Literary Discourse And Conversation Analysis: A Study Of Turn-taking Principles In Toni Morrison’s God Help The Child.
Keywords:
Literary Discourse, Conversation Analysis, Turn-taking, Topic control, Identity constructionAbstract
The Bourgeoning research in Discourse and Conversation Analysis has expanded its scope to literary studies and literary discourse. Indeed, the analysis of literary works as an organised discourse by looking at language’s formal features and its functional significance promises to yield productive and interesting interpretations of literary texts. This paper, therefore, aims to analyze three main conversational exchanges from Toni Morrison’s God Help the Child (2015) by using Conversation Analysis. It draws specifically on turn-taking and topic control principles developed by Emanuel Schegloff, Harvey Sacks, and Gail Jefferson in order to examine identity construction and how to explain how the protagonist constructs her identity and moves from being a “child” to being an “adult.” The protagonist process of identity construction is made visible through conversational interactions. Hence, the examination of turn-taking and topic control in these exchanges support the other narrative techniques used by the writer and further informs the interpretations of the text.
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