The Language of Work by Koester Almut

Author:Koester, Almut
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2012-11-18T16:00:00+00:00

Check your answers at the end of this unit (p. 72), then read the commentary below.

Commentary

The most important type of clue to the phases of the negotiation is the actual content of what the two speakers are saying. So the conversation actually starts off as an exchange of information, until Don makes a suggestion (So I can do ’em) which can be classified as a ‘bid’ and marks the beginning of the negotiation. The bargaining phase, which involves arguing about how often the applications should be checked, makes up the most important part of the conversation. In the settling and concluding phase Don then agrees to check the applications more often than once a week.

But there are other types of clues as well. Intonation and pauses can be important in signalling conversational structure. Speakers often drop their voice at the end of one phase of talk and then raise their voice at the beginning of a new phase, and they sometimes pause between phases. So at the end of the information exchange phase (Turn 5) Andy drops his voice, and at the end of Turn 6 Don’s voice drops to signal the end of his ‘bid’. There is a one-minute pause after Turn 19, before Don first initiates the settling and concluding phase in Turn 21, and his voice goes up again when he reopens the bargaining phase in Turn 28.

Speakers also sometimes use discourse markers to initiate new phases in the conversation. These are words like and, so, but, then which show how different parts of the discourse relate to one another. By beginning with the discourse marker so in Turn 6 (so I can do ’em), Don shows that his suggestion is based on the information exchange that has just taken place. Don also uses the discourse marker on the other hand to initiate the settling and concluding phase in Turn 21. This discourse marker introduces a conciliatory note, as it shows that Don can also see Andy’s point of view. The fact that his tone of voice changes also indicates a change in direction within the conversation.

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