Speech Acts Bibliography:
Greetings (Openings & Closings)
Grieve, A. & Seebus, I. (2008). G’day or Guten Tag? A cross-cultural study of Australian and German telephone openings. Journal of Pragmatics, 40(7), 1323-1343.
This pilot study analyzed social factors such as age, gender, purpose of call and rules of mirrored form that influenced and modified German and Australian telephone openings. More specifically, it focused on factors influencing the way in which the callee used explicit identification and salutation formulae. Additionally, it identified differences in how members of these two cultures answered the phone. The data were collected by 17 German native speakers in Hannover, Germany and 12 English native speakers in Melbourne. All collectors were white-collar middle-class professionals that represented a cross-section of age and gender. Data collectors were asked to note down details of telephone conversations they made and received within a week. The calls were not audio-taped for many reasons, specifically for ethical restrictions in Australia (by which both callers had to be aware that a conversation was being recorded before any interaction took place). Results of this study involved quantitative research, based on qualitative studies, showing that Australians had a marked preference for implicit identification in private calls and Germans tended to identify themselves explicitly in all call types. Nevertheless, in business calls Australians were more likely to self-identify. Furthermore, this study found that not only the call type and cultural rules of mirrored form modified how individuals opened telephone calls, but age and gender could also play a part. Thus, Australian results showed that men were more likely to self-identify than women. Callee salutations tended to occur more in private calls than in business calls. In business calls callees, who were under 50 years-old, tended to include a salutation in a higher frequency than those older than 50. In the German results, mirroring of self-identification with self-identification and salutation with a greeting occurred in both private and business calls. The age factor had an influence on the role of the inclusion of a salutation. Callees older than 36 years old were less likely to include a salutation than younger German callees. Use of ‘Sie’ (formal ‘you’ in German) was more utilized in business than in private calls. In sum, the comparative results showed that overall Germans tended to self-identify more frequently than Australians, and that Australian callees showed a higher tendency to include a salutation than Germans. Mirroring of self-identification occurred in both Australian and German calls.
Moriyama, T. (1999). Oreito owabi: Kankei syufukuno sisutemu toshite (‘Gratitude and apologies: A system of repair’). Kokubungaku: Kaishakuto kyouzaino kenkyu (‘Japanese Literature: Interpretation and Material development’), 44 (6), 78-82.
This article is an essay on gratitude and apology expressions in Japanese as a repair strategy in interpersonal communication. The motive for both gratitude and apologies is a psychological imbalance (or a sense of indebtedness) between the speaker and the hearer. Expressions of gratitude and apologies both attempt to adjust that imbalance. An expression of gratitude repairs the sense of imbalance accompanied by a certain benefit on the part of the speaker offered by the hearer. Apologies also repair the offense caused by the speaker. Section 1: conceptual understanding of gratitude and apologies. Section 2: analysis of various expressions of gratitude and apologies. Section 3: sumimasen as an expression of gratitude. Section 4: responses to expressions of gratitude and apologies. Section 5: phatic greeting expressions including gokuro sama, otsukare sama, omedetou.
Placencia, M. E. (1997). Address forms in Ecuadorian Spanish. Hispanic Linguistics, 9(1), 165-202.
This study provides a qualitative exploration of address forms (i.e., names, titles, name substitutes) in naturally-occurring telephone conversations in Ecuador. Factors that govern use of various address forms in relation to context and other social factors (e.g., age, social distance, power relationship, etc.) are discussed. The author also identifies types and placement of address forms in conversations as well as the functions they perform. Using a conversation analytical approach, the researcher examined a corpus of 78 telephone conversations that included a variety of conversations among the six permanent members of the household. Results show that in Ecuadorian Spanish a variety of address forms are used. These include first name, full name, titles and surname, title and full name, name substitutes, and address pronouns. Their use primarily occurs during openings and closings of conversations, during a preface of the reason for the call, or in situations of heightened emotion. The patterns of use depend primarily on age, distance, power relationships, sex, frequency of interaction, and the goal of the interaction. Examples and detailed explanations of each of these address forms and their contextual constraints are given.
Reed, B. S. (2009). Prosodic orientation: A practice for sequence organization in broadcast telephone openings. Journal of Pragmatics, 41(6), 1223-1247.
This article investigated telephone opening sequences from a corpus of English-speaking radio phone-in programs. It employed the approach to data and analysis prevalent in interactional linguistics and conversation analysis. The data corpus was a collection of 16 radio phone-in programs from five different radio shows, involving varying presenters. In total, 131 opening sequences were selected for closer examination. All data were transcribed and analyzed. The data analysis included the study of the relations between turns and turn constructional units. Prosodic aspects such as pauses, intonation, pitch register, stress, speech rhythm, and speech rate were recorded in detail. All pauses were measured electronically and the speech rhythms were analyzed through waveforms. This investigation offered insights into two aspects of verbal interactions: participants’ deployment of prosody and their negotiation over matters of sequence. In regard to the nature of sequences in the case of phone-ins, the study showed a first noticing of the potential for a pause between the presenter’s introductory turn and the caller’s first turn on air. Also, results showed that presenters always initiated the interaction, and the sequential status of turns was negotiated by participants, rather than given – through displayed orientation to other participants’ prosody. The study indicated that the temporally first position of hosts’ turns did not automatically give them the status of a sequential first, if sequences were considered to be structures validated and accomplished by participants themselves, rather than by the chronology of interaction. In this study the sequential status of a turn as a first or a second was established through separation and integration. Thus, separation and orientation were achieved mainly through participants’ display of awareness of each others’ prosody. On the other hand, the conversational activity involved a cluster of cues from different conversational modes such as lexis, grammar, semantic and pragmatic meaning, prosody, and kinesics. In addition, findings revealed that in a specific context participants’ interaction in the realm of prosody could be the primary factor in defining a turn’s sequential status. The author pointed that it was not a single participant’s prosody delivery that identified a turn as a first or a second, such as higher-than-normal pitch and loudness or faster-than-normal speech rate. In this study the sequential status of turns was established by the way in which one participant’s turn behaved prosodically in relation to a previous turn by another participant, i.e. whether it broke with, or continued a previously established prosodic pattern. The author concluded that the continuation of prosodic patterns was accomplished through various forms of prosodic orientation and that prosody could be treated by participants as a primary negotiating resource for interaction.
Sullivan, P. (1979). Conversation: Saying hello and goodbye. TESOL Newsletter, 13(1), 29.
Reports in a sampling of textbooks, dialogs did not match those collected from spontaneous speech. In seven textbooks, the most common greeting was "How are you?" (which was heard only once in 65 greetings). The researcher took a sampling of ESL textbooks. They also took a sampling of spontaneous speech of speakers by sex, place (beauty parlor, elevators, office buildings, airports, stores, TV) -- ages 18-45. Of 46 female greetings, 31 said "hi" (67%). Of 19 males, 7 said "hi" (37%). They also asked 13 native speakers about their greetings.
Takami, T. (2002). A study on closing sections of Japanese telephone conversations. Working Papers in Educational Linguistics, 18(1), 67-85.
The study used quantitative discourse analysis to examine how Japanese telephone closings are realized between intimates with three phases of the closing section: pre-closing, terminal exchanges, and leave-taking. The study found preferable and frequently-used patterns at all three phases.
Valeiras Viso, J. (2002). ‘Deja tu mensaje después de la señal’: Despedidas y otros elementos de la sección de cierre en mensajes dejados en contestadores automáticos en Madrid y Londres. In Placencia, M. E. & Bravo, D. (Eds.), Actos de habla y cortesía en español (pp. 209-32). Amsterdam, Netherlands: LINCOM Europa.
Answering machine messages provide interesting insight into cultural variation. This study systematically examines this variation through a comparison of the closing sections of 70 answering machine messages in British English, 70 messages in Peninsular Spanish, and questionnaires examining cultural perceptions of answering machines. In both language varieties, the length of the closing section was dependent upon the relationship between interlocutors. Even still, a great deal of variation was found in the particulars indicative of closings, expressions of future contact, and leave-takings. The British English speakers rarely used more than one particular for closing (e.g., ok, ok?, so, anyway, alright?), whereas the Peninsular Spanish groups tended to use a combination of two or more together (e.g., Vale?, Venga, Bueno, Pues nada, Eh?). Both groups also included expressions of future contact; however, the British English speakers demonstrated a wider variety of strategies usually referring to "speaking" soon. The Peninsular Spanish speakers tended to refer to "seeing" the interlocutor later. The most variation was found in leave-takings. The British English speakers used a total of 6 strategies whereas the Peninsular Spanish speakers utilized 21 different strategies. In general, the author concludes that a different perception of answering machines pervades in each cultural group. The British English speakers seem to see the messages as more of a threat to privacy and show ease and precision in closing. However, the Peninsular Spanish group tends to show more difficulty in closing due to the need to maintain solidarity.