Transcription and Language Creativity - Essay Example

?Transcript Host: What for you is the most important known ‘unknown’? Paul: Well for me something I don’t know which I find interesting is,when they make shoes(.) ((Laughs)) why can’t they just make the shoes (.) like of shoe all the way through (xxxxx) why does it have to ((confused)) When you scuff it why does it have to be of different colors .((laughs)). why can’t they just make the shoe all of the same things so when you scuff it, it still looks like a shoe((laughs)). I mean they can be making shoes for years.// Host: //see Paul, I think you have confused the things that you don’t know [Paul: I don’t know] ((laughs)) With things ((confused)) I recon ((thinking)) I don’t know if Mark or Steve or Brown knows the answers, they are all scientists, do you know the nature of the rainbow shoe ((laughs)) Paul: I mean Do they make it with scuff stuff first and then cover it with the other stuff ((laughs)) Host: It is not a problem with clog (.) (xxxx) wooden clog. Not with ((confused)) exactly with wooden clog, unless it is got a veneer (.) ((laughs)) (xxx) is carefully covered wooden clog that can be a problem ((laughs)) Host: Just the first answer we had ((laughs)) so (.) no answers really from the scientists until Brian came up with clogs ((laughs)) which was unexpecting first Answer today //((laughs)). //I don’t know I don’t where (xxxxx) I don’t know what to say. Host: Oh! Come on lets carry on with the clogs. Host: An easy launch pad,[ a way to go ((laughs)) (.)Anyway back to the science table]. Introduction Conversation has different features that need to be analyzed in order to give a critical account of a piece of conversation. Conversations are mostly spontaneous; the speaker and listener develop their conversation according to the situation, atmosphere, topic and personal relationship that both the listener and speaker share. Conversation is done through language; the use of language however differs from person to person and the type of language used between two persons is a function of the nature of the relationship that exists between them e.g. the closer the relationship the more intimate the conversation will be. In order to analyze a conversation, some technical features of the conversation and linguistics of the words used is necessary. Conversation is an important part of life; it communicates ideas, feelings, intentions and goals. The study of conversation tells about the creativity used in spoken language. The language has various features i.e, context, type, tone, subject, turn-taking, interruptions etc. A study of these features enables us to get an insight into the creativity employed in any piece of work (Maybin & Swann, 2006). Discussion The above transcript is the written script of a verbal conversation. Verbal communication is an act of conveying messages, ideas or feelings by vocal means; non verbal acts are also important part of this phenomenon. This communication is the main and ordinary way of communicating face to face. Apart from these important features other key components of verbal communication are words, sound, speaking, tone and language. By analyzing the technical features, language and creativity of the conversation can be analyzed in a systematic way. The people involved in a conversation unintentionally make use of creativity. This usage is also a very important part of the conversation as it tells about how good a person is at conversation and how good he/she makes use of vocabulary, turn-taking and switching. The written script of a dialogue above is between two people, the host and a person called Paul. The conversation is based on question and answers about a particular subject; as the conversation is in the form of interview; it is supposed to be less intimate and formal. To make a more deep analysis, it is necessary to examine other important features that this piece of written conversation carries. Context is a very important part of the conversation (Carter, 2004); it is the situation that describes conversation. There are some important features of context i.e., topic, time, location, emotion and type. The conversation selected for the analysis is an audio clip from the BBC Radio 4 Comedy Show, "The Infinite Monkey Cage". It is a popular science program hosted by Comedian Robin Ince and Physicist Brain Cox. This particular episode is entitled as "What Don’t We Know?”. It was broadcasted on May 30th 2011. The conversation above is a small part of the audio clip. It is based on the topic of question and answers. The Host asks Paul a question “What for you is the most important known ‘unknown’"? With the start of this question the conversation rolls on. It is a formal conversation based on question and answers. The tense used in the conversation is present tense. The topic discussed is neither past nor future but it is merely based on general facts of life. As far as the location is concerned, it appears that the conversation is taking place in an indoor place e.g. studio. If emotions of the conversation are analyzed, one can say that it is a friendly conversation because there is a voice of laughter at the background which suggests that the temperament of the show is neither serious nor rigid but flexible. The way the host begins by asking the question suggests that it is not an informal conversation but based on a certain framework (Owen, 2006). If the dialogue as a whole is interpreted, one can easily say that it is a light discussion that is pre-written with the intent of arriving at a pre-defined conclusion by the time the conversation reaches its end. The question starts with a particular question and later on it leads to some other out of the box topic. The conversation as a whole clearly looks light and funny and no meaningful conversation takes place between Paul and the Host. Contribution of the participants in the conversation is an important feature to analyze. In a conversation, it often happens that one of the participants gets a chance to give more output while the others take the form of silent listeners. Things are different in this case where participants appear to be playing active roles while the conversation is going on; there is equal participation of both the participants. The host makes the first move by putting a question, and then Paul gives a start by answering it. Through the dialogue, interference of both the participants can be judged and it can be concluded that none of them is inclined towards choosing the option of being silent. The grammatical analysis of the conversation is one of the important and vital features of conversation; its analysis suggests and confirms which participant is more fluent in language; which participant is more dominant and who controls the whole conversation. Also, the grammatical analysis of the conversation can provide insight into the aspect of power of the participants because the usage of grammar and vocabulary can define the roles of participants. The question in the beginning of the conversation clearly states that it is the host who is questioning someone, the nature of the question also suggests that the person is host and not a friend because of his direct tone and no usage of informal language. Throughout the conversation, one can easily detect that the Host is all set and prepared with his questions and Paul is confused and off-the-track; he makes use of “I don’t know… I don’t know what to say”. These repetitive lines indicate that Paul is not good at conversing and is confused. In his state of confusion he also makes some remarks which give a funny, light and hilarious touch. Due to the genre of comedy, the radio clip does not carry any specific lexical choice of words; the choice of words is simple and light similar to the day-to-day conversation. Turn-taking refers to the process where the people involved in conversation decide who is to speak next. This process is to some extent dependent on both cultural and gender-related factors. Turn taking is part of the structural and systematic organization of a conversation. In the above audio clip there are certain moments where turn-taking takes place; first the Host talks, then Paul answers, the Host continues further and then again Paul continues, the conversation is started and ended by the host. The conversation above also suggests that both the participants have a clear understanding regarding the nature of discussion and turn-taking takes place at very appropriate points during the conversation. This is normally a feature of pre-written and well-organized conversation piece. If talked about interruptions, the conversation indicates that there is lower than average interruption. The audience can clearly comprehend what both the participants are talking about. As far as the syntactic feature of the language used in conversation is concerned, it appears that the conversation does not carry a strict syntactic structure. The way Paul answers the Host suggests that the format of the conversation is not restricted to follow a certain structure of language and meaning; instead the format is casual, relaxed and easy. Conclusion Thus, to conclude it can be said that people belonging to different professions, cultures, genders and age use language with a varied level of creativity. A person's lingual creativity is characteristic of his own personality and it is almost impossible to detect similarities between the creativity patterns of two persons. People belonging to Media have a different creative base and people belonging to technical fields have a totally different setup of creativity. The audio clip above is a piece of a conversation from the genre of comedy and has got it own creativity and implications for the listeners. References Carter, R. (2004). Language and creativity: The art of common talk. London: Routledge. Maybin, J., & Swann, J. (2006). The art of English: Everyday creativity. Basingstoke [England: Palgrave Macmillan in association with The Open University. Owen, A. (2006). The art of English: Everyday creativity : study guide 1. Milton Keynes: Open University Read More