Finegan Chapter 9 readings

This week’s readings were extremely interesting and I found myself analyzing all of the speech acts I perform in any given day and what they mean. I also began thinking of my relationships with other interlocutors and what that meant.

A few key themes came up when I was reading that I would like to take extra note of. First, when the Finegan book talked about turn-taking and pausing I got to think of one of my close friends and how she signals it is my turn to talk. She habitually says “You know”. After thinking more about this I realized she also used that term for a pause when thinking about the subject. It is so nice to be able to put a real life example to the terms explained in the book.

Next, I thought the Chinese greetings sounded interesting and quite different from English. The whole concept of, “Have you eaten rice yet?” is a different one but I liked reading about the different greetings around the world.

Another interesting point brought up in the Finegan book had teaching implications written all over it! The concept of the pause between interlocutors is quite different among cultures. The book gave the example of Athabaskan Indians and the waiting time of about one and half seconds. That seemed fairly long to me and I think I would be considered rude in their culture. In fact, at times I am sure I am considered rude in this culture. The concept of the waiting time being linked to culture is important for teachers to note, especially E.L.L. teachers. Patience with wait time could go a long way and present students with a greater opportunity to engage in classroom discussions.

Finally, when the book talked about turn taking and pausing, I thought of a HORRIBLE first date I had about 4 years ago. I went to a baseball game with him, (Let’s call him Bob). Well, I would ask Bob a question and I would wait for a response, but there was none! I would then say something like, “This hot dog is really good!” and still nothing! I tried every cue (subconsciously, of course) to get him to contribute to the conversation and nothing worked. I think it is so interesting how people across the world have the implicit knowledge about the complex structure of conversations! Needless to say I did not go on a second date with the guy I say was like talking to a brick wall. J