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Using Music as a Turn in Conversation in a Lesson

2013; Wiley; Volume: 35; Issue: 35 Linguagem: Inglês

1551-6709

Sam Duffy, Patrick G. T. Healey,

Phonetics and Phonology Research

Using Music as a Turn in Conversation in a Lesson Sam Duffy (s.duffy@eecs.qmul.ac.uk) Patrick G. T. Healey (ph@eecs.qmul.ac.uk) Cognitive Science Research Group School of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Queen Mary University of London London, E1 4NS, United Kingdom Abstract Music is sometimes compared to language as a system of com- munication, however this comparison is usually at a generic formal, cultural or social level. This paper explores this anal- ogy at the detailed level of interaction: to what extent can mu- sical contributions act as conversational turns? We explore this question through an ethnographic study of music lessons. We describe a new transcription notation designed to capture the interactional details of musical contributions. Using this nota- tion we show that although the ultimate objective of a lesson is development of musical performance, the detailed structure of the musical contributions depends on their interactional or- ganisation. We show that musical contributions display inter- actional structure at the turn and sub-turn level and are closely integrated with other verbal and non-verbal cues as part of the unfolding conversation. Keywords: music tuition; conversational turn; interaction; re- pair Introduction Comparisons of music and speech are well documented, for example Feld and Fox (1994) critically review a broad inter- disciplinary collection of anthropological work on the rela- tionship of music to language. Besson, Chobert, and Marie (2011) take a cognitive approach, considering evidence for the bidirectional influence of musical expertise on speech pro- cessing and of linguistic expertise on the processing of har- monic sounds. Zatorre, Belin, and Penhune (2002) show that whilst each auditory cortex, in the left and right hemispheres of the brain, has been shown to favour processing of either music or speech, this complimentary specialisation should “be seen as arising from a single underlying principle rather than being unrelated phenomena”. In this paper we look at the relationship between music and speech in social interaction through the study of instrumental music lessons. We describe a new transcription notation de- signed to capture the interactional details of musical contri- butions. This is used to investigate the extent to which musi- cal utterances produced during a lesson act as conversational turns. Initially we will summarise some of the characteris- tics and rules which govern turn taking in conversation. We will then look at the different, context-dependant roles that music can play in different types of interaction. We will use an ethnographic study of clarinet lessons to provide examples of the interplay between music and speech in a pedagogical setting What is a Turn? In conversation, the participants manage their exchange of units of speech. Sacks, Schegloff, and Jefferson (1974) set out rules describing the mechanics of how this is achieved, iden- tifying dialogue as a turn organised activity. In order to inves- tigate any turn taking system, be it playing a game of cards or managing a queue, there is a need to define what constitutes a turn. In conversation analysis, the building block for turns is the turn construction unit (TCU), which can be formed from a single word or utterance, a sentence, or a phrase. As one speaker approaches the possible completion of a TCU, another speaker may recognise this as a transition-relevance place (TRP) where they can take the floor. However this is an opportunity rather than an obligation. It may be that the cur- rent speaker starts a new TCU and continues with their turn. Since it is possible to predict when turns are heading towards completion, the next speaker can often start their turn with- out a perceivable gap in the conversation, or even start be- fore the current speaker has finished, causing a brief overlap. Whilst we do not usually talk at the same time as someone else for prolonged periods, brief overlaps like this at transi- tion points are frequent. To investigate these rules in action, a set of notations was proposed for use in conversation analysis transcripts (for example see Figure 1). Figure 1: Conversation analysis notation (Sacks et al., 1974) Non-verbal interaction The gestures which accompany speech are an important scaf- fold to conversation as well as an integral part of interaction. Bavelas, Chovil, Lawrie, and Wade (1992) explain that con- versation is not made up of alternating monologues but is an interactive social system, and show that interactive gestures are essential in maintaining conversation. Cassell and Tho- risson (1999) describe the importance of envelope feedback, non-verbal accompaniments to speech such as beat gestures, gaze and head turns. Engle (1998) demonstrate that when gesture and speech are consistent with respect to the underly- ing referent, they are understood as composite signals rather than separate channels. Clark and Krych (2004) show the im-