Excerpt from a Transcript of a conversation

Participants: Ruby(R) and Sam (S)

R: Ok right(.) and then at the bottom left hand corner

S: yeah

R: draw like a square/

                         S: /yeah

                        R: / but don’t fill in the top that’s facing the circle/

                          

  S: / how big’s the square?

R: Quite small(.) kind of (2) actually medium(.)

S: Ok (1)

R: And then at the top of the square there’s kind of like a sideway’s ‘S’(.) that’s like along the top of the square. (2) If that makes sense.

Analysis of Transcript:

In the middle of the transcript we can see Sam interrupting Ruby whilst she is describing the next shape that Sam has to draw. The interruption is indicated with ‘/,’ Ruby however talks over this interruption which is also indicated with yet another slash. This is known as a back channel, and is a co-operative form of interruption; this is because Sam is not really interrupting Ruby but is talking under her instead. This can show that the speakers have a good relationship, because by saying ‘yeah’ Sam is encouraging Ruby to continue with her description and is re-assuring her that her description is understandable. We can also see that they have a good relationship because Ruby does not stop with her description when Sam interrupts her. When Ruby continues with her description Sam interrupts her with an interrogative: ‘how big’s the square?’ From this we can gather that Ruby was not being descriptive enough in her description which resulted in Sam having to ask for more detail. To answer Sam’s question Ruby replies with: ‘ Quite small(.) kind of (2) actually medium.’ The pause between the first and second sentence is not significant and it just shows us the rhythm of Ruby’s speech. However the 2 second pause is significant, from the long pause we can guess that Ruby is re-evaluating what she has said, as well as thinking about what to say next. We can see that after the pause Ruby changes her first answer, which shows us that she was re-evaluating her answer and after finding it to be incorrect she chose to change it. Sam then replies with an ‘ok’ which could be to show that she has taken into consideration what Ruby has said. The short pause might be due to Ruby giving Sam time to draw. The last sentence shows Ruby having a 2 second pause before saying ‘if that makes sense.’ The pause again could be Ruby giving Sam time to draw what she has just described. However it could also be her, re-evaluating her description of the shape which is what prompts her to say ‘if that makes sense,’ because she might have thought it might not have been very clear which is why she is asking for clarification from Sam.