JANUARY 2002

Question 2(a)
Drama Text A is taken from Blood Brothers (1983) by Willie Russell, a play about the changing relationship between a working class boy, Mickey, and a middle class boy, Edward. In this sequence Edward is explaining to his mother why he has been suspended from school. His mother is secretly shocked by the picture in the locket, and the audience begins to suspect that the relationship between Edward and Mickey is closer than either of them knows.

Text B is a transcript of a casual conversation taking place between a thirteen-year old boy (B) and his mother (M).

Compare the two texts, commenting on the ways in which they reflect differences and similarities between conversations in real life and talk in literature.

In your answer you may wish to consider the following:
• Variations in form and expression.
• How attitudes and values are conveyed.
• The significance of context and situation.

Indicative content
Differences and similarities between conversation in real life and dialogue in literature (drama): Purposes of different: dramatic dialogues are crafted to create character, forward action, convey information, establish setting; in real life conversation can be phatic, transactional, performative, interactional, informational, evaluative, instructional etc.

Text A reveals new insight into mother’s situation, complicates plot, arouses audience expectation, shows Edward’s courage.

Variations in form and expression

Both passages use exchange structure sequences but expression different - Mrs Lyons and Edward shown to be middle class by terms of address (repetition of ‘Mummy’- even used by Mrs L to refer to herself); in Text B factual references made (‘John’s dad’, ‘John’s mum’, ‘Emma’s mum).

Lexical choice in Text A shows repetition of key words important to action (‘suspended’, ‘locket’, ‘secret’); in Text B lexical fields of fireworks, football and theatre trips - strong sense of speech community /social networks revealed; use of slang, hedges, abbreviations.

Non-fluency features used in Text A to reveal emotional tension; in Text B as part of normal conversation. High proportion of exclamation, interrogatives, imperatives in A; in B many facilitative tag questions; back channel usage; Text A more confrontational, Text B more cooperative.

How attitudes and values are conveyed
Exchange between mother and son very different in each text; in A mounting tension develops from the shock of Edward’s suspension to the revelation of the photograph; everything focused on conveying this to audience via repetition, hesitation, incomplete sentences; both characters have something to hide; power balance varies between participants. In Text B mother initiates the adjacency pairs and controls the agenda and topic by asking series of questions. Both speakers use monosyllabic responses with different purposes - B sometimes witholds information to regain power.

The significance of context and situation
Gender relations significant in each (mother attempts to control son in different ways). Social class important in Text A, not significant in Text B. Emotional intensity in A, relaxed mood in B. Both passages reveal some degree of hidden agenda and power shifting. In Text A crafted to reveal link between Edward and Mickey; Text B reveals more about family and social environment.

Question 2(b)

Text C is from Emma (1816) by Jane Austen. In this extract Harriet, who has been the victim of Emma’s matchmaking schemes, decides to rid herself of all mememtos of Mr Elton, and describes them to Emma.
Text D is part of a transcribed conversation between three women, Sue, Anna and Liz. They are talking about a husband and wife they all know well.
Compare and contrast the ways in which women talk to each other about themselves and other people in the two texts.
In your answer you may wish to consider the following:
Discourse features.
Gender and spoken language.
Changes in language over time.
Dialogue in fiction.

Indicative content

Dialogue in fiction

Candidates need to show in their answers an awareness that literary dialogue differs from conversation in real life because it is crafted. The many purposes of dialogue in prose fiction include revealing character, furthering the action, describing a person, place or situation for the benefit of the reader/ or other characters, expressing opinion, mood, tone and establishing different perspectives, as well as enabling the authorial voice to comment on the action and/or address the reader.

How do women talk to each other about themselves and other people
Women often talk about personal matters in single sex conversations, sharing feelings (positive and negative), expressing opinions and exploring options. They tend to be cooperative and supportive in their exchanges.

In Text C Austen’s purpose is to reveal more about the character of both Harriet and Emma, showing how far apart they are in understanding; Harriet’s naivity and Emma’s astonishment at her lack of sophistication / mooncalf love are presented as comic, though there is a touch of pathos in H’s devotion to the ‘court plaister’. H’s propensity for falling in love is also established for later in the novel.
In Text D the three women are sharing views about a fourth whose husband does everything she says quite cheerfully. They all speak fast, interrupting and overlapping each other to get their ideas and responses out quickly, enjoying a sense of superiority. Text C is crafted to seem measured and leisurely, to convey the full absurdity of the treasured courtplaister; Text D tumbles out in a flurry of exclamations and overlapping exchanges.

Discourse features
Variations in length of turn (Text C H has most of longer turns as she explains herself -necessary for reader’s information; in Text D Sue slightly dominant, but minimally - most turns brief and fractured).
Topic shifting (Text C focuses on story of courtplaister, with some contextualising digression; Text D remains focused on complaisant husband but many random subjective comments / responses conveying sense of collective outrage).
Extensive narrative in Text C; brief account in D (Austen’s ironic purpose to emphasise absurdity of H’s accounts. Use of exclamations, rhetorical questions in both texts, conveying emotion; laughter in Text D, none at all in Text C (hurtful to Harriet..).

Gender and spoken language
Supportive encouraging interaction in both texts. Use of back channel behaviour. Evaluative language. Hedges and other examples of vague language (used by Austen to reveal H’s character). Normal non-fluency features (hesitations, self-repairs, incomplete utterances) in both texts - with specific purpose in Text C. Heavy use of simultaneous speech, overlapping in Text D - confident women all eager to speak.

Changes in language over time
Conspicuous difference in turntaking patterns - 20 th century women all taking power. Social class similar but discourse practices very different. Some difference in lexis -formal diction, terms of address in Text C. Overriding sense of humorous purpose in Text C - Text D may have incidental humour, but exchange primarily expressive and evaluative.

JANUARY 2003

Section B

Candidates must compare the two texts in their responses, in whatever ways they find appropriate and helpful. It is important that candidates make reference to the points listed below in their answers, whether the genre is drama, prose fiction or poetry; how and in what order they do this is less important.
• differences and similarities between conversation in real life and dialogue in literature;
• differences and similarities between variations in form and expression;
• differences and similarities between the ways in which attitudes and values are conveyed;
• differences and similarities between the significance of context and situation.

EITHER (a)

Text A (p15) is taken from the opening chapter of Patricia Highsmith’s crime novel, Strangers on a Train (1950). Guy is travelling to finalise divorce arrangements and encounters a young man, Bruno. Text B (p16) is an extract from a transcript of a conversation between two women, A and B, on a train journey in Australia. Compare the two texts, commenting on the ways in which they reflect the nature of talk in real life and dialogue in literature.

You should refer in your answer to:

• the significance of context and situation;
  • how attitudes and values are conveyed;
  • the functions of interaction.

Indicative content:

Dialogue in fiction and talk in real life

Candidates need to show in their answers an awareness that literary dialogue is crafted whereas talk in real life is spontaneous. The many purposes of dialogue in prose fiction include revealing character, furthering the action, describing a person, place or situation for the benefit of the reader/ or other characters, expressing opinion, mood, tone and establishing different perspectives, as well as enabling the authorial voice to comment on the action and/or address the reader. The purposes of talk in real life are also multiple, ranging from phatic, transactional, cooperative and performative, to expressive, informational, evaluative, instructional, persuasive and expository.

The significance of context and situation

• this conversational ‘genre’ (talk between strangers on a journey, or waiting for transport) is familiar with its own conventions and structure (eg initiating and concluding phrases, pace and frequency of turns, level of detailed information exchanged, whether public or private); speakers can use range of politeness strategies to withdraw at any time (by paralinguistic signals, reading or even moving away physically); whether power is equal in exchange depends on participants’ individual agenda / personality /gender /social class.

• purposes of Text A: to establish key point of view (Guy) in opening sentence; to focus reader’s attention on characteristic journey situation (random meeting of strangers); to initiate plot/action by implication that encounter will have crucial significance; to develop and differentiate characters of Guy and of Bruno (via how they look, behave and talk); to prepare reader for Guy’s unexpected retreat.

• purpose of conversation in Text B phatic and social; both speakers seek information in a non-threatening context (both female); use of social conventions/politeness strategies characteristic of genre; A is a foreigner and B has visited Finland so bond established enables more open sharing of information.

How attitudes and values are conveyed

• in both texts attitudes and values conveyed via lexical choice, grammar and structure of interaction; lexis in Text A (Bruno seen through Guy’s eyes) negative and faintly sinister (twitched, bloodshot, sharply, thin wet crescent, sore-looking eyes etc); Bruno’s status is suggested by gold flask; nevertheless Bruno is pleasant-seeming (amiably, politely) if needy. In Text B both women friendly and polite (how nice); B reveals little about self whilst A much more informative; B uses collocation (one of these days); A seems to accept B’s questioning politely; indication that A is non-native speaker (I’m on university holidays).

• in Text A Bruno described in ‘parts’ (the lashes, the eyes, the smile, the hoarse baritone voice); high proportion of dynamic verbs, sometimes in triple structure form; many adverbials; frequent ellipsis and clipping in Bruno’s speech; sense of speed and movement created. In Text B extensive use of present continuous tense with less frequent simple present or simple past • both texts use adjacency pairs or IRF structures; in Text A Bruno asks all the questions, sets agenda and topics, Guy polite (sorry, no thanks) but initiates nothing; Bruno’s turns relatively long, Guy’s almost monosyllabic (Bruno has power). In Text B A asks 1 question, B asks 9 questions (B controls agenda, but A equally controls amount of information).

The functions of interaction
• in Text A extract crafted to intrigue and interest reader in Guy and Bruno both as individuals and together (observed by woman across aisle and conductor on our behalf, representing normality in sinister world). Power imbalance in interaction warning for Guy. Text B classic example of genre revealing equal power sharing between participants in phatic and social purposes.

OR (B)

Text C (p17) is taken from Act 2 of Top Girls (1982), a play by Caryl Churchill. In this scene Marlene, Director of the ‘Top Girls’ Employment Agency, is interviewing Jeanine who wants to join the agency. Text D (p18) is taken from a transcript of a televised interview between two television presenters, Chris Evans (C ) and Jamie Theakston (J).

Compare the two texts, commenting on the ways in which they reflect differences and similarities between conversations in real life and dialogue in literature.

You should refer in your answer to:
• the significance of context and situation
• power
• the functions of interaction.

Indicative content:

Dialogue in drama and talk in real life
Dramatic dialogue is crafted by a playwright for a variety of purposes, all of which are vital for successful communication with the audience. These purposes include creating character, forwarding action, conveying information and establishing situation /setting. Real life talk is not crafted but spontaneous and can range from phatic, transactional, cooperative, performative, to expressive, interaction, evaluative and expository.

The significance of context and situation
The interview is a separate spoken genre, with its own conventions and generic structure, its primary purpose being to gain information from the interviewee, though there may be secondary purposes (to entertain, persuade, instruct, empower). It can be one-to-one, panel-based or have a public audience. The role of the interviewer is to ask the questions which he/she judges to be appropriate. There are conventions for opening, continuing and closing an interview.

• Text C takes place in an office (private context) between two women and is crafted by the playwright to create and reveal character to the theatre audience. Marlene shows herself to be business-like, authoritative, impatient, manipulative and practical (saves taking it off); she does not suffer fools gladly, and is a realist with a sardonic sense of humour (People often do think about advertising. ..Marketing is near enough advertising. I sent him a girl before...left to have a baby, you won’t want to mention marriage there); Jeanine wants more money but euphemises it as wanting ‘more prospects’; lacks confidence (had I better not? I can dress different. I don’t know)

• Text D takes place between two male presenters in a television studio (public context) and is spontaneous (though both questions and answers may be pre-planned). The likely audience is predominantly female, youthful and either in the studio or viewing at home. C’s task is to get J to talk about his private life and particularly his girlfriend(s) in order to appeal to this audience. C has to amuse (you’re very oversized), entertain, persuade, flatter (you’re very successful,erm with girls), tease and challenge (tell us the truth then) his interviewee to draw out as much revelatory and entertaining information as possible.

Power

Power relations between interviewer and interviewee in both texts are communicated by lexical and grammatical choice, and patterns of interaction including adjacency pairs, exchange structures, topic shifting, length and frequency of turns, modes of address, and non-fluency features (including fillers, repetition, hedges), as well as over-laps and interruptions, back-channel behaviour and use of negatives. Each interview works within a framework of shared knowledge (world of business and world of celebrity gossip).
• eg in Text C Churchill crafts the audience’s sense of Marlene’s dominance by her style of interrogation, number of questions, interruptions and overlaps and unsympathetic tone etc. Similarly Jeanine’s lack of power is shown by her negative tone (but..friendly enough, don’t think so, oh no, not kids, I don’t know)
• eg in Text D C and J are equal in celebrity and power: C asks most of the questions but J is at ease and only reveals what he wants to; slower pace, virtually no interruptions or overlaps. High proportion of nonfluency features characteristic of casual conversation but unconnected with power/insecurity. Lexis used by C. to empower J (very successful, a lot of beautiful girlfriends).

The functions of interaction

In Text C dominant character sets agenda of formal interview; exchanges are transactional, informational and performative; tone confrontational and interviewer’s strategy seems to undermine rather than support.
Interactive functions in Text D a combination of phatic, transactional and expressive with the interviewee’s idiolect sometimes mirroring that of the interviewer. Cooperative and supportive exchange structures with occasional address to audience for further support/encouragement. Interview seems almost random but is actually structured. Overall tone achieved - confessional, intimate, gossipy, sharing it all with sympathetic audience.

JUNE 2003

QUESTION 2 Unseen texts

INDICATIVE CONTENT: GENERAL Candidates must compare the two unseen texts in whatever ways they find appropriate and helpful. In their answers they should make some reference to the areas of comparison listed below, regardless of whether they are writing about poetry, prose, fiction or drama. There is no obligation, however, to follow any particular order of reference.
• Similarities and differences between conversation in real life and dialogue in literature
• Similarities and differences between variations in form and expression
• Similarities and differences between the ways in which attitudes and values are conveyed
• Similarities and differences between the significance of context and situation

In their comparison of texts, candidates must show a clear awareness that dialogue in literature is crafted/scripted/constructed by a writer for a specific purpose or purposes (depending on the literary genre). Talk in real life is spontaneous and reflects only the purpose or purposes of the speakers conversing. The purposes of a writer of literary dialogue may be to create or reveal character; to advance action or plot, to describe a place, people or situation or atmosphere, to convey mood or tone, to express opinion and emotion, and to allow the author to address the reader. When people are talking together in real life, their purposes may range from single to multiple and may be: phatic, transactional, informational, instructional, express, evaluative, expository, persuasive, co-operative and/or performative.

QUESTION 2a) Text A (p14) is a poem written by Henry Read (1914 – 1986), inspired by his army experiences during the Second World War. Text B (p15) is part of a transcribed dialogue between a primary school teacher (T) and a 7-year old boy Colin (C) about how to make a camera tripod.

Compare the two texts in detail, commenting on the ways in which they reflect the nature of talk in real life and the representation of talk in literature.
You should refer in your answer to:
• the significance of context and situation
• how attitudes and values are conveyed
• language functions
• any other relevant matters.

INDICATIVE CONTENT : SPECIFIC
Answers may include the following:

Significance of context and situation

• both texts ‘instructional’ – giving information enabling others to perform/achieve something
• Text A (lyrical poem) consists of description and identification of working parts of gun by instructor and poetic voice; description of spring flowers (death/life contrast)
• Text B is an extract in which a teacher uses questions to show Colin how to make a tripod, and how to describe the process of building it
• Text A uses three separate voices speaking in monologue; 1 st person (poetic voice ‘we’ in stanzas 1 and 5); 2 nd person (voice of instructor ‘you’ in stanzas 2, 3, 4); 3 rd person (voice of narrator ‘them’ ‘they’ describing spring at lines 4/5/6 at end of each stanza)
• Text B dialogue between adult and child, both focused on performative aspects of language

How attitudes and values are conveyed

• Figurative language (e.g. Text A simile ‘Japonica glistens like coral’; personification ‘branches...silent eloquent gestures’; metaphor ‘bees assaulting and fumbling the flowers’; ‘easing the Spring/easing the Spring’: Text B none)
• Lexical choice (Text A: semantic fields of weaponry (death), the spring (life) time: Text B classroom lexis ‘problem’, ‘plan’, ‘diagram’, ‘helpful’ ‘improve’ ‘book’; semantic fields of measurement, camera technology)
• Syntactical features (Text A: short simple sentences convey brisk instruction; awkward work order ‘which in our case we have not got’ reflecting awkward activity; longer more complex sentences enact unfolding of spring: Text B has mainly short utterances except where Colin is explaining his plans)
• Rhetorical devices (Text A ironic juxtaposition of images of death and life; repetition of key phrases ‘naming of parts’; incrementum/listing; paradox: Text B none)
• Emotive/evaluative lexis (Text A: positive/negative ‘glistens’ ‘silent, eloquent’ ‘easy flick’ ‘safety’ ‘strength’ ‘fragile’ ‘motionless’ ‘assaulting and fumbling’; Text B positive lexis associated with Colin achieving desired outcome ‘help’ ‘comfortable’ ‘helpful’ ‘improve’)
• Grammatical features (Text A predominantly declaratives, one imperative, simple sentences, deictics (‘this’); personal pronouns associated with different voices: Text B interrogatives, mitigated directives (‘Perhaps you’d like to..’ ‘might be helpful’ ‘can you show me’, mainly 2 nd person pronouns apart from specific collaborative comments ‘with me’); high use of modal verbs especially expressing futurity and conditionality)
• Discourse features (Text A crisp, brusque prose version of different ‘voices’ making cold, blank statements about highly emotive topics: Text B mainly variations of IRF exchanges, adjacency pairs)
• Interactional features (Text A phatic token ‘please...’; incomplete utterances; possible non SE usage ‘have not got’ ‘can do it quite easy’ for instructor’s idiolect; Text B terms of address, incomplete, utterances, hedges ‘just’, pauses, non SE usage ‘what I done’; use of overlaps, interruptions)
• Generic characteristics: both texts use genre of instruction for their own very different purposes; nevertheless some features in common including interpersonal language including personal es in common including interpersonal language including personal pronouns, modal verbs, imperatives/directives, interrogatives and evaluative language

Language functions

• Text A descriptive, informational, expressive, emotive, evaluative, subjective
• Text B instructional, descriptive, evaluative, supportive, co-operative, transactional, objective

Any other relevant matters

• Sound patterning (Text A; 6 line stanza, irregular stresses; no end rhyme used; alliteration (‘bolt’ ‘breech’ ‘balance’ ‘blossom’ ‘bees’ ‘backwards’ ‘fumbling the flowers’); assonance; pace/volume/pitch
• Register (Text A formal/poetic; Text B informal within classroom context)

QUESTION 2b)

Text C (pages 17 – 18) is taken from the opening scene of Owners (1972), a play by Caryl Churchill. The owner of a butcher’s shop, Clegg, is talking to a customer, Worseley, about the job and his family life. Text D (pages 19 – 20) is an extract from a transcript of customers (A, B and C) chatting in a village shop.

Compare the two texts in detail, commenting on the ways in which they reflect the nature of talk in real life and the representation of talk in literature.

You should refer in your answer to:
• the significance of context and situation
• how attitudes and values are conveyed
• interactional features
•any other relevant matters.

Answers may include the following:

The significance of context and situation

• each situation is linked with a shop or a shop-related situation (Text C butcher’s shop; one unnamed customer followed by Worseley, friend and customer; Text D is associated with encounter in village shop, presumably general store; speakers know each other and chat about local events)
• genre of service encounter initiating factor in both texts (Text C includes a purchase by nameless customer, but author’s main purpose in using the genre is to establish character, provide information, set up plot/action via gossip/exchange of information; character’s purposes phatic and social: Text D consists of gossip about local events and people associated with a location where service encounters normally take place – purposes phatic and social, including co-operative information-sharing;)
• information about situation and participants provided (Text C planned revelation of character and action e.g. Clegg dominant, ironic, prone to black humour; unhappy in marriage; Marion’s character also revealed by Clegg’s description; Worseley something of a stooge – key question ‘Are you serious?’: Text D unplanned length of turn reveals dominant personality and context of conversation; A with B in support and C making random prompts until line 24 when C’s joke takes off and C acquires conversational dominance; mutually supportive discussion)

How attitudes and values are conveyed

• lexical choice/use of collocations (Text C lexical fields of butchery /meat/purchasing; business; death by accident or murder/crime detection; Clegg’s negative view of women ‘you ladies’ ‘old cow’ ‘She can stand...in a woman’; collocations ‘magnetic personality’ ‘at all costs’ ‘unarmed combat’; echoes of other registers ‘I dwell on murder day and night’; Text D lexical field of village/country life ‘chicken farm’ ‘geese’ ‘hedges and ditches’; collocation ‘not a feather out of place’
• topic of exchange/agenda-setting determined by Clegg in Text C; in Text D topic initiated by A but taken over by C
• figurative language (Text C virtually none except cliché/metaphor ‘magnetic personality’: Text D similarly lacking except possible nick-name ‘Russell the Brussell’)
• descriptive language (Text C describes physical objects, Clegg’s feelings, Marion’s personality and behaviours; narrates seaside episode: Text D predominantly narrative – description of action and of behaviour of ‘this bloke’)
• evaluative/expressive language (Text C full of expressive language ranging from ‘nice rump steak’ to ‘abominate’: Text D humourous expressiveness ‘right pair’ ‘scavenging’ ‘funniest’ ‘wonderful’ ‘really good – positive evaluation)
• rhetorical devices (Text C – whole premise of proposed murder hyperbolic though treated in mod of litotes; repetition; antithesis; Text D uses suspenseful narrative as way of creating dramatic tension)
•syntactic features (Text C full of short sentences, phrases, clauses, often ellipted becoming more complex as Clegg explains himself; syntactic parallelism ‘if a lamb’s a pet...’: Text D – sentences and clauses incomplete or simple/compound structures)
• grammatical features (Text C non SE usage from Worseley ‘give us a chop’ ‘said you was closing down’ ‘them three houses’; emphasis on dynamic verbs and verbs of mental process; Text D many verbs using continuous aspect – predominantly dynamic verbs; some non-SE)
•tone/mood (Text C black humour; Text D comic narrative)

Interactional features

• non-fluency features (Text C crafted hence nnff not required unless used as means of characterisation – not appropriate for Clegg or Worseley: Text D multiple instances of normal non-fluency features – hesitation, repetitions, incomplete utterances)
• discourse structures/features (Text C starts with implied adjacency pair characteristic of service encounter genre; then variants on IRF/adjacency pairs throughout: Clegg uses tag questions in first half; ellipsis: Text D collaborative narrative with some adjacency pairs)
• politeness strategies (Text C only seen in initial phatic exchange: Text D collaborative narrative focus of passage not individual face)
• shared knowledge (Text C both Clegg and Worseley close to Marion and world of shop/business: Text D – all speakers know local area/people well)
• turn-taking (Text C equal turn-taking till Clegg moves into confessional mode: in Text D balance/length of turn shifts from A to C)
• back channel behaviour (Text C Worseley supportive but also introduces topics/responses: Text D back-channel support typical of collaborative exchanges)
• address terms/terms of reference (Text C ‘dear’ ‘you ladies’ ‘old cow’: Text D ‘the bloke’ ‘that chappie’)
• register/idiolect (Text C informal register but Clegg more varied ranging from casual/phatic ‘nice lamb chop’ to complex ‘abominate’ ‘in happier times’; Worseley uses more hedges and vague language ‘mind you’ ‘all right’ ‘a bit’ and colloquialism ‘kiddy’ ‘insides’: Text D plenty of hedging ‘I tell you what’ ‘and then’ ‘ I thought oh aye’ ‘or something’ ‘what’s his name’ ‘you know’) Any other relevant matters
• language functions/purposes (Text C phatic, transactional, informational, expressive: Text D phatic, social co-operative, performative, expressive)
• sounds patterning (Text C author shows strong sense of rhythms of casual conversation, especially when collocation, cliché, vague language being used: in Text D, A particularly fluent if expansive voices in conversation with strong sense of narrative rhythms)
• power relations (power imbalance in Text C – Clegg sets agenda and topic, though Worseley does introduce new topics; no significant interruptions or overlaps: in Text D power is shared and interruptions/overlaps are acceptable part of collaborative narrative)
• gender issues (Text C is an exchange between men: it is likely that Text D is a conversation between women, but collaborative casual conversation can also take place between men)