a classroom
- In a parliament or trials
- Informal conversations – power, status

9. Politeness
 The choice of an appropriate message
form can be modified to express a
wide range of attitudes of the speaker
or listener. Politeness consists of this
recognition of the listener and his or
her rights in the situation.
 Requests are mitigated by being made
indirectly (Could you possibly pass me
the salt?) or as statement (I think that
is the salt beside your plate) or by
adding formulas like “Please” or “if you
would be so kind”

10. Politeness formulas
 In Arabic:
mabruk Allah ybarik fik (may
God bless you)
American English
Thank you You are welcome

11.  The most common kinds of politeness
formulas are involved with greetings.
Each social group has its own set of
rules about who should be greeted,
who should greet first, and what is an
appropriate form of greeting.
 Hi! Hello! How are you! Salam
aleykum!

12. Terms of address
 The choice of second person pronoun
and the related phenomenon of terms of
address in western European languages
shows the formalization of politeness
and status in a language.
In French
Tu – singular pr; Vous – plural pronoun.
 V form was used to address someone of
higher status, who would return to T
form.
Ex: Servant – master

13.  While the pattern has been relaxed, it
remains impolite to use T to a
stranger.
 Many speakers of Swedish now use T
even to strangers.
 American doctors and dentists use
first names , but expect Doctor X in
return.
 In Arabic - addressing friends by the
name of their eldest son
Um Ahmed, Abu Ahmed

14. England – non-relatives may be
 In
addressed with terms of relationship.
Uncle John, Auntie Mary
 In
Tongan people are never
addressed by kinship or other titles,
but only by their names.

15. Can you show the 7 factors of
speech event here?

16.  How do we know that telephone
conversations are rule governed?
 What can you say about bargaining
process in Middle Eastern
countries?
 Is turn-taking important during
conversation?
 How is they address when people
go to a dentist in America?