Part 1
Which Features of turn taking occur most frequently in Brunei?
In a face-to-face conversation between friends?
Self-selection
In Brunei, age is an important factor in any communication. Communication is in most cases formal. In the case of communication between friends, the oldest amongst the speakers usually has more power than the rest of the speakers. The youngest speaker is usually at a disadvantage than the rest of the speakers since he/she may rarely have any chance to talk and influence the others. Self-selection is common in the communication between friends. This occurs when two or more people begin speaking at once before one person identifies himself/herself as the speaker. The person who selects himself as the speaker does so by speaking louder than the other speakers, such that they give him/her a chance to speak. In Brunei, this mainly takes place when the communication is taking place amongst people of the same age who feel that they all have a right to speak (Widdowson 170). The loudest participant or the more dominant in speech, therefore, gets to speak more through self-selection. When friends belong to different age groups, self-selection favors the oldest speaker, who regards himself/herself as the most important member of the group. Self-selection can also occur based on the importance of the speech content of one of the participants. A particular speaker may be talking about regular events, and another speaker may regard this as unimportant as compared to a political discussion (Johnstone 48). This speaker, knowing somehow, that he/she will have the support of other speakers, may proceed to identify himself as the speaker through self-selection.
Interruption
In Brunei, the culture exalts respect and etiquette. In most cases, participants in any speech will wait until the speaker is done speaking before they reply and perform an action required by the speaker. When a conversation is however characterized by members of the same age group in an informal setup, interruptions become unavoidable. An interruption is a turn taking violation, which is usually a characteristic of informal conversations. A speaker interrupts the original speaker, making him/her stop speaking, and pave a way for him/her to speak. This is common amongst friendly conversations where no specific rules are followed. Interruptions may not be considered as very rude in an informal conversation amongst friends. The person who interrupts may do so to inform the speaker of something outside the context. This maybe a person they know of, who is passing by, or something urgent, that cannot wait for the speaker to stop speaking.
In phone conversations between friends?
Presence of adjacency pairs
In Brunei, phone conversations between friends are characterized by the existence of adjacency pairs. Adjacency pairs refer to two turns, which are adjacent to one another. In an adjacency pair, the utterance of one word by a speaker influences the utterance of another word in response. The utterance of a word ‘hello' when receiving a phone call influences the utterance of the same word from the other speaker. Friends, in this case, ask and answer questions over the phone.
In between telephone conversations, silence can sometimes occur. The cause for silence is usually varied. In some cases, silence may occur when one speaker is unsure of whether the other speaker is done speaking, hence awaits for the other to finish up. In most cases, however, silence signifies that the speaker is thinking of something to say, or is unsure of what to say next. In Brunei, a lot of silence in between the turn taking characterizes phone conversations between friends (Johnstone 89). Once one speaker is done speaking there's a pause during which the next speaker thinks of a suitable answer or statement to contribute to the conversation.
In conversations in context of professional communication
Control contribution
Professionalism is highly regarded in Brunei. The hierarchy that comes with the professional field is respected. Professional communication is very formal in Brunei. The person with the highest rank usually dominates professional communication. In meetings, for example, the managers or C.E.O's are allowed to give the first and last remarks. The rest of the group has to wait for their turn to speak. This is where control contribution sets in. This is a situation in which there are a set of standards or rules by which communication is supposed to take place. An individual is only allowed to give his/her contribution for a specified amount of time, and at a specified time. A control contribution can be low, medium or high (Widdowson, 183). In an organizational meeting in Brunei, for example, the managers, or those who fall into a higher category in the organization may have a larger share in contributing than the employees may. This is an example of a lower control contribution since one party is passive and the other is active. Control contribution maintains sanity throughout a conversational process. It further maintains an organized and structured conversation throughout the turn taking process. The participants feel represented in the conversation, and all views are considered equally. The flow of the conversation is smoother and with a better sense of direction.
Medium frequency of turn taking
In Brunei business meetings, the number of times a speaker is allowed to contribute is controlled. Talking too much is not allowed, and neither is refraining from giving one's contribution (Johnson, 84). A speaker, therefore, has to wait for his time to speak. In a business case scenario, seniority amongst members contributes to the number of times they can be allowed to speak. Senior people in a business meeting, for example, get more chances to speak, and control the direction of the conversation.
Part 2
Analysis of the Script.
The first section is the introduction where the two parties familiarize with each other. The next section is called value; it is where the reason for the call is established. The third section is the prequalifying and the common pains sections; here the matter introduced above is further discussed. Finally section 4 is referred to as the closing section; this is where a solution is reached and marks the end of the conversation (Widdowson 110).
One of the normal features includes the formality of the school representative. She communicates like a professional. The contrast between the characters is easily noticeable. The school representative is quite formal and eloquent. Mrs. Wilson however, uses abbreviations and pauses a lot probably trying to think about the next thing to say. However, it is rather unusual of her to prejudge the gender of the other party in the conversation. Turn taking is also another normal feature of this conversation. Through this conversation, adjacency pairs can easily be identified such as when the school representative says ‘Hello Mister Wilson? Mrs. Wilson then responds, "Ummm.It is Missus Wilson after a 0.8 seconds pause. The silence marks a turn taking tool, and Missus Wilson is thinking of the best possible way to respond to the school. The Use of the word Missus rather than the normal miss is a rather unusual feature.
Works Cited
Johnstone, Barbara. Discourse Analysis. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2002. Print.
Widdowson, H. G. Discourse Analysis. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007. Print.
