The linguistic construction of character relations in TV drama [Elektronische Ressource] : doing friendship in Sex and the City / vorgelegt von Claudia Bubel

The linguistic construction of character relations in TV drama:
Doing friendship in Sex and the City














Dissertation
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines
Doktors der Philosophie
der Philosophischen Fakultäten
der Universität des Saarlandes


vorgelegt von
Claudia Bubel

aus Ludwigshafen am Rhein




Saarbrücken, 2006






























Dekan: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Karl-Heinz Ohlig
Berichterstatter: Univ.-Prof. Dr. Neal R. Norrick, Univ.-Prof. Dr. Erich Steiner, Prof.
Dr. Janet Holmes (Wellington)
Tag der letzten Prüfungsleistung: 03.11.2005















To my father






















Friends are the family
we choose for ourselves.
(Edna Buchanan)





*CONTENTS

List of tables......................................................................................................... viii
List of figures ....................................................................................................... viii
Transcription conventions.................................................................................... viii
Acknowledgements.............................................................................................. xii
Abstract (English)................................................................................................. xiii
Abstract (German) ............................................................................................... xiv


1 GENERAL INTRODUCTION................................................................................. 1

2 FRIENDSHIP ....................................................................................................... 8
2.1 Introduction......................................................................................... 8
2.2 Friendship as process.......................................................................... 12
2.3 Friendship between women................................................................ 20
2.4 Conclusion............................................................................................ 31


3 ANALYSING SCRIPTED TALK FROM SEX AND THE CITY:
DATA AND METHODS ....................................................................................... 34
3.1 Introduction 34
3.2 Sex and the City.................................................................................... 35
3.3 Dialogue in Sex and the City: function and form.............................. 41
3.4 Screen-to-face discourse ..................................................................... 46
3.4.1 Models of mediated discourse ......................................................... 46
3.4.2 A cognitive model of screen-to-face discourse................................ 50
3.4.2.1 The spectator as overhearer ................................................... 51
3.4.2.2 Overhearer design.................................................................. 55
3.5 Scripted dialogue and relationship impression formation .............. 59
3.6 Analyses at the character level........................................................... 63
3.6.1 The corpus ....................................................................................... 63
3.6.2 Methods ........................................................................................... 65
3.6.2.1 The Sex and the City characters as community of practice ... 65
3.6.2.2 An inclusive approach to discourse analysis ......................... 69
3.6.2.2.1 Ethnomethodological conversation analysis.................. 71
3.6.2.2.2 Membership categorisation analysis.............................. 72
3.6.2.2.3 Interactional sociolinguistics ......................................... 74
3.6.2.2.4 Face and politeness theory............................................. 78
3.7 Conclusion........................................................................................... 83


* The notes can be found at the end of each chapter.

4 DOING FRIENDSHIP THROUGH TALK................................................................. 89
4.1 Introduction......................................................................................... 89
4.2 Alignment patterns ............................................................................. 91
4.2.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 91
4.2.2 Alignments in human interaction..................................................... 91
4.2.3 Research on alignments in talk-in-interaction ................................. 99
4.2.4 Alignment practices......................................................................... 102
4.2.5 Alignment in multi-party conversation............................................ 109
4.2.6 Alignment patterns in Sex and the City........................................... 111
4.2.6.1 Implicit alignments................................................................ 112
4.2.6.2 Explicit alignments 131
4.2.7 Summary.......................................................................................... 136
4.3 “Charlotte sweetie” –
Doing friendship with familiar terms of address ........................... 139
4.3.1 Introduction...................................................................................... 139
4.3.2 Semantic categorisation and rules of address.................................. 140
4.3.3 Functions of nominal direct address................................................ 142
4.3.4 Direct address in Sex and the City................................................... 149
4.3.4.1 Distribution of familiar terms of address............................... 149
4.3.4.2 Local contexts of direct address............................................ 152
4.3.5 Dual alignments............................................................................... 173
4.3.6 The multivalence of direct address.................................................. 174
4.3.7 Summary.......................................................................................... 179
4.4 “What’s wrong?” –
Doing friendship with questions (and responses) ............................ 182
4.4.1 Why questions? ............................................................................... 182
4.4.2 How to define and study questions? ............................................... 185
4.4.3 Who uses questions when and to what ends? ................................. 190
4.4.4 How is friendship done with questions in Sex and the City? ......... 195
4.4.5 Are questions always friendly? ....................................................... 231
4.4.6 Summary.......................................................................................... 240
4.5 Conclusion ........................................................................................... 243

5 GENERAL CONCLUSION AND OUTLOOK............................................................ 253

REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 266





List of tables

Table 1: Transcription conventions
Table 2: Users of terms of endearment
Table 3: Users of first name address
Table 4: Recipients of terms of endearment
Table 5: Recipients of first name address
Table 6: Users of familiar terms of address
Table 7: Recipients of familiar terms of address


List of figures

Figure 1: Cover of Time magazine, August 28, 2000
Figure 2: Layering in TV drama
Figure 3: The participation framework
Figure 4: A model of screen-to-face discourse
Figure 5: Alignments and social relationships
Figure 6: Question functions


Transcription conventions

My transcriptions follow the conventions established by Dressler and Kreuz (2000).
Their model system is based on a survey of various transcription conventions for
discourse analytical purposes.

she's out. Period shows falling tone in the preceding element
oh yeah? Question mark shows rising tone in the preceding element.
nine, ten. Comma indicates a level, continuing intonation.
DAMN Capitals show heavy stress or indicate that speech is louder than
surrounding discourse.
°dearest° Utterances spoken more softly than the surrounding discourse are framed
by degree signs.
viii
says "oh" Double quotes mark speech set off by a shift in the speaker's voice.
(2.0) Numbers in parentheses indicate timed pauses.