- Title
- Some (more) features of conversation amongst women friends:
- Creator
- Hunt, Sally
- Date Issued
- 2009
- Date
- 2009
- Type
- text
- Type
- article
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/139149
- Identifier
- vital:37709
- Identifier
- DOI: 10.2989/16073610509486400
- Description
- This paper provides an analysis of a conversation between young women friends, which is analysed in terms of Coates’ (1988; 1997; 1999) work on the features of conversation amongst female friends. Coates identifies a number of features which, she says, are typical of conversation between (adult) female friends: a domestic setting, female participants, topics relating to people and feelings, and various formal features including smooth topic development, frequent minimal responses, supportive forms of simultaneous speech and epistemic modality (‘softening’ strategies, including tag questions) (Coates, 1988: 97). The overarching function, she claims, is one of solidarity-building and support: ‘the maintenance of good social relationships’ and ‘the reaffirming and strengthening of friendship’ (Coates, 1988: 98). While this last feature, the function of conversation between women friends, is borne out by the extract to be analysed, the participants in my study utilise different strategies to accomplish it and, in several respects, do not utilise the other features Coates claims to be typical. The research shows, through a detailed analysis of a nineminute extract from a conversation between three women friends, that the features assumed by Coates to be central conversational strategies in the building of female friendship are not the only ways for women to accomplish this function.
- Format
- 14 pages
- Format
- Language
- English
- Relation
- Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies
- Relation
- Hunt, S., 2005. Some (more) features of conversation amongst women friends. Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies, 23(4), pp.445-458
- Relation
- Southern African Linguistics and Applied Language Studies volume 23 number 4 445 458 November 2009 1607-3614
- Rights
- Publisher
- Rights
- Use of this resource is governed by the terms and conditions of the Taylor and Francis Online Terms and Conditions Statement (https://www.tandfonline.com/terms-and-conditions)
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Collections
Hunt, Sally Ann (Dr)
Gender Action Forum (GENACT)
RU Department of Linguistics and Applied Language Studies
SDG 05. Gender Equality
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