WRITTEN DISCOURSE !

We usually only open our mouths to say something if there is a need to. There is always this illocutionary force behind it, or simply put, a purpose in speech. The purpose can be inferred quite readily with visual and aural clues. These are addressed by the spoken discourse analysts.

How about now we substitute the word 'spoken' with 'written'. Yes we get Written Discourse. Similarly, authors write for a certain reason, a purpose. They dont just publish a book for nothing. Many a times they want to tell a story, and aimed at specific readers. That is a good enough reson to write. However in written discourse i feel, is that it is harder to realise the true meaning of what was relayed. It calls for the understanding of the relations between sentences and punctuations, and the recognition of a text structure. Sometimes without the knowledge of that language, one will find that s/he will find him/herself lost!

So that's basically what we learnt in class on Friday. Had a couple of passages to read, analyse and then critique in our small groups. A pattern was again found! English writers have a more linear style of writing with more straightforward contents to bring the point across. However Chinese writers tend to beat around the bush and they employ the heavy usage of metaphors, flowery words. You just have to read between the lines and infer to understand. Hmm..so is this the main reason why Singaporean students dislike learning the language so much because it is just so tedious to grasp? Well, it could be. But personally I enjoy the Chinese language :) More so in speech perhaps, because I dont have to watch my tenses and grammar.

Anyway a fellow classmate raised up a point in class, isn't English Literature longwinded as well? So can we still say English writings are confirm linear?

MELISSA KHOO

SPOKEN DISCOURSE !

In this lecture-tutorial, i've learnt for the first time in my 21 years of life that in a telephone conversation, the very first 'Hello' is in response to the ring! I'm sure i wasnt the only one who is ignorant of that. Most of us taking GEK1036 will have been enlightened by this lesson, but i bet many others out there do not know that. That is the wonders of this course. It piques my interest, and teaches me to observe/listen to conversations, because i'll realise that there exist patterns in them. These are discoveries I never knew or never would have bothered with until im enrolled in this module. Little also did i know that phone conversations have a certain framework in which we followed unknowingly, and that different cultural groups direct a different approach to it. I was just thinking about the outnumbering reactive expressions made by Australian English versus that of Mandarin Chinese; perhaps its because in the English language there are a larger variety of words to play with than the Chinese language, thus explains the same old few words to respond, just variations of 'shi' and 'dui'.

I have to admit, this week's topic is rather dry comparative to the previous weeks. BUT! I still did learn new and interesting things, and thats whats most important. I like it that im bringing home with me more facts and knowledge every Friday after 5pm. haha. :)

MELISSA KHOO

SPEECH EVENT!

Speech Event is a very interesting topic, perhaps because i can relate to it easily. Just like speech acts, they are occurances in everyday lives. Examples include canteen talks, service encounters etc. Even if i do not experience such processes myself, i witness them around me, watch similar scenes on TV or even read about them.

In our second lecture-tutorial session, we understood what speech events are and even learnt to analyse them in their components. As can be concluded, there are different ways of doing things in different culture. For e.g. a chinese informal dinner invitation can be totally different from that of an american's. Patterns can be identified.

Halfway through the session i suddenly had an idea. I was thinking of the possibility of doing 'Pre-match Prep Talk' or 'Coaching Words'. I am a sports player and was trained under a few different coaches before. Each coach has different expectations for the team and will tend to say different things to his/her players right before a game or halfway through one. But ultimately the aim is to psych the players up and motivate them to put up a good fight. There are several ways to do this too: s/he may shout at you, s/he may just utter a word or two.

Hmm..how about let me just do a short analysis of this type of speech event:

*
GENRE - Coach's Pre Talk

PURPOSE - To motivate the team players. To emphasize the main strategies for gameplay.

SETTING - At the respective sports game. Players clustered around Coach at bench area.

KEY - Serious. Tense.

PARTICIPANTS - Coach. Players.

MESSAGE FORM - Spoken language of their own. Non-verbal cues such as pointing and drawing.

ACT SEQUENCE - 1)Opening/Gathering 2)Explain Strategies 3)Motivational Talk 4)Closing

RULES FOR INTERACTION - It's minutes away from the start of the game, players should be attentive to the Coach. Players should ask constructive questions to clarify.

NORMS OF INTERPRETATION - Respect should be given to the Coach, someone superior, because you take orders from him/her. Clarification of gameplay is important so as not to be blur during the game.
*

Yeap that's about it. Looks feasible to me. I guess more research has to be done to further confirm the feasibility. Methodology is abit hard though. Aint all that easy hunting for matches to spectate at this time and even be close enough to 'eavesdrop' on the Coaches' commands.

MELISSA KHOO

SPEECH ACT!

I never knew what the term in subject really means when i first came across it in this course. The words 'speech' and 'act' are actually very simple English words and when broken up, it helps a little in understanding the meaning by putting two and two together. Something spoken in conjunction with something done?
Well, almost there! Now that the term has been defined there has to be some examples illustrating the meaning of this term.

And yeap, that's what we learnt in our first lecture-tutorial.

I never really gave much thought to the way we speak. I mean, why do we have to think about how we speak? We SIMPLY JUST TALK. But truth is, according to researchers, there is a certain pattern or behaviour governing the way we give our speech. This is actually what this whole course covers: Cross-cultural communication and discourse...the study of such behavioural patterns. So back to speech acts, I learnt from our first lesson that we actually use them all the time, they are familiar with us, but we are not with them. Speech Acts are actions performed via utterances.

"Move out of the way!" -a direct request; an order
"You're standing in front of the TV!" -an indirect approach to get the hearer to move
"You're fired!"

AND WE REALLY USE THEM ALL THE TIME!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Yy3neW-FzA
After watching this video and listening to the number of sentences he spoke, I am wowed by how much speech acts really cover. Haha.

Hmm..i'm considering speech acts as my project option because i feel that it should be easier in terms of methodology to collect data. Questionaires can reach out to many people via the Internet. But im keeping my doors and ideas open to the later topics...who knows I may find something more intriguing along the way.

ta ta for now!

MELISSA KHOO