An Analysis Of The Function Of Turn-taking In Plays

This thesis attempts to prove that the turn-taking framework, a tool in drama analysis, can be applied to analyze the conversations in plays after being revised. Because of its efficiency to reveal the personalities of the main characters in plays, the readers can obtain wild imagination and appreciate the characters in the plays from a new angle. This thesis also demonstrates that the revised framework of turn-taking can be a supplement of literature appreciation.The framework of turn-taking in drama analysis can be divided into five aspects: initiation and control of topics, turn-length, turn-type, interruption and monologue, and turn-control strategies. Turn-type involves three categories: initiation after response, interruption and monologue. However, a play is different from a drama. The readers can only appreciate the play through the play writer's description of characters and the readers' imagination about the characters. Therefore, the success of a play relies on how the play writer depicts the personalities of the characters, such as the description of contents, styles between character conversations, etc. The conversations in a play are static, while they are dynamic in a drama. However, there also exist some connections and similarities, i.e. both of their contents figure the characters vividly. As a result, the widely used turn-taking framework in drama can be applied to analyze the conversations in plays with some revisions.The major difference between the framework of turn-taking in a drama and the revised one in a play lies in the second aspect of the framework, turn-length. In a drama, the turn-length is recorded by counting the time that a turn lasts, and the players have a lot of flexibilities. Since it is very hard to regulate the time in plays, the turn-length depends on calculating the number of words instead of recording a turn's time.In this thesis, the data are collected from the conversations of the play Gone with the Wind, which is regarded as good evidence to demonstrate that the revised framework of turn-taking is a powerful tool to reveal the personalities of the characters in a play. There are a large amount of conversations in this play. The analysis focused on the conversations among the main characters is very typical, and there are also important clues of the plot development. This thesis shows that the distinct personalities of the main characters such as Scarlett, Rhett, Ashley, and Melanie can be...