Analysis of Zach 2;4 transcript


Contextual factors which might effect the language used are Age, gender, social class, the place in which the interaction takes place and the time of day.


An example of a theory that could have a bearing on the transcript is Bernstein's restricted and elaborated code; Bernstein showed that people who only have access to restricted code will speak in a highly predictable way, with a fairly high proportion of pronouns, tag questions, and the use of gestures and intonation to convey meaning. People who have access to restricted and elaborated code will use more subordinate clauses, adjectives, more use of the pronoun the pronoun 'I' and passives. This applies to Zach's language because if he has access to elaborated code, his language will have more variety and be more sophisticated.


Another theory which could effect the language use is Zimmerman and West's dominance theory. This applies because it shows that the fact that Zach is male might mean that he would interrupt more than if he was female, however, Geoffrey Beattie's theory would contradict this and state that interruptions wouldn't be effected by gender.




Test of Zimmerman and West's theory for interruptions