The occurrence of discontinuity in conversational speech raises a variety of theoretical problems for the study of verbal communication. According to the dominant explanatory models of language, discontinuities in the form of pauses, self-corrections, repeats, false starts, and the like are errors'of language performance. Consequently, when, in - conversational speech, discontinuities do occur, it is natural that questions should arise regarding (a) why they occur and (b) given that they do occur, how speakers and hearers are able to deal with them. It is argued that no coherent answers may be offered to these questions under the prevalent conceptualization of discontinuity. As a feature of verbal performance, discontinuity has been studied primarily by researchers from the related disciplines of psychology, sociology, ethnomethodology, and discourse analysis. Although the explanatory approaches differ greatly, there is an underlying presuppositional unity to them. Whether discontinuity is studied as an indication of the speaker's cognitive processing, as a feature of social differentiation, or as an essential aspect of the speaker and hearer's management of conversational interaction, it is always assumed that discontinuities occur as the result of speaker error. This assumption, in turn, is shown to be derived from an unrecognised written-language (or 'scriptist') bias in the study of verbal communication. This conceptual bias, it is argued, is a shared weakness in the otherwise differing theoretical approaches to the explanation of discontinuity in conversational speech. The theoretical discussion of the thesis is supplemented by an appendix containing a selection of transcribed examples of discontinuities compiled with the aid of a computer concordance program. These examples are used as comparative evidence throughout the central chapters of the thesis.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 133-139).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 73-76). Also available in print.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1997. / Includes bibliographical references (leaf 105-107).

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This dissertation is an empirical study on how people refer to themselves, their recipients, and others in everyday Korean conversation. Person reference is a domain of conversation where we observe an essential aspect of human sociality as it is a vehicle through which we indicate our relationships with each other and perform a myriad of other social actions. As person reference is done using a distinct set of linguistic resources available in each language, it is also an important site of cross-linguistic research. Despite its potential to offer insight into how language, culture, and social interaction intersect, research on person reference in languages other than English has been sporadic. This study aims to contribute to the literature by investigating how various referential expressions are used to accomplish social actions, such as assessing, challenging, or persuading, in Korean. The study employs the analytic framework of conversation analysis (CA) to analyze approximately 15 hours of video-recorded data, 50 hours of telephone conversations, and a few instances of text messages. My findings show that various marked referring expressions for speaker, recipient, and others are used to accomplish diverse social actions in Korean. First, marked first-person expressions are used to launch a new topically-fitted telling, present others’ perspectives in the environment of advancing a position, and resist the terms of a question. Second, overt reference to recipient is used to mark newsworthiness of speculation made about the recipient and to challenge the recipient’s entitlement claimed in a prior utterance. Finally, switching between unmarked referential form for non-present others and marked quasi-pronouns (QPs) occurs when a telling about the referent transitions between reporting and assessing of action or state. The findings of this study not only contribute to the literature of person reference in social interaction but also benefit practitioners in Korean as a Second or Foreign Language (KSL/KFL) by offering a useful description of how various referential forms in Korean can be employed to achieve a speaker’s interactional agenda.

This study analyses overlaps in naturally occurring multi-party conversations among Japanese long-term residents of Australia, to investigate how Australian culture influences their Japanese communication style. One of the study???s interests is how their gendered communication styles appear in Australian English culture. Japanese gendered communication styles have been discussed in the literature, for example that males interrupt females more than vice versa; active participation by males versus passive participation by females in mixed-gender conversations; self-oriented topic initiation by males versus other-oriented topic initiation by females etc. These styles were assumed to be rarely observed in their L1 communication styles in Australia, where English, in which gendered language is less distinctive than Japanese, is spoken, and gender-free society has been more emphasised and practiced than in Japan. Among conversations recorded by the two informants, three multi-party conversations per informant (i.e. six in total) were selected, in which over 2000 overlaps are observed. The study first established a framework of functional overlap classification in terms of the ownership of the conversational floor. Then, based on this frame, all overlaps were classified into a number of functional categories, and were analysed qualitatively as well as quantitatively. The results showed little differences in the Japanese communication styles of the long-term residents of Australia from the Japanese communication styles which have been discussed in the literature, such as frequent use of aizuchi and other cooperative overlaps at and other than at Transition Relevance Places. As for gendered communication style, at least socio-cultural norms between traditional Japanese husband and wife are observed in the informants??? communication style. Although a number of variables that surround the informants need to be considered, the results may suggest that Japanese socio-cultural norms are, at this stage, more stable and they maintain the communication style of the Japanese long-term residents of foreign culture in their first language communication more strongly than was expected. However, different trends may be observed in future.

The primary purpose of this study was to explore conversational repair strategies employed by elementary level ESL students in their classroom. This study investigated repair strategies that were employed by ESL students and determined if there were differences in the usage of repair strategies by class types and grade levels. This study examined how elementary ESL students’ repair strategies dealt with communication breakdown in their ESL classroom from a conversation analysis perspective. The data were collected from five participants who were in two different types of ESL classes: (1) instruction centered class; and (2) language related game-playing class. In order to investigate the variable of grade levels, first and second grade students’ ESL class and third and fourth grade students’ tutoring class were chosen. Twenty-four class hours were observed with a video camera. The data were transcribed following the transcription conventions of conversation analysis. The results derived from the study were following; 1. In this study the elementary ESL students used nine types of repair strategies. They were: 1) unspecified, 2) interrogatives, 3) (partial) repeat, 4) partial repeat plus question word, 5) understanding check, 6) requests for repetition, 7) request for definition, translation or explanation, 8) correction, and 9) nonverbal strategies. The elementary ESL students used understanding check and partial repeat more frequently. 2. The findings indicated that both class types and grade levels influenced the types and distribution of the students’ repair strategies. 3. Instruction class produced more amounts of conversational repair than game-playing class. However, in both types of classes, first/second grade students employed understanding check the most frequently, and third/fourth grade students partial repeat the most. 4. In the first/second grade students’ repair practices, understanding check was observed in the teacher’s direction. In the third/fourth grade students’ repair practices, however, understanding check was observed in the content of instruction. Request for repetition and request definition, translation, or explanation were not observed in the first/second grade students’ class but used in the third/fourth grade students’ class. 5. Students’ decisions on the types and frequency of their repair strategies were influenced by their familiarity with the native speakers.