Luận văn a study of preferred and dispreferred second turns used in the first episode of the film downton abbey

ABSTRACT This study is carried out in an attempt to investigate the general patterns of pro goud tums as well as the common linguistic features indicating them in the first episode of th

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, IANOT UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES

FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES

————nDos

ĐINH THỊ THANH HUYỄN

ASTUDY OF PREFERRED AND DISPREFERRED SECOND TURNS USED LN THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE FILM

“DOWNTON ABBEY”

(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÂU DÁP ƯU TIÊN VÀ KHÔNG ƯU TIÊN

TRONG TẬP 1 PIIM “DOWNTON ABBEY”)

Major: English Lánguisties Code: 60220201

Training Program: Type | Supervisor: Assoc Prof Nguyén Vin Trao, PhD

TIANOI— 2016

DECLARATION

Thereby declare thal this thesis, entitled, “4 study of preferred and dispreferred second

turns used in the first episode of the film “Downton Abbey” and the work presented in

it is my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own research for the Degree of Master of Arls in English Linguistios al University of Languagues and

International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi

T confirm that when I quoted from the work of others, the source was always given and

uo part of this work has been published before submission

Signature:

Date:

ACKNOWLEDGE

ENTS

During the period of completing this rescarch, T have reccived great asaistanec and

support from many people

First and foremost, ] owe my deepest debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc Prof Nguyen Van Trao, PhD) who has always encouraged me to pursue this study and been willing lo give me clear and sighted guidance as well as valuable suggestions and corrections in the completion of this research

Second, I wish to thank all of the lecturers, professors and doctors teaching at the Facully of Post-Graduate Studies of ULTS for their lessons and support during my MA

course

T would also like to express my warmest thanks lo my parents, my beloved sister, and

iny friend Ngo ‘Thanh Huyen for their love, support and caring

Finally, 1 am also grateful to all the authors whose books, newspapers and works have been referred to in this thesis

‘The research paper could not have been fulfilled without them

Hanoi, Qctober, 2016

Dinh Thi Thanh Huyen

ABSTRACT This study is carried out in an attempt to investigate the general patterns of pro goud tums as well as the common linguistic features

indicating them in the first episode of the film Downton Abbey based on the theoretical

cred and dispreferred s

frameworks of conversation analysis and preference structure

‘the database comprises 108 conversations, in which 13 contain preferred second responses and 95 consist of dispreferreds Both quantitative and qualitative methods have been employed to seck answers to the rescarcla question

The findings reported in the study can be summarized as follows Firstly, the

mere four palierns of preferred seconds, namely assessment — agreement, invilation —

acceptance, proposal agreement and request acceptance, can be found in the

movie and the assessment — agreement pattern is the most cammon one Also, there are

four Hnguistic clements signaling the preferreds, among which ‘saymg ‘Ves’ ax answer’ ranks the most Next is the appearance of all the five patterns, respectively assessment — disagreement, invitation — refusal, offer — decline proposal — disagreement and request refusal, in the examined dialogues including dispreferred second tums The ‘delay/hesitate’ feature is the most widely used one Additionally,

the data analysis figures out that there is a combination of using several linguistic units

to indicate dispreferred second responses and some certain elements express the same-

class lines.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DECLARATION

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

ABSTRACT

TABLE OF CONTENT8 ộ co ccesriieeccrer

LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES

ABBREVIATIONS & CONVENTIONS

PART 1 INTRODUCTION

1 Rationale of the study

k Aims of the study

3 Research QQuesiiơns se

4, Significanes of the study ào eeeeeree

5 Scope of the study

6 Design of the sbudy _-

PART 2- DEVELOPMENT 2 0 se

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND _

1.2 Speech Acts -.ssessissnsstsneetiseeninessstastestse sine seeeeie

tà

2

1.4.2 General patterns of preference structure - - 10

1.3 Preferred and đispreferred second tum in Rpisode 1of the film Downton Abbey

2.1.3 Research Procedures in nhe m

2.2.1 Overview of Preferreds and Dispreferreds - 20 3.2.3 General patterns of Preferredbs Hư ¬

2.2.3 Common linguistic features indicating Preferreds -ò 22

2.2.4, General patterns of Dispreferreds - - 25 2.2.5, Common linguistic features indicating Dispreferreds 26

2.2.5.2 The ways six common linguistic features are used

PART 3— CONCLUSION

1 Recapimlation

1.1 đeneral patterns of preferreds

1.2 Linguistic fealures associated with prelerreds

1.3 General patterns of dispreferreds

1.4 Linguistic features associated with dispreferreds

2 Limitations of the study

3 Implications for language teaching and leaming

4 Suggestions for further studie5 sec

LIST GF TABLES & FIGURES

Table I — Correlation of content and format in adjacency pairs seconds Table 2 — The general pattems of preferred and dispreferred structures Table 3 — Linguistic patterns signaling disprefcrred sccond tuns

Figure |: Percentage of frequency distribution

Figure 2: General patterns of preferred second tums

Figure 3: Linguistic features indicating preferred second turns

Figure 4: Guneral patterns of dispre(erred second tums

Figure 5: Linguistic features indicating dispreferred second turns

Speaker Conversation analysis Question

Answer Earl of Grantham Countess of Grantham Dowager Countess of Grantham Duke of Crowborough

And

pause in talk less than tenths of a second

PART 1—TNTRODUCTION

1 Rationale nf the study

Dowaton Abbey is a period drama television series set and filmed in Britain and created and principally wnitten by Julian Fellowes The series is sot during the post- Ldwardian era (after idward VII's death) and depicts how major historical events such

as the sinking of the Royal Mail Ship Titanic, the First World War and the Spanish influenza pandemic affect the fictional estate of Downton Abbey in Yorkshire Six series have been made so far, in which the 6% one has recently been confirmed to be the Caal

The first series of the seven episodes in Series 1 was broadcast in the UK in 2010,

exploring the lives of the Crawley family and their servants from the day after the

sinking of the RMS Titanic in April 1912 to the outbreak of the lirst World War on a* Augusl 1914 The focus of the discussion is the first episode of Scenes One of the film

Dewnton Abbey because it is the commencement of all events and shows the main

features of the characters, notably their social status, attitude and personalities through

conversations with others

However, from a functional approach to analyze this work, little research based on

pragmatic knowledge has been carried out Therefore, this study is intended to find out how Conversation Analysis (CA) can be applied to conversations in movies or drama

to inform audiences’ underslanding of the interpersonal dynarmics between characlers

through an investigation into a small aspect of CA common pattems of preferred and

dispreferred second tums and linguistic units used to signal them

In short, the self-interest in the film series Downton Abbey, especially the first season, and the lack of attention to the link between English film works and preference

structure are the stimulation for the author to do the study of “Preferred and Dispreferred Second Turns Used in the first episode of the film “Downton Abbey”

2, Rescarch Questions

The research socks the ariswer to the [allowing questions

1 What are the general patterns of preferred structures and the common linguistic features indicating them in the first episode of the film “Downton Abbey”?

2, What are the general patterns of dispreferred structures and the common linguistic features indicating them in the first episode of the film “Downton Abbey”?

3 Aims of the study

This study aims to:

(1) supply readers with basic understanding of specch acts, conversation analysis, adjacency pairs, and preference structure,

(2) explore the general pattems of preferred and dispreferred second turns structure used in the first episode of the film Downton Abbey,

(3) investigate the linguistic features signaling preferred and disproferred replies

in the episode;

(4) provide film critics with practical knowledge of conversations comprising

preferred and dispreferred sceond-turn quoslions

4 Sipnificance of the study

This conversational analysis of preferred and dispreferred second turns contributes in two main aspects, both theoretically and practically Theoretically, the paper expands the scopes of preference structure research employing the language spoken at the end

of the Edwardian cra in 1912 Moreover, practivally, this study might contribute in education fields, especially for Hnglish language teachers and leamers who exploit films as a means of acquiring knowledge of English language and pragmatics; also in film industry for critics and conversational analyst to create profound reviews on analyzing lines as well as tum-taking practices Therefore, with its assistance, readers

could vomprehend specch acis, conversation analysis, adjacency pairs, preference

structure, preferreds and dispreferreds, together with their general patterns and the linguistics segments indicating them

Additionally, it may serve as the reference and suggestion for possible further studies

tegarding the atalylical comparison on this aspect of pragmatics among different kinds

of films by rescarchers of related fields

5 Scope of the study

Owing to time limitation and within the framework of a minor thesis submitted in

partial fulfillment of the requircments for the Degree of Master of Arts ir English Linguistics, the primary concentration of this study will merely be an investigation into

the small aspects of preference structure: the common pattems of preferred and

dispreferred sccond turns and the Lrequently exploited linguistic characteristivs lo stale them in the first episode of the film Downton Abbey.

6 Design

This sludy is presenled info three parts in which part is divided into chapters thal

elaborate the investigated issues

Part, 1, Tnlroduotion, states the rationale, objectives, rescarch question, scope, and

significance of the study

Part 2, Development, comprises two chapters

Chapter 1 — Theoretical background indicates the relevant theories for the work

Chapter 2— The Study covers the context and methodology of the study, as well

as presents and discusses the findings thal anse from the dala collected

Part 3, Conclusion, summarizes major points of the investigation, and provides implications for teaching and learning Hnglish and pragmatics This part will also figure out some limitations of the research and make suggestions for further studies

PART 2—-DEVELOPMENT CIIAPTER 1: TIIEORETICAL BACKGROUND

1.1 Film

Vilm (usually North American Linglish movie) is a series of moving pictures recorded wilh sound thal tells 4 story, shown on television or al the cimema/movie theater (Free Online Dictionary, Oxford Learer’s Dictionary}

Fikn, known as “the Seventh Ant” (given by Ricciotlo Canudo), shows the inleraction

and communication between characters in form of conversations representing the

reality of daily life Movies are not only the source of entertainment, documents of

their time and place but perfect wholes of dialogues that can be observed and analyzed These dialogues are analyzed is to “describe, analyze, and understand talk as a basic

and a constitutive feature of human social life” (Sidnell, 2009)

The sentiment, attitude and personalities of each character would be vividly revealed through actions, lines of dialogue, and even silence

1.2 Speech acts

1.2.1 Definition

‘The speech act theory has long been one of the widest interests among linguists and philosophers For instance, Yule (1996) stated that speech acts are “actions performed via utterances” (p.16) or according lo Kent Bach, "almost any specch act is really the performance of several acts at once, distinguished by different aspects of the speaker's

intention.”

1.2.2 Typical types

Tn Finglish, speech acls are performed in ‘aulhentic silualions of language use” such as offer, acceptance, denial, refusal, assessment, offer, apology, greeting, request,

command, complaint, invitatian, compliment, or invitation (Searle, 1969: 16)

‘These titles of SAs are used to indicate the speaker (S)’s communicative ideas and the hearer (H)'s anticipated interpretation of the ideas via the process of interferences

is an approach to the analysis of spoken discourse that look at the way people manage their everyday conversaliorial interactions (Patridge, 2008:1607)

Conversation analysis (CA), therefore, is involved in the study of the orders of talk-in- interaction, whalever its characler or selling Agrecing upon this idea, Hulchby & Wooffitt (2008) points out that it is ‘the study of recorded, naturally occurring talk-in-

interaction’ that aims to explore the understanding and responses of the S and H

Levinson (1983: 287) also shows the purpose of conversation analysis that is to

discover the systematic properties of the sequential organization of talk, and the way

ullerances are designed lo manage such sequences Ry studying CA, people can be of

much help when they do “talk-in interaction”, properly as an orderly accomplishment

A nust of CA is to caich “natural micraction” as fully and faithfully as possible, thal is,

in other words, the data recorded should be “naturally occurring” or “non-

experimental”, nol co-produced with or provoked by the researcher (len Have, 1999)

However, there does not seem to be a sharp line separating “naturally occurring” from so-called “experimental” data because to some extent, Ss and Is might be affected by

the appearance of the recorder

When studying CA, it would be a shoricaming if the linguistic units of its organization

fail te be mentioned here, namely tamm-taking and adjaconey pairs

13.2 Turn-taking

Studying turn-taking has been long considered to be important since conversations are apparently and intimately related to people as a part of communication that cannot be segregated from human life; twn-taking is even the heart of CA as declared by Richard and Seedhouse (2005)

According ta Hutchby and Wooffitt (1998:14), CA is purposed 1o investigate the way participants receive the information and response to one another's talk, with the

primary concentration on how the successions of actions are created

‘Turn taking is a cyclical process, It begins with one person speaking, and continues

as the speaker gives up control to the next person The second speaker now has the conversational floor When the speaker is finished, they give control back to another

speaker (in this case, the beginning speaker), thus creating a cycle ‘the tum taking cycle stops when there is nothing left to say (Woodburn, Arnott, Newell, and Procter)

Levinson (1983) also notes that conversation is distinctly characterized by tum-taking The speaker and the listener respectively change their role whether becoming a listener

or speaker via the process of talk-slop-alk-stop, La the sequence of talk distribubion, 1.3.3 Adjacency pairs

‘As Yule (1996: 77) mentions, adjacency pairs are “automatic patterns/sequences in the structure of conversations” that always “consist of first part and a second part produced by different speakers” They can be classified as greeting-greeling, question

answer, thank-response, request-acceptance, etc

For example,

A: Bye then B: Bye

To share this point of view, Pallridge (2008) also explains the term “adjacency pairs”

as utterances produced by two successive speakers in the way that the second utterance can be regarded as the expected follow-up to the previous utterance (as cited in Silvia

& Imrohatin, 2012)

‘This local management organization in conversation, namely adjacency pairs, is

defined by Levinson as “paired utterances” of which question-answer, greeting-

grecling, offer-acceptance, apology-tuinimization, elc are prototypical (p.303) This may seem enough but both Levinson (1983) and Leritage (1984) realize certain

problems with such a bald formulation and add their own qualifications Both identify

that such pairs are not always uttered in immediately adjacent positions Here we use

an example from Goffman to illustrate this

Ql A: Have you got the time?

Q2 B: Standard or daylight saving?

Q3 A: What are you running on?

A3 B; Standard,

A2: A: Standard, then

Al B: It’s five o'clock

(1981: 7)

It can be easily noticed that the answer to question one (Q1) is not given immediately but after scveral insertion sequences (Schegloll, 1972) (actually it is the sixth utterance of the dialogue) However, Q2 to A? also adapt to the adjacency pair rule and

thus ail Ihe questions are finally replied

‘Iwo problems arising here are that:

G) There must be a stricl criterion for adjacency pairs thal, given a firsL part of a

pair, a second part is immediately relevant and expectable (Schegloff, 1972:363, as cited in Levinson, 1983)

(ii) There must be a delimited set of seconds due to a wide range of potential second part to a first part (Levinson, 1983:306-307)

The concept of preference structure helps revive the structural importance of the

concept of an adjacency pair,

1.4 Preference structure

1.4.1, Definition

Preference organization refers to the notion that some second pair-parts of an

adjacency pair are struclurally preferred over others Yule (1996-79) indicales that

“preference indicates a socially determined structural pattem and does not refer to any

individual’s mental or emotional desires.” Similarly, Levinson (1983:307) shows the

sume concem aboul this idea as mentioning that the nolion of preference is not a psychological one that depending on S’s or H’s personal motivations but a structural phenomenon corresponding closely ta the concept of “markedness” In short,

proferenee is an observed paliern of talk, regardless people’s will

Preference structure divides second parts into preferred and dispreferred social acts

Tho preferred is the structurally expected next act while the Tater is the structurally unexpected next act In other words, two possibilities of pairs that could happen in

adjacency pairs are respectively preferred (ihe H provides anticipated answers or

responses) and dispreferred (the H gives unpredicted answers or responses) ‘Therefore, preferred second tums are unmarked as they are quite simpler whereas because of

various types of structural complexity, dispreferreds are marked

1.4.2 General patterns of preference structure

Levinson (1983:336) mentions the potential correlation of the content and sequential position in each adjacency pair thanks to a structural characterization of preferreds and thspreferreds, which may Iced to their productions in proper format Recurrent ard reliable patterns, such as refusals of request or invitation are almost classified as dispreferred while acceptance would be on the other side The table below may

illustrate the fairly appropriate correspondence between the content and the format found across a number of adjacency pair seconds

Inheriting from Levinson’s theory, Yule (1996) offers the common pattems of

preference structures as follows:

đuk 19979) Table 2— The general patterns of preferred und dispreferred structures

(following Levinson 1983)

It can be recognized from the two tables above that they share some similarities in

categorizing the labels of first and second turns Nonetheless, should Levinson include

question and blame as the first parts, Yule allers (hem with invitation and proposal As

a matter of fact, Yule’s criterion might be considered to be more explicit since the

action of questioning can be realized as invitation, proposal, offer or even request

For example,

a Can you help me? (Request) Sure (Acceptance)

b Want some coffee? (Offer) Yes, please (Acceptance)

(Yule, 1996:79) 1.43 Preferred second turns

As heing referred previously, preferred second turns tend to follow the first part

without a pause and to consist of structurally simple utterances Silvia and Imrohatin state that preferreds mean interlooutors display a systematic preference for agreement, acueplarice, granting, ete One of the carlicst comments on this (1972) coming fram Sacks in a public lecture is that a preferred response ‘pretty damn well occurs

contiguously’ (1987-57) (as cited in Willis, 2002)

Heritage, too, remarks that preferred responses have the features of

@) simple acceptance

Gi) no delay

as in:

B: Why don’L you come up and sce me some | Limes

(1984:265-6, eited in Willis,2002)

1.4.4, Dispreferred second turns

At the other end of the spectrum, dispreferred seconds seem to be preceded by a pause and to begin with a hesilation particle such as well or uh Tn Pragmatics by Yule (1996), he points out that silence in the second part is always considered an indication

of dispreferred reply in any adjacency pair In fact, silence is a factor that assists interlocutors to revise the first one so that they may get a different response apart from

being silent (p.79-80) Look at the example below

Sandy: But I’m sure they'll have good food there

(1.6 seconds) Sandy: Limm I guess the food isn’t great

Jack: Nah— people mostly go for the music

Ilere Jack’s silence makes Sandy utter a different saying, while normally he would have had to produce a disagreemenl The $ is incapable of protlueing the proferred second turn m this non-answer communication

Scheglolf ef al (1977) suggest thal dispreferreds are structurally delayed in turns and sequences and are (or may be) preceded by other items (p.362), that is, a dispreferred response can be marked with a hesitation, a delay, a preface, an apology and so on The

patterns associated with a dispreferred second in English are presented as a series of optional elements as shown in the following table

a delay/ hesitate pause; er, em; ah

{ mention obligation T must de X; Pm expeoted in ¥

8 appeal for understanding you see; you know

h make it non-personal everybody else; out there

i give an account too much work; no time left

j use mitigators really; mostly; sort of; kinda

k hedge the negalive T guess nok not possible

Table 3 — Linguistic patterns signaling dispreferred second turns

Tere is a short dialogue to analyze:

Becky:

Wally:

Come over for some coffee later

Oh — eh —I'd love to— but you see—I— I’m supposed to get this finished

— you know

(Yule, 1996:81)

From this talk, a combination of dispreferred patterns are utilized, namely, hesitation

“oh”, “ch”, Token Yes “I'd love to”, stunbling repetition “I — I’m”, giving an account

“I’m supposed to do X” and an appeal for understanding “you know” to express a

dispreferred scvond tur

Sharing, this opinion, Levinson (1983:334) notes another way of generalizing the

characteristics of dispreferred seconds below’

fa)

@®)

tS)

@)

delays: (i) by pause before delivery, (ii) by the use if a preface, (ii) by

displacement over a number of tums via use of repair initiators or

insertion sequences

preface: (i) the use of markers or armouneers of disproferreds like Uh and Well, (ii) the production of token agreements before disagreements, (iii)

the use of appreciations if relevare (for offers, invitations, suggestions,

advice), (iv) the use of apologies if relevant (for requests, invitations, etc), (v) the use of qualifiers ( e.g / don’t know for sure, but .), (vi) hesitation in various form, inchuding sel f-cdiling,

accounts: carefully formulated explanations for why the (dispreferred) act is being done

declination component of a form suited to the nature of the first part of

the pair, but characteristically indirect or mitigated

To sum up, it can be drawn that making dispreferreds take more time, effort and language use than preferred seconds

1.5 Preferred and dispreferred second turns in Episode 1 of the film Dewnfon Ahbsy

To obtain a thorough understanding of the spoken discourse, generally, and the preference structure, specifivally generated in Kpisode 1 of Dowaton Abbey, it is advisory that we are well-equipped with the backpround and setting, of the film

Masterpicce Website describes the opening scone as follows: the sinking of Titanic covers almost every newspaper headline, which hits the idyllic and bustling life of the

British aristocratic Crawley family and their cadre of servants Set on a giganlic and

hosurious mansion surrounded by beautifully landscaped grounds in North Yorkshire, the movie features two sets of characters, revealing the viperous qualities of the upper

c and the venom of those who wail on Lhem Downton Abbey is sel mn an earlier

period but the upstairs/downstairs dynamic is also a focus (J'rederic and Lirussat)

Hence, the conversations ocourring are amidst class lines, maitly between the upper

class servant; servants or aristocrats themselves ‘his relates to huge differences of

action, attitude, together with word choice in their answers or responses; which is the

main cmphasis of the researcher During the film, sometimes it may lead to ambiguity for listeners to decide whether the reply is agreement or disagreement; thus, it is

essential to acquire the knowledge of preferred and dispreferred second parts in the

carly 20" century

1.6, Related prior works

There exist a wide variety of studies of conversation analysis and preference structure

carmmied out heretofore

The first and foremost to refer to here is Pomerantz’s work conducted in 1975, which

can be regarded as the inspiration for followers in terms of the primary characteristics

of preference structure, especially agreement and disagreement Later on, her

preference struclure-relaled publication, which examines a number of palierns of

preferred! dispreferred tum shapes in agreeing and disagreeing assessments, appears in

Atkinson and Heritage’s book (1985) Both of the aforementioned works have paved

the way for Ihe junior researchers lo discover other applied aspects of CA

Thlereslingly, concerning CA im actual silualioms, Schegloff el al (1977)'s ‘the

preference of self-correction in the organization of repair in conversation’, Heritage (1988)’s ‘explanations as accounts: a conversation analytic perspective’, Seedhouse (2004)'s ‘the interactional architecture of the language classroom: a conversation

analysis perspective’ and Ingram and Hlliott (2014)’s “turn-taking and ‘wait time” in classroom interactions’ have made used of video tapes or audio tapes, the naturally-

occuring conversations, as the database

In addition, as seen in the study by Kieu T.T.H (2006), the native perception and

realization of the speoch act af disagreement im English and Vietnamese was investigated to find out appropriate polite strategies to perform disagreements for

North Americans and Hanvians Nguyen T.O (2013) also looked into this linguistic

aspect in Listening Section of TOEFL PBT to make tips for test-takers when dealing with conversations containing dispreferred second tums

Regarding film analysis, it is morked that several authors have paid attention to conversations generated in movies, such as Desilla (2012)’s ‘implicature in film

consirual and functions m Bridget Jones romantic comedies’ or Jannah (2014)’s

investigation into tum-taking occurring in Yhe Social Network film

This paper makes its distinction from the prior works in the degree and scope to which each approach is applied to meet the requirements of the research question sufficiently, Scomingly, the author has nol been able to gel access to any sluclies corresponding prefereds and dispreferreds used in films spoken in English set in the late modern period ence, the writer of this thesis would like to discover more about the common features of prefered and dispreferred second tums used in an episode of the series drama Downton Abbey

CHAPTER 2: THE STUDY

This chapter presents the methodology and data collection methods used in this study,

followed by the findings and discussion via the data and figures

2.1, Research Methods

2.1.1 Database

The corpus of the study comprises 102 adjacency pairs, which contain 13 preferred

second tums and 89 dispreferreds, collected and chosen from the first episode of the

film Downton Abbey, particularly, 121 linguistic features of dispreferreds discovered in these 89 seconds The data source is in the written script form of Episode 1, Season 1

of the film Downton Abbey that has been downloaded at www.sharewithu.com and

www transcripts foreverdreaming org

2.1.2 Research Methods

The paper has been conducted with a combination of analytical, descriptive,

quantitative and qualitative methods based on the frequencies of using the general

pattems of preferred and dispreferred structures and the linguistic features signaling

them in the film episode

Among the methods mentioned above, quantitative one will be the foci because most

of the findings and considerations are calculated and converted into visuals and figures

The author has also chosen the theories proposed by Yule (1996) and Levinson (1983)

to be the framework of analyzing the preferred and dispreferred second tums in the

film episode

2.1.3, Research procedures

The process of data collection requires the Cour following slages

Stage 1: The researcher gains fundamental knowledge of literary works related to the

topic, such as SAs, CA, adjavoney pairs and proferenve siruel are

Stage 2: The Gilm was downloaded and observed deeply by the author, aller that we downloaded the movie script, transcribed between the transcripts and the film and added symbols of conversation In the next step, the thesis writer studied and selected carefully conversations from the film in order to seek which utterances contained preferreds or dispreferreds and how many dialogues in which participants used preferred and dispreferred second tums

Stage 3: ‘The author distinguished the common patterns of preferreds and dispreferreds used in each interaction and which the most popular is, along with the linguistic features demonstrating these second tums

Stage 4 All the results above were converted into figures which are shown in Appendices The coded data were then prosonted in charts and tables

2.2 Findings and Discussions

2.2.1 Overview of preferreds and dispreferreds

Initially, an overview of how preferred and dispreferred second turns are applied in

dialogues taken from the film should be examined deliberately so that readers can

realize the distribution of these seconds throughout the selected movie episode

In Chapter 2 the author has already mentioned the quantity of investigated adjacency

pairs which is successively 13 pairs enclosing preferreds and 89 ones using

dispreferreds That leads to the comparison between these two preference structures

regarding the frequency of use in Episode 1, Season 1 of the film Downton Abbey

Given is a pie chart comparing the rates of preferred and dispreferred second responses

among the chosen adjacency pairs found in the referred part of the drama series

Apparently, the number of dispreferreds outnumbers that of preferreds 7 to 1, which

indicates film characters are more favor of using dispreferreds in their conversations to

express themselves Subsequently, deeper analyses into each kind of preference

structure are provided

2.2.2 General patterns of preferreds

From 13 adjacency pairs out of 102 surveyed conversations containing preferred

seconds extracted from the transcripts of the first episode of the film Downton Abbey, the results could be synthesized in Figure 2 below

Figure 2: General patterns of

preferred second turns

Five columns in the preceding visual illustration represent the five common structures

of preferreds, namely assessment-agreement, invitation-acceptance, offer-acceptance, proposal-agreement and request-acceptance for each bar

From the statistics in Figure 2, merely four examined patterns of preferred second turns

appear in Episode 1 of Downton Abbey movie series Pairs of assessment - agreement,

found in 7 over 13 dialogues, accounts for over 50% of occurrence and ranks the most

frequently used pattern while the least used structure offer-acceptance is hardly seen

among the studied conversations The second most popular one goes to request-

acceptance with 3 times of usage Following this is the paired utterances invitation - acceptance and proposal — agreement, which emerge once and twice respectively

2.2.3 Common linguistic features indicating preferreds

To find the answer to the first research question, the researcher has investigated closely

the dialogues one by one to identify the most widely used linguistic items expressing

preferred in these conversations and how these items correspond in each pair The

findings were classified into four main groups that are namely negative agreement,

saying ‘Yes’ as answer, expressing gratitude as answer and offer as acceptance Later

on, the results were shown in Figure 3 that follows

It suggests the general use of linguistics units marking preferred second responses in

13 adjacency pairs taken from the film episode

Figure 3: Linguistic features indicating

preferred second turns

Saying "Yes' as answer im Expressing gratitude as answer

lm Negative Agreement i Offer as answer

15,5%

‘As can be seen, Figure 3 presents some striking differences of linguistic elements appearing in the studied dialogues It is evident that ‘saying ‘yes’ as answer’ is the most commonly used one which makes up approximately half of the seconds TL slould

be noted that this kind of preferreds is favorably uttered in both seme-class and eross- class lines: ie., in conversations between the aristocrats [3], the servants [6] and arislocral-servant [2], [5] via repealing a part of the [irs part or simply ‘chank you’, ‘of

course’ Look at the examples below

[2] Mr Bates: We've managed so far, haven't we?

Robert, COG: Fes, we have Of course, we have

[3] Cora, COG: You know iny daughter, Mary, of cows:

DOC: Of course, Lady Mary

[5] Mr Carson: My lord, would it be acceptable for Bates to ride in front with

Taylor? [ ]

Robert, EOG: Perfectly acceptable [ ]

[6] Mrs Patmore; William, will you stop talking and take this kedgeree up, and mind the bumers are still lit

William: Yes, Mrs Patmore

It is followed by ‘expressing gratitude as answer’ occurring three times over 13 pairs Here characters utilize the phrase ‘thank you’ or express their feelings as replies For

cxample,

[7] Lady Sybil: You look beautiful

Lady Mary: Thank you Sybil, dating,

[8] Robert, COG: I can assure you the Duke very much appreciated his,

welcome

Mr Carson: 7m glad

Negative agreement is occasionally used and only lakes up 15.5%, which equals ‘offer

as answer’ Specifically speaking, the agreement which is shown by Hs making use of utterances including ‘so’, ‘too’, ‘either’, ‘neither’ with Ss is called negative agreement, which can be seen in the following illustration

A: Tlike eating strawherries

B: Aefoo

‘That explains for the appearance of ‘so’ in the dialogue extracted from the film

[10] Mrs Hughes: I can’t make myself believe it

Mrs Patmore: Me neither

Discussing the fourth linguistics unit aforementioned, giving an offer to a first part is

casually exploited by servanis of Dowrton estate They lend to require others lo do

things and receive responses as a promise or an offer, For instance,

[12] Daisy; Oh, please, it won’t take a moment!

William, Ali tigli, give it fo me

[13] Thomas: Remember to help me with the luggage Don't go running off

Mr Bates: /'H give you a hand

2.2.4 General patterns of dispreferreds

Similar to the first step of analyzing patterns of preferreds, it is essential to categorize those of dispreferred seconds in order to interpret the results Eighty nine adjacency pairs in 102 dialogues in the first episode of the movie Downton Abbey have been processed and analyzed which can be presented in Figure 4

Figure 4: General patterns of dispreferred second turns

Each column in Figure 4 presents each of the five tested adjacency pairs including

dispreferreds, namely assessment — disagreement, invitation — refusal, offer — decline,

proposal — disagreement and request — refusal It is evident that all the five observed

patterns of dispreferred seconds occur in conversations in the film episode

Assessment — disagreement makes a sharp distinction amidst the five patterns when it

appears 65 times in the selected pairs: ie., approximately 70% of second responses

show disagreement to an assessment

On the other hand, invitation — refusal is the least common pattern used and it is only

found in merely one reply

The three remaining patterns, respectively proposal — disagreement, request — refusal and offer — decline, appear 7 to 8 times in the conversations

2.2.5 Common linguistic features indicating dispreferreds

With the attempt to solve the rest of the research question, the writer conducted an investigation of each chosen dialogue to explore the most frequently used linguistic elements expressing dispreferred second responses The findings were processed,

calculated and displayed as below

2.2.5.1 Common linguistic features

Figure 5: Linguistic features indicating

dispreferred second turns

11%

#8 Delay/hesitate

mPreface 8%

mExpress doubt Token Yes Apology

Eigure 5 presents the proportion of linguistic units associated with dispreferred second tums in 121 synthesized patterns from 89 adjacency pairs

A glance at the pie chart reveals the most frequently used feature accounting for a

quarter of total, which is ‘delay/hesitate’ It is understandable that the hearer (H) may

lake some time to think and give the answer lo the §’s ulleranee, hence, the H tends to fill up with filler sounds such as ‘er’, ‘wn’, ‘ah’ to make up for those pauses and

delays

Following it is the use of ‘preface’ which takes up 24%, almost as preferably as the first position, Sunilar to ‘delay/hesitate’, iL is likely thal a habit of interlocutors is to start with ‘yeah’, swell” and so on Next is the use of ‘give an account’ and ‘hedge the

negative’ making up 15% and 11% respectively

On the contrary, the frequencies of utilizing the elements containing ‘express doubt’,

‘token yes’, ‘apology’, ‘mention obligation’ and ‘make if non-personal’ ave small-

sealc They conventionally play a role of supplomentary devices for the second 5 to make a dispreferred after hesitating, using preface or giving an account why he/she

disagrees with the first Š`s utterance

In conclusion, primarily seven linguistic features indicating dispreferreds have been widely enjoyed by (ibn characters in Fpisode 1 of Downlon Abhey However, each pattem of adjacency pairs is expressed differently via particular structures which are illustrated and discussed in detail in the following part

2.2.5.2 The ways six common linguistic features are used

‘The ways that six popular units signaling, dispreferred second responses in the selected episode, namely ‘delay/hesitate’, ‘preface’, ‘give an account’, ‘hedge the negative’,

‘use mitigators’, and ‘appeal for understanding’ work im the five patterns are discussed

more thoroughly in this section Due to the lack of capacity, this study supplies a mere limited mumber of examples for each element while the full version of all examined

dialogues is given in Appendix 2

a ‘Delay/hesitate’

1t can be inferred from the statistics that the linguistic element ‘delay/hesitate’ occurs

im almost every kind of five patlerns related to dispreferred seconds apart from

invitation refusal in the movie Specifically, it appears 26 over 65 dialogues of assessment — disagreement, 3 out of 8 offer — decline pairs, and 2 times among

proposal — disagreements and once among request — refusal

With regard to the paired utterances of giving disagreement to an assessment, this linguistic means tuts up in the form of a pause () [3”], a slunbling repetition 24" or

an ‘insertion sequence’, a question for unrequired answer [2°], [5*] It aims to hedge

the second 9’s disagreement towards the first 8's saying

[2°] Rabert, EOG: Ht sccms James and Patrick were on hoard

Cora, COG: Hhat? ‘They can’t have been They weren’t going till May

[3°] Cora, COG: But surely they were picked up?

Robert, EOG: (0.3) It docsn’t look like it

[5°] Mr Bates: Pm John Bates, the new valsl

Miss O’Brien: Zhe new valet?

[24°] Thomas: I want to be a valet, I'm sick of being a footman

DOC: Yeah, Thomas T dort nocd a valol 7—Tthoughl you ware golling rid of the new one here?

‘The same role of ‘defay/hesitate’ linguistic unit is applied for the pattern of offer decline [28°], proposal — disagreement [29°] and request — refusal [32°], which is

illustrated in the following examples, respectively

l28'| DOC: We shall do very well together, won’t we .?

Thomas: Fr, Thomas, Your Grace

[31°] Lady Mary: Well, aren’t you coming into the drawing room?

DOC:Jm Jmtired./ I think TL just slip away

[32°] Daisy: You've got to, T'll bc hanged if you don’t

Hor Robert, Harl of Grantham, the shocking news of ‘Titanic’s sinking should

have come as an extreme shock to him and plans for the life at Downton after

tis death become meanmgicss Whereas, stumbling repeliion might be

considered a distinction of Duke of Crowborough whenever he speaks; he

comes to Downton with an insidious purpose, i.e., to get rid of the letter sent to

Thomas some time ago, so he behaves unmaturally and quile hesilates when

answering others’ questions

tu) Also, pauses are widely used around 6 tunes over 32 pais containing

‘delay/hesitate’ language pattem The length of each pause may be different but

they all indivate the lag of replying, which provides time for ‘giving an account’

or ‘token yes’

b Preface”

Tho dala reveals thal the three apparently reeugnived ways of making ‘preface? in four types of patterns (no data found in invitation refusal) are ‘well’, ‘oh’, ‘yeah’ ‘They

can be found al the begining of the second $’s ulterance and before some hesitalions

[33°1, several explanations for disagreement [58"1, or ‘aking it non-personal’ [37°]

[33°] Willian: You're late

Paperboy: Yeah 1-1 know, but

[37] Robert, EOG: If you're saying you do not wish to mourn Patrick as a fiancé,

that is up to you

Latly Mary: Weil, no one knew about il ontside the fanily

[58] Mr Bates: J’ll give you a hand

Thomas: Oh, [ couldn’t ask that, Mr Bates, not in your condition

That is the reason why ‘preface’ appears 29 times out of 121 total dispreferred elements in the studied (im episode

Interestingly, this linguistic element is merely found in same-class dialogues In other words, those who share the same social status tend to use preface with each other while cross-class lines comprising ‘preface’ seldom exist This phenomenon may be untrue

in these examples

[5°] Thomas: T don’t believe that

DOC: Well, believe what you like

[56°] Themas: Twant1o be a valet 'm sick of being a footman

DOC: Yeah, Thomas, I don’t need a valet [— [thought you were getting rid of

the new one here?

However, it is advisory that (he relationship belween Thoruas, the first footman at

Downton and Duke of Crowborough is quite sensitive because they seem to have

‘intimacy’ before Therefore, we may draw a conclusion that ‘preface’ is normally

used among people from a shared background or having a close relationship

c ‘Give an account"

Discussing the third commonplace linguistic unit, ie., ‘give an account’, the writer of the thesis is prelly concerned about the ways accounts or explanations are given im the second turns in corresponding with other linguistic elements such as ‘delay/hesitate’

[82°], ‘preface’ [83"], ‘appeal for understanding’ [86’] or ‘apology’ [88"]

[82°] Rabert, ROG: 11 sccms James and Patrick were on hoard

Cora, COG: What? ‘They can’t have been They weren't going till May

[83°] Miss O’Brien: Mr Crawley was his Lordship’s cousin and heir to the title

Gwen: Well, but 7 thought Ludy Mary was the heir

[86'] Lady Sybil: Tknow you're sad aboul Patrick Whalsver you say, T know iL

Lady Mary: You're a darling But you see, f'a1 not as sad as I should be

138°| Robert, EOG: You knew what you were doing when you came here You

encouraged Mary, all of us came to thinking DOC: Forgive me, but Zcame to express my sympathies and my friendship,

nothing more