This essay investigates how the usage of minimal responses differs between men and women in different situations. There are three factors included in the analysis, gender of the interlocutor, formality, and the number of participants in the conversations. For each factor, the frequency and function of minimal responses are investigated. Eleven conversations are collected from the Santa Barbara Corpus to attain this aim. The method conducted to analyse the conversations is divided into two parts. The first part is to count the minimal responses used and calculate the frequency of usage for each speaker in all the conversations. The second part is a close analysis of the function of the minimal responses used by noticing whether they are disruptive or supportive. The results show that women use minimal responses at a higher frequency compared to men except in informal conversations. Also, there is no significant difference in the function of minimal responses between men and women. However, the minimal responses used in the informal conversations seem more disruptive. In pair and group conversations minimal responses can be used disruptively. However, if one considers the context, it seems that minimal responses in group conversations are collaborative, despite being disruptive.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:hig-40945 |
| Date | January 2023 |
| Creators | Almasri, Aaisha |
| Publisher | Högskolan i Gävle, Avdelningen för humaniora |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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