For my In-Group Project I decided to record and transcribe a conversation among a mixed group of people. The group I chose was my family, consisting of my grandparents on my dad’s side, my parents, my sister and her boyfriend, and myself. This group of people represents a very broad age range, with my grandparents being in their 80’s, my parents in their fifties, my sister and her boyfriend in their late twenties/early thirties, and myself, almost twenty. The conversation takes place in the evening at my parents’ house. This is not something that happens very often, all of us together, so the situation is rather unique, occurring maybe two or three times a year. I recorded approximately an hour and ten minutes of dialogue, though I only transcribed about forty minutes worth. (I have attached a copy of the transcription to this analysis.) After much deliberation, the aspects of the dialogue I decided to pay particular attention to were the different speaking styles of each person, the differences between age groups and relations, who interrupts or tells stories the most, and what types of fillers (i.e. uh or um) or stuttering people use.
By analyzing age groups, it would be my grandparents that dominated most of the conversation. This is due mostly to the structure of our family. We have a more traditional style, where the elder people expect respect, and not to be contradicted. If they are telling a story, it is customary for people to listen. However, interruptions are not considered completely wrong, if they are performed in the correct context. A person may interrupt to tell their own story, or interject comments pertaining to the current story, and no one would take offense. The original speaker simply resumes their story once the second story is finished. But the second story must follow similarly the lines of the first, otherwise it would be considered off-topic. It would be the same if you came in from another room and burst into a conversation, interrupting the flow of the dialogue, and introducing a new topic. This is thought of as extremely rude, and often you would be verbally reprimanded. However, this rule generally only applies one-way. Elder people in the group tend to interrupt younger people, and think nothing of it, much to the consternation of the youth. And with being older, younger people cannot reprimand you, which would be thought of as wrong.
My parents talked very little through out the night. D-- especially, but then, he never is much of a conversationalist. M-- was playing hostess, so of course she spoke more with everyone present. My sister J--, and her boyfriend C--, were most likely the quietest during the evening. C--’s lack of speech is easily explicable, simply because he was working on setting up D--’s new computer for most of the night. J--’s relatively little involvement in the conversation is due mostly to the fact that she follows D-- as not being exceptionally talkative. I myself did not speak much, except for the occasional witticism interjected here and there. I usually do not speak a whole lot at these family gatherings unless directly spoken to, or I have something of utmost importance or relevance to share.
Gm probably shared the most stories during the night. When my transcription began, it was in the middle of a story interjected by C-- into a narrative Gm was telling. Later on, she told another story, prompted by D--, about D-- falling off a root/stool. (This again demonstrates D--’s lack of conversation. He would rather have someone else tell the story, then interject comments to “fix” the points that need elaborating on or that weren’t gotten correct.)
Fillers were used by most everybody in one form or another. I noticed that fillers did not just have to be “um,” “uh,” or “like.” Other types included brief word repeating, such as “We c’n, we c’n,” then continuing on with what was to be said. Stuttering was also prevalent, most of which I did. It didn’t have to be just stuttering a phoneme, it was also stuttering whole words, such as “it,” repeating it two or three times before continuing on. “Y’know” was very commonly used by all age groups.
In general, Gm paused the most in her speech, often repeating short phrases, or beginning a phrase, then stopping, pausing, and restarting it with a different word. She dropped the “g” off of “ing” endings frequently, and the “d” off of “and” even more often. Proper grammar and tense were not always used, such as in “an’ I was standin’ there kinda with that stick,” and “D-- seen it.”
Gp didn’t speak much, but when he did, stuttering was pretty much non-existent, as well as the use of fillers. He did, however, use “‘n’” or “an’” for “and,” and drop the “g” occasionally from “ing” endings. He frequently asked questions, but this is due to his growing deafness and refusal to wear hearing aids.
D-- also talked relatively little. Most of what he had to say were either sarcastic remarks, or comments about a story being told. He also dropped the “g” from “ing” endings, as well as shortening “you” to “y’” plus a word (such as y’guys, or y’know.)
M--’s dialogue was used mostly to advance the conversation. She made comments to keep things going, or brought up new topics. She also had the habit of dropping “g’s.”
In C--’s speech, he definitely dropped many “g’s” and shortened virtually all of his “and’s.” He spoke relatively quickly, keeping his story moving along quite nicely, despite all of the fillers, such as “like” and “uh,” and repetitions.
J-- did not speak much at all, but of what little I have to analyze, it appears she uses contractions frequently, even making ones that aren’t typically considered contractible. Words such as “can” to “c’n,” and “whiter” to “whi’er.”
My own speech used stutterings and fillers frequently when speaking to more than just one person. Many of my comments were sarcastic. I did not present any stories during this dialogue. I, too, dropped the “g” off of “ing” suffixes. Listening to the tape, I would also have to say that I spoke the fastest, getting all my ideas out quickly, thus making the stuttering minimally detectable. I also noticed how much I used “hmhm” and “yeah” to show that I was listening.
Overall in the dialogue, there were relatively few stories that were shared. Most of the conversation consisted of short phrases, or brief sentences, conveying ideas quickly and succinctly, if not profoundly. Though one person may have dominated the conversation, speaking was bounced back and forth between people. Since Gm spoke the most, the dialogue generally centered around what she was saying, with other people supplementing it with their own speech and ideas. Despite the short lines each person spoke, and the centralism of some speakers, the conversation flowed smoothly for the evening, with everyone speaking when it was appropriate, and with virtually no miscommunication between people in the group.
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