倍数Stylistic Analysis of an Extract of Conversation in Desperat

2021年1月21日发(作者：entirety)










Stylistic Analysis of an Extract of Conversation in
Desperate Housewives





































































英语
10-1
班

何琳玉















Stylistic Analysis of an Extract of Conversation in
Desperate Housewives



















































Conversation
is
the
most
commonly
used
kind
of
language.
It
has
its
distinct
stylistic
features.
The
material
for
analysis
is
an
extract
from
the
Desperate
Housewives
which is a humorous teleplay. There are four major housewives, namely,
Bree, Lynette, Susan and Gaby. Bree seeks for a perfect life but makes her family be
disgusted
with
her.
Lynette
is
an
all
day
long
housewife
who
used
to
have
a
very
successful
career
and
now
a
baby-sitter
of
her
four
naughty
boys.
And
Susan
is
a
woman who is hurt by her ex- husband Carl and is trying to lead a new life of herself
and
trying
to
find
someone
really
nice.
Gaby
is
a
brilliant
model
and
is
really
captivating. The truth is she’s not happy with her life and feels disappointed with her
husband.
This
extract
is
mainly
about
the
lives
of
the
four
housewives
and
their
families after killing a person on a party.
We
analyze
this
extract
on
the
phonological,
lexical,
syntactic
and
semantic
levels.
1.

At the Phonological Level
Phonology refers to speech sounds in a language. Here, the main focus is put on
elision, pause, and normal non-fluency. Conversation can be divided into two major
kinds: spontaneous conversation and non- spontaneous conversation. Conversations in
teleplays
belong
to
the
latter
one.
Words
to
be
spoken
sound
very
natural
and
spontaneous, but in fact they have been delicately edited by script writers.

1.1 Elision
Elision is one of the distinct phonological style markers in conversation, which
is
frequently used by the speakers involved.
It
refers to
the phenomenon of leaving
out the sound or part of a word in pronunciation.

In real conversation, what people concern most is whether the information has
been conveyed, instead of catching every word clearly. Sometimes, due to the quick
tempo in conversation and the liaison of pronunciations as well as lengthening, certain
sounds
in
two
words
are
elided
to
form
a
shortened
word.
In
the
extract
of
the
Desperate Housewives,
the most frequent elisions are
wanna(want to), gonna(going
to
),
don’t,
I’m,
you’re,
that’s,
I’ll,
there’s,
couldn’t,
I’ve
.
Those
elisions
can
perfectly indicate the informality of the conversation as well as intimate relationships
among these four friends and their families.

1.2 Pause
Pause
refers
to
the
brief
interruption
of
the
articulatory
process
between
consecutive linguistic units. Pause can also be seen as a signal of ending though unit.
For example:
-Chuck: Terrific. I found a dead body.
Oh, I'm... I'm sorry.
You don't wanna hear about this.
-Bree: No, I do. Your work is fascinating.