Trevino 1

Sarah Trevino
4/4/15
Discourse Analysis
Analytic Essay Topic 1

In a piece of discourse it is imperative to be aware of signals in a

conversation. Signals can tell you when someone is trying to start a
conversation, end a conversation, or change topics, among other things.
One type of signal a person may use is an open/close signal. In Evelyn
Hatchs book Discourse and Language Education she discusses the usage
of Channel open/close signals. These are ways to show that
communication is about to begin and then begins, and ways to show that it is
about to end and then ends. (Hatch p.8) In other words, these are ways that
people across any language open and/or close a conversation or topic.
Often open/close signals are culturally understood, which can cause
problems for 2nd language users when they are entering or exiting a
conversation. For example, if an English speaker is having a casual
conversation with someone in a room full of people, if one person says
something neutral and the other laughs or responds neutrally, that can be
one way to end a conversation and move onto another conversation with a
different person. However, as a 2nd language user of ASL I cannot say for a
fact that this is culturally an appropriate way to end a conversation in ASL.
Another example, in English when someone comes up or walks by and says
Hi howre you? that does not always mean they are interested in how you
are doing, or even expecting a response. However, I have never once
experienced this occurring in ASL where a signer asks how someone is doing
and expects nothing more than a wave or a nod in response. Effective and
thorough opening!
When beginning a piece of discourse, the speaker needs a way to
indicate that they are beginning, aside from the obvious fact that they just
start talking or signing. There is a certain level of formality in holding a
conversation, or discussing something that exists. One must bring the
listener (Listener in the case of ASL) into the topic. In the Teddy Bear
video, its telling us the story of Theodore Roosevelts famous hunting trip (It
was the fall of 1902). Similarly, in See Once, See Never Again. Its the story
about their trip to Europe (LOOK-BACK 1982 MY WIFE US-TWO FLY-TO

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EUROPE) the two speakers (signer) bring the Listener in by taking them
back to a time and place. In Closed Captioning and Early Intervention
however, which are persuasive pieces, they do not use this approach. They
start out by introducing the topic What do you think of when you hear the
word accessibility? (Closed Caption 00:00:22:3-00:00:26:390) and POINT
DEAF ITSELF DISABLE UPSET WORRIED CAN'T (Early Intervention
00:00:17:902-00:00:22:796). Because of the different approaches these
pieces used, they had to use different types of introductions. But it was the
way the speakers (signers) opened their pieces of discourse that established
that it was an opening. The Teddy Bear and See Once brought their
audiences in with a story. They got their listener (listener) to stay to hear
the rest of the story. What happens with Roosevelt or the man and his wife?
The more persuasive Closed Captioning and Early Intervention bring you
in with strong opinions (DISABLEEarly Intervention) effective explanation
of the structure and function, with relevant examples. The 3 required coocuring features are missing and are required to be discussed and described
In the Teddy Bear video the speaker ends his full speech with,
Thank you, as does the speaker in Closed Captioning. In English, we
know the existence of Thank You at the end of a presentation indicates the
end, the time to clap, the time to get up. Its a usage of fairly formal words
rather than merely The End or Okay, bye. However, in the ASL videos
See Once, See Never Again and Early Intervention the signers seem to
end without any kind of signal. It appears that the signer slows down or hold
a sign for an extended period to indicate an ending in See Once, See Never
Again.then there is a signal here. The signer finishes the sign FINISH at
00:5:53, but it is held until the video zooms away, at 00:5:56, another three
seconds later. What is the third feature required for this function? However,
Early Intervention does not possess these same features. She ends at
00:6:55-00:6:58 with THAT LOSS L-I-N-K HOSPITAL, meaning nonexistent
deaf models are the missing link at the hospitals. In English, when you are
ending a sentence, you tend to slow down or, as previously mentioned, use
some word to indicate an end. However, in this piece she seems to state her
point and its over. This is not entirely the case though. Yes she states her
point and the video ends. But in a different manner, she begins the wrap up
at 00:6:26 when she starts to discuss a wide range solution to the issue at
hand. Instead of focusing on what the doctors are saying to their patients, or
patients parents, she uses information about introducing deaf culture to the
patients #IF HOSPITAL DISCUSS CULTURAL #ASPECTSKNOW THAT DEAF
PEOPLE ALL AROUND IN HIGHER ED and ending with a sentence that seems

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to solve the question/problem she began with (POINT DEAF ITSELF DISABLE
WORRIED UPSET CANT) which is THAT LOSS #LINK #AT HOSPITAL. It is this
connection from the beginning to the end sentence that created the closing
in this piece of discourse. agreed! Astute observation! However 3 specific
features are required for this analysis-what are they?
Across languages there is one thing that must exist, and that is
opening and closing signals. There must be a way for the users of that
language to be able to signal and recognize when they or another user of the
language want to begin or end a piece of discourse. This is created through
speed, style, word choice, and in some cases--how long you hold a sign,
among many other ways of demonstration. It is without the existence of such
signals that we could create a very confusing and misunderstood message.
Sarah,
This is an interesting approach it is well organized and clearly
presented! It appears that you have addressed some of the various details
of the assignment, but many of the required features are missing from the
examples, which missed the overall purpose-analyzing the same 3 features
across the examples in each video. Its difficult to see patterns or examples
with these various examples addressed separately, when the purpose is to
analyze co-occurrence. Please analyze all 3 features together for each
example in future essays.
I also note that the ELAN files range from incomplete to blank. None
has the required 4 tiers described in the instructions, and one is completely
blank. The complete ELAN transcript was provided for these video, so it is
unclear why there would be nothing in the file. Please let me know if I am
missing something in the ELAN files.
Grade: 12/15

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Sources:
Hatch, Evelyn Marcussen. "1: Channel Open/Close Signals." Discourse and Language
Education. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1992. 8. Print.

VIMEO-Teddy Bear
VIMEO-Does Closed Captioning Still Serve
VIMEO-See Once See Never Again
VIMEO-Early Intervention