Social Interaction and Conversation Analysis “Divorced”
Answer the questions below in relation to the video data ‘Divorced’. The video and transcript are available on the VLE, under the tab for ‘assessment’.
There are two tasks to complete. The first task is a transcription exercise and is equivalent to 200 words (but we will not be counting the actual words used). The second involves answering analytic questions and the word limit for this section is 1300 words (we will be counting these words).
In the data, Ben tells Ann a story about one of his secondary school teachers who had a PhD. There follows a discussion of the title ‘Ms’ in which least three understandings are displayed:
That Ms denotes a particular sexual identity (“lesbian bitch”, line 36);
That Ms indicates that a woman is divorced (lines 39, 41, 49 and 52-59);
That Ms is used by women who think it’s wrong to have to declare their marital status (i.e., by being called ‘Miss’ or ‘Mrs’) (lines 42-43 and 45).
Initially, however, Ben tells a story about his teacher in which none of these understandings are made explicit. Instead, he takes for granted that Ann will understand what he means by ‘wrestling with Ms’ (line 30). It becomes clear, however, that Ann does not share his understanding.
Task 1: Transcription exercise (equivalent to 200 words)
Add to the transcript the hand gestures that Ann uses when she explains her previous understanding of Ms (lines 52-59)
Guidance on transcribing gestures
The first thing to remember is that gesture production is structured. It has three main elements: the preparation, the stroke, and the recovery. These are transcribed with different symbols and are aligned with the coinciding talk or gap/pause with a “|” symbol (the ‘alignment symbol’). See the key to the gesture symbols below and for illustrative purposes, see Reed, D. J. (2020). Touch and talk: Detailing embodied experience in the music masterclass. Social Semiotics, 30(5), 625–645. https://doi.org/10.1080/10350330.2019.1631431
The second thing to remember is that the ‘stroke’ (the visible gesture-like movement) is not detailed in the transcript. Don’t try to fit a descriptive gloss into the transcript itself. Rather, you would do this in the analytic text. Instead, denote the presence and relative length of the stroke. That is – for this assignment – simply align the symbols with the vocal line (in other formats, each symbol instance would relate to one-tenth of a second and hence the number of gesture element symbols might be different to the number of characters in the vocal line).
The participant identifier for the gesture (and other embodied actions) is inset by one space from the participant identifier for the talk to make it seeable and readable.
Do not add additional line numbers to the transcript. Simply add the gesture transcription line below the relevant talk line by placing your cursor at the end of the verbal line and hitting return. This will add a blank line and move the numbers down.
Finally, recognise that the left-hand margin has been moved. If you cut and paste the transcript into a new word document, it will carry over this formatting.
Task 2: Analytic questions (1300 words)
Paying close attention to the detail of the recorded interaction, answer the following questions about Ben and Ann’s discussion:
What evidence is there that Ben expects that Ann will understand what he means by ‘wrestling with Ms’?
What evidence is there across lines 29-37 that Ann may not understand what Ben means by ‘wrestling with Ms’?
How does this misunderstanding become explicit across lines 39-45?
How does Ann convey her old understanding of ‘Ms’ to Ben across lines 49-59)? Be sure to describe what she does verbally and with her hands (see lines 52-59) and how these interactional resources work together.
