DOI: 10.4025/actascilangcult.v31i2.

6317

The role of context for the development of conversation and the

construction of meanings in cartoons
Daniela Gomes de Araújo Nóbrega
Departamento de Letras e Artes, Universidade Estadual da Paraíba, Av. das Baraúnas, 351, 58109-753, Bodocongó, Campina
Grande, Paraíba, Brazil. E-mail: gomesnobrega@hotmail.com

ABSTRACT. This article discusses the role context plays in the development of any oral
interaction. It is, thus, in light of the Interactional Sociolinguistic area that I analyze a
cartoon of a son-father dialogue to uncover the implicit meanings derived from contextual
information. The analysis showed that, although the context of situation itself might
determine the verbal and nonverbal interlocutors’ choices, such interlocutors can also
(re)create the context to fulfill their communicative intentions.
Key words: interaction, conversational analysis, dialogue.

RESUMO. O papel do contexto no desenvolvimento da conversação em cartoons.

Este artigo discute o papel do contexto no desenvolvimento de qualquer interação oral. É,
portanto, à luz da área Sociolinguística Interacional, que analiso um cartoon de um diálogo
entre um pai e um filho no intuito de desvelar significados implícitos derivados de
informações contextuais. A análise mostrou que, embora o contexto da situação possa
determinar as escolhas verbais e não-verbais dos interlocutores, tais participantes podem
também (re)criar o contexto a fim de cumprir suas intenções comunicativas.
Palavras-chave: interação, análise da conversação, diálogo.

Introduction
Introduction the conversational functions and rules. But also attempts
to understand the way such rules are socially adapted
Which structural features are encountered in and co-constructed in the course of oral interaction
most daily conversations? And how are ideologies (SACKS et al., 1978; LEVINSON, 2007).
represented in institutional talkings? These and Considering all factors that contribute for the
other questions concerning oral interaction are what development of a conversation, it is the objective of this
lead pragmatic studies whose objective, among article to ponder the role of context in oral interaction.
others, is to discuss the organization of practice as Initially, I define context and present its features from a
turn-taking, sequence organization, repair socio-interactionist point of view (KRAMSCH, 2001;
organization and overall structural organization of ARMENGAUD, 2006; KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI,
episodes of interaction according to specific contexts 2006; LEVINSON, 2007). As so, I take a strip of a
of situation. cartoon, of a son-father conversation (Figure 1), as to
However, we cannot merely present such a discuss how text and context can (re)construct both the
definition of pragmatics as so since the matter of process of production and interpretation of meanings.
discussion is of the act and ‘art’ of communication as
a whole in which the verbal and non-verbal behavior Defining context
come into play. To communicate initially implies
interaction between two participants, and how a Context can be regarded as the mainstream of
group of actions and reactions encountered in that any episode of face-to-face interaction as it provides
specific situation are interrelated in the negotiation the physical domain of interaction, i.e. the situation
of meanings (MARCUSCHI, 1991; GOFFMAN, of a communicative event. It is by reference of
2002). context that we can find adequate linguistic, social,
The way the actions and reactions are mutually psychological, cultural and attitudinal types of
organized in the course of interaction, and how the support to perform in specific communicative
contextual information can interfere in this dialogic events. However, according to the socio-
process, has been the focus of conversational analysis, a interactionist view of language, the context only
field of research within Pragmatic studies. Its objective is exists in the way of representations which are made
twofold. It not only structurally describes and classifies by the interlocutors. Not only the context itself can
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture Maringá, v. 31, n. 2, p. 183-187, 2009
184 Nobrega

lead toward what is going to be said or not in a wedding gifts moments before the wedding occurs, for
conversation but also the interlocutors can be in the Greek, gifts are left at the very moment of wedding
charge of deciding the roles they perform and the near the church entrance. This example might provide
consequent linguistic and non-linguistic choices reasons to show cultural differences in wedding
during the interaction (GOFFMAN, 2002; ceremonies, and the consequent actions and reactions
KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI, 2006). these ceremonies demand from the participants involved
in. In other words, the context of culture involves the
Context
Context of culture and context of situation social practice of one particular community used to
sharing appropriate verbal and non-verbal behavior
Our everyday lives are conducted in situations in (KRAMSCH, 2001; BUTT et al., 1998).
which are part of our context of culture, or outer Based on an specific context of situation we can
context, and how we signal, perceive and interpret other decide on what sort of style should be used, if it is formal
people’s meanings – as we share the same background or informal, and which specific verbal and nonverbal
knowledge (KRAMSCH, 2001). Moreover, during any elements should go along with it. In conferences,
conversational episode, we often choose, consciously or lectures, court judgments or in any institutions the type
unconsciously, appropriate lexical and grammatical of verbal and nonverbal behavior goes along with the
language elements accordingly to the context of situation formality level of relationship which the context
we are involved in. demands. On the other hand, in daily chats among
Beyond the linguistic elements needed for language friends, in family talks and at pubs, the type of talk is
use, the extralinguistic levels of contexts, namely context different since the informal context doesn’t demand to a
of culture and of situation, offer guidelines for the more sophisticated use of language.
interlocutors to perceive and shape context accordingly Let’s consider, in the dialogue below (Figure 1)
through their verbal and non-verbal behavior. In this between the father and the son, that it is the son who
sense, language and context relation is interdependent. It asks to use the father’s car for a while. To achieve such
is based on the context of situation and the context of request, the son initially might think that would be hard
culture that the participants of any interactional event to get it, as probably he sees himself in a inferior position
can share their values, expectations, cultural beliefs, i.e. to his father – the father has the car, he doesn’t. Because
their background knowledge in order to achieve of this initial expectation, the son’s non-verbal behavior
harmony during conversations (WARDHAUGH, signals hesitation, doubt on his father’s reaction. As his
1985). father’s non-verbal behavior reacts differently from what
The context of situation guides the interlocutors of the son initially expected, the course of interaction
social events to talk on the fact as it is, to establish levels turned into in another way. That was established the
of relationships and to choose appropriate text to fulfill context of situation and of culture for the rest of the
the communicative objective (BUTT et al., 1998). dialogue, though.
These ways of looking into the context of situation is
what Halliday calls Field, Tenor and Mood, respectively. The dimensions of context
The field has to do with the discursive topic itself, the
tenor includes the interlocutors’ involvement and the To the socio-interactionism, or the socio-pragmatic
level of relationship among them and the mood is about view of language, the discourse can only be produced
the channel of communication, i.e. if it is through oral or and interpreted in the light of concrete communicative
written discourse to be used, and which adequate style of situations. This means that context emerges once the
language should be adopted. It is, then, the context of interlocutors set the scene of conversation, establish
situation that allows the interlocutors to predict their grammatical and lexical choices for the interaction and
lexico - grammatical choices which, in turn, signs the attempt to speculate about expectations raised in the
syntax and the meanings needed to achieve the dialogue speaker and the effects s/he wants to cause on the
itself. listener. These are called contextual features of
The context of culture is the outer context in which communication. According to Searle (apud
the context of situation is inserted. It deals with shared ARMENGAUD, 2006), meaning is only possible to be
knowledge, beliefs and social values among the conceived, of any sentence, by means of previous
interlocutors from the same culture. This includes the propositions also namely contextual propositions which
agreement of social conventions from a specific event can be identified as presupposition, grammatical and
that only one community embraces. For example, a lexical references.
Greek marriage ceremony is socially organized Meaning in context, as so, if analyzed from a
differently from the Brazilian one. While in the Brazilian linguistic dimension, has to do with the co-text. The co-
ceremony the bride and the groom usually receive their text involves all those linguistic elements which precede
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture Maringá, v. 31, n. 2, p. 183-187, 2009
Context and conversation development in cartoons 185

or follow the dialogue itself and “that ensure the text’s conversations between friends. When the interlocutors
cohesion” (KRAMSCH, 2001, p. 35). Textual features have social roles determined by institutional places (e.g.:
which are common to serve as co-texts are the teacher-students college interaction), we have an
pronouns, deictic, the referents, parallelism, example of asymmetrical interaction.
substitutions and lexical referents, which are often in Both in the production and interpretation of spoken
accordance with the internal context of utterance – the language, as in the example I adopted for the analysis in
intentions, expectations, assumptions and the following section, the contextual information and its
presuppositions of the interlocutors (KRAMSCH, features serve to orient the verbal and non-verbal choices
2001). the interlocutor should select in the production and to
The linguistic dimension of context makes us identify the implicit meaning of the conversation in the
observe language from its structural organization, the interpretation. Therefore, we might say that the relation
initial perspective studied in conversational analysis between context and language is interdependent. The
(KERBRAT-ORECCHIONI, 2006). The use of context not only includes the interlocutors’ utterances
language can be seen from two ways. On one hand, that precede or follow the spoken sentences but also the
under the meaning view, it can be observed how the setting and time in which the conversation takes place,
topic is structurally organized and how it can be changed the participants’ background knowledge, the level of
in the course of an interaction. On the other hand, relationship established or constructed, their
under the form view, it is analyzed the structural assumptions on what to speak and how to carry on
organization of the turn-taking systems and the conversations and the rules of behavior which they tend
sequences of such turns in order to understand the to adopt in any interactional event (WARDHAUGH,
process of knowledge construction during conversations 1985). In a teacher-student college interaction, an
(TAVARES, 2007; LEVINSON, 2007). For example, in example of institutional interaction, teachers tend to
doctor-patient interaction in hospitals, the use of formal assume a more distant relationship towards the students
personal pronouns and politeness textual features probably because of the institutional role they represent
adequate to formal contexts of situations are recurrent. It in the classrooms. This is the case of a conditioned-
is the level of interpersonal relationship between the oriented interaction. When a friendly atmosphere
interlocutors that leads to the linguistic choices of a provided by the teacher breaks the institutional role, that
conversation. If a doctor and a patient are relatives, for is to say the formality among the students, we have a
instance, their way of talking completely differ from a transformed-oriented interaction (KERBRAT-
doctor and a patient that see each other for the very first ORECCHIONI, 2006). If the context provides rules of
time. adequate behavior to establish formality or informality
Because all aspects of language are interrelated levels of relationships, this will necessarily leads toward
within context, the linguistic dimension of context can the interlocutors’ verbal choices in conversations.
only be interpreted by reference of the social dimension. Therefore, in analyzing a conversational episode, the
That is, as to interpret what goes on in a conversational discourse analyst should be aware of the contextual
episode, we need to take into account the social roles of information which surrounds the dialogic game among
the interlocutors, when and where they are talking and the interlocutors as well as “the beliefs, values and
their level of relationship. To understand ‘who says what presuppositions that the interlocutors bring to the
to whom in what channel with what effect’, we need to interactional encounter” (KRAMSCH, 2001, p. 41). It is
observe the contextual information which surrounds the notion of shared knowledge among the
such conversational episode. interlocutors, which can be of ideological nature or not,
The social dimension of context refers to the social that context is constructed and the meaning-making
roles the interlocutors play in a face-to-face encounter process is possible to be uncovered.
and the consequent social variables which might In the following section, I discuss how the
interfere in the development of the interaction. The context plays its role in the development of a father-
topic discussed the type of relationship among the son dialogue (Figure 1). As so, I analyze to what
interlocutors, the form the message is sent and received, extent an specific context of situation contributes to
the setting and time of the conversational episode, and the interlocutors’ choices of verbal and nonverbal
the purpose to be achieved are what guide the social elements during interaction and its effect on the
dimension of conversations. In a teacher-student college construction of meaning in a conversational event.
interaction, for instance, the interaction among the
interlocutors seems to be more asymmetrical than Analyzing the strip
symmetrical (MARCUSCHI, 1991). When the
interlocutors play the same social role, we have the In order to discuss the relevant role context plays in
symmetrical interaction, the case of ordinary the development of a son-father dialogue below
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture Maringá, v. 31, n. 2, p. 183-187, 2009
186 Nobrega

(Figure 1), I take into account the topic organization, the father who decides what the son should do, who
the sequence of turns organization, the social roles listens to sons whenever they need. The tendency of
expected in the interaction by the interlocutors, the most turn-taking systems of this type of relationship
non-verbal elements used and the implicit purpose to indicates the father as the leading voice, guiding the
be achieved throughout the dialogue. It is also relevant development of the topic.
to mention the time and setting of the dialogue in The sequence of turns in this dialogue seems to be
order to clear out the expected level of relationship of a different type considering the role the father and the
between the participants and their type of conversation. son are adopting at that moment, providing as a result a
To start with, it can be inferred that we are dealing symmetric relation between them (MARCUSCHI,
with a son-father dialogue at their home place (Figure 1991). Probably, when a son asks a direct question to the
1). As shown in the cartoon (Figure 1), the father is father to do something, there is a yes or no answer
reading or working on his notebook and his son, following it along with some further comment or words
around his seven or eight years-old, is free to play. I can of advice from the father. In this case, the father seems to
infer that this dialogue takes place in the evening when be ignoring the son’s request by sounding ‘Uhum’
the son is not at school or during the weekend. These possibly meaning that whatever the request is, he seems
opposing purposes shown by the interlocutors; the not to be interested at all. As the cartoon shows, the Dad
father wants to work and the son wants to play, seem to is busy. By doing so, it can be inferred that the father
initially create the interlocutors’ verbal and nonverbal changes his social role in the dialogue as a person who
choices in the production and interpretation of this decides what the son has to do or not, making the son be
interaction. The language and the gestures used that in charge of his own decision. The sequence of turns,
surrounds the conversation will determine how the therefore, might represent two interpretations. To the
discursive topic goes on. It was established, thus, the father’s side, the lack of a yes or no question, he probably
context of situation. wants his son to see that he is busy and doesn’t want to
Another aspect to take into account is the use of the be disturbed. The prosody ‘Uhum’ might indicate that.
computer in this conversation and how it interferes in To the son’s side, the father’s reaction might mean that
the course of interaction (Figure 1). Nowadays, we can his request can be accepted.
assume that the computer used at home influence the Another feature that might deserve attention in this
ways the family members interact to each other. Either conversation is the non-verbal element: the gestures.
used for pleasure or work purposes, the computer is Gestures along with the linguistic element, which is the
usually managed by one person. As a result, the direct question used by the son, can reinforce the
individualism increases making the family members intentions and expectations of the interlocutor according
more distant from themselves for any conversational to the interlocutor’s response (GOFFMAN, 2002). In
encounter. This specific context of culture (the presence this case, the first son’s eye gesture seems to correspond
of the computer in family relations) seems, at first sight, to his uncertainty about his father’s reaction on his desire
to narrow down the type of relationship to be established to take the car for use. Once observing that his father
in the interactional episode. In the cartoon, the father was not attentive to his question ‘Can you lend me your
tends to assume this individual position, particularly car’, probably because of his father’s reply ‘Humm’, the
when expressing himself by saying ‘Humm’ when his boy’s eye gesture along with his smile take another
son approaches. It might be inferred, thus, that he position; of satisfaction as shown in the second picture.
doesn’t want to talk at that very moment and the
prosodic element gives emphasis to it.
Another aspect is the development of the discursive
topic. Initially, it might be said that the son is trying to
ask something to the father who seems to be busy,
possibly working or reading on his notebook (Figure 1).
As so, the son starts his speech by requesting ‘Dad, are www.tirasdoedu.com.br 2007 © DIRCEU VEIGA
you listening to me?’ (Figure 1) checking out his father’s Figure 1. Edi’s charges.
attention. In this question, the son might be expecting
his father to allow him or not for what he wants to say, What it follows in the last picture seems to be the
which is the topic of the whole conversation: to take his result of the real interlocutor’s perception (the son)
father’s car to use for a while in saying ‘Can you lend me according to the reactions provided by the other
your car?’(Figure 1) If we consider what goes on in a interlocutor (the father). The son automatically got
father and son’s organizational structure of conversation to use the car – represented by VRUUUUMMM,
under these circumstances, we probably assume that it is the sound of the car - thinking that it was the father
Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture Maringá, v. 31, n. 2, p. 183-187, 2009
Context and conversation development in cartoons 187

who allowed him to use it. This could be implied by context to fulfill his intention. That’s why, as Kramsch
the mother’s voice as in ‘EDI, turn off this car (2001, p. 46) says “Context is the matrix created by
already!’ In fact, as expected by the son, his father language as discourse and as a form of social practice”.
did not pay any attention to his request as in As so, this social product of linguistic and non-
repeating the same answer ‘Uhum’. linguistic choices “[…] in turn hold together, control,
In this dialogue (Figure 1), we can infer that it was manipulate, and maintain the social order, that is, the
according to the son’s perceptions and expectations social organization of classrooms, homes , and
about the father and son interaction in requests that the workplaces” (KRAMSCH, 2001, p. 46).
interaction developed. In here, we might assume that
the context of situation provided informational cues for References
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it is the father who decides what a seven year-old boy
should in relation to the father’s cars. The lack of
attention shown by the father in relation to his son’s Received on February 10, 2009.
Accepted on May 14, 2009.
requirement could provide contextual information to
the change of social role to be established in the
License information: This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the
dialogue. As a result, the son’s perceptions and his Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution,
and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
nonverbal behavior were of great value to modify the

Acta Scientiarum. Language and Culture Maringá, v. 31, n. 2, p. 183-187, 2009