Interactional Sociolinguistics

Reading

Week 6

 Required Reading

Conversational Style

'Conversational Style' refers to the combination of linguistic and interactional features which make up a person or groups habitual way of talking and of interpreting what other people say. In a way, the concept of 'conversational style' brings together all of the ideas we have studied so far: the different kinds of fronts that are available to people in different cultures, the way we encode information about our interpersonal relationships in our talk (face and politeness), the kinds of contextualization cues we use to show what we are doing (framing), and the ritual exchanges and signals that we use to manage openings, closings, turn-taking and topic management in conversation. 

Style includes both what you say and how you say it. Part of conversational style is the topics that you are likely to bring up in different kinds of interactions. In particular groups, certain topics are seen as appropriate for certain kinds of conversations and certain kinds of contexts. Another aspect of what you say is the kinds of rhetorical devices (questions, complaints, insults, gossip, foul language) that people habitually use in different kinds of conversations. In some groups, for example, it is common for members to insult one another in a friendly way. People who are not part of the group might misinterpret such insults as aggressive and rude rather than as markers of solitary and friendship. In other groups, ritual complaining might be a common feature of conversation. Like ritual insulting, ritual complaining is not meant to show aggression towards the people (or things) that are being complained about so much as to cultivate a feeling of solidarity in the group. 

The most important features of conversational style, however, are more subtle things like pausing, intonation, voice quality and face strategies. Different groups (and different people) have different ways of giving and interpreting these important conversational signals. For example,  there is great variation among cultures as to how long a pause should be to signal when a speaker has finished his or her turn. Someone who is used to shorter pauses might jump in too soon when communicating with someone from a different group, and people who are used to longer pauses may have trouble getting the floor in conversation with people who are used to shorter pauses. The result might be that people who are used to longer turns start thinking that people who are used to shorter turns are rude, and people who are used to shorter turns might start to believe that people who are used to longer turns are boring.  

In fact, differences in conversational style are at the heart of many of the conflicts between people and groups. Many people have pointed out, for example, that men and women often have different conversational styles and this sometimes leads to misunderstandings. In many cultures, women are taught to be more deferential and pay more attention to non-verbal language whereas men are taught to be more assertive and pay more attention to the information contained in the words people say. Thus, when women use deferential face strategies men interpret it as indecision, and when men focus on information women might interpret it as insensitivity. 

Another example of how differing conversational styles can lead to misunderstandings is in negotiations between American and Chinese business people. A common stylistic feature of Chinese business conversation is to state ones reasons first before revealing the main point (inductive rhetorical style). Americans, on the other hand, are more likely to express their main point first and leave the reasons for afterwards. This has led both sides to stereotype the other, Chinese seeing Americans as rude and unreasonable and Americans seeing Chinese as 'inscrutable' and 'sneaky'. Of course, neither of these stereotypes are true. They are simply the result of misinterpreting conversational style. 

The most important thing to remember about conversational style is that it does not equal personality. Conversational style is learned behavior. Just because you talk loudly doesn't mean you are arrogant. Just because you talk quickly doesn't mean you are rude. And just because you ask a lot of questions doesn't mean you are nosy. Problems arise because we interpret what other people say based on our own conversational styles.  

Supplementary Readings

Deborah Tannen, 'Introduction' (from Conversational Style, 1991 Ablex, pp. 1-43).(e-group)

Optional Readings