An Analysis of Spontaneous Conversation

An Analysis of Spontaneous Conversation

The transcript I have chosen is from the BBC mockumentary “W1A”. It is a scripted television show that is written in the style of spontaneous speech. In the scene I have used, there is a lot of filler used, as well as non-standard grammar and some slang. One of the characters in particular, Ian, uses a lot of repetitions and takes his time when he is talking. False starts and hedges are also heavily used in this text.

One thing that is notable when it comes to the structure is that there is no opening sequence. This is because the meeting is already in progress when the scene begins. This is to make it seem more real and natural, as if it was a real documentary and also to shorten the scene, as the small talk that opens the meeting is unnecessary.

Feedback is given often during the scene. This is often from the character of Simon who often says things such as “very good”, “very strong” and “that’s brilliant”. He doesn’t say a lot but often talks in phatic phrases when giving feedback and when he closes the conversation as he sums up the proceedings.

There is quite a lot of overlaps and interruptions in the dialogue. A lot of these come when Ian is talking and trying to defend his case in the meeting. He is overlapped by all three of the other participants in the meeting which says quite a bit about his character.

Topic shifts take place a couple of times during the dialogue. Elaine tries to change the topic but it is unsuccessful. She loses her authority in the process. Ian tries to shift the conversation as well but to no avail. The only successful shift comes at the end when Simon ends the conversation for once and for all.

You could make a good argument for all of the characters holding the power in the conversation. One of the characters who shows some power is Simon as he is responding to the key points of conversation. He also closes the conversation at the end, suggesting some power.

Ian is the main focus of the conversation, but he shows the least power as he is being interrogated almost by the other three characters. He talks very vaguely, he repeats himself a lot and takes his time. These all show no power at all.

The character of Tracey does not say a lot and when she does she says either too much or too little. She doesn’t really show a lot of power and doesn’t’ really seem to be needed in the meeting.

Elaine is leading the conversation the majority of the time as she is asking the questions as well as talking the most and seemingly having the most respect of everyone in the meeting. She does however lose some of her confidence and therefore her power in the conversation as it goes on, as she begins to talk less and be spoken over the most.

Out of the four characters, I believe that Elaine has the most power as she leads the conversation for the majority of the scene and despite losing some of the power a little bit later on, she still leads the conversation on and is asking the questions the most.