Pestle on Mortar_A Coordinated Management of Meaning
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Date
2018-06
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English Language Unit, Department of Educational Foundations and General Studies, University of Agriculture, Makurdi
Abstract
Pestle on the Mortar: A Coordinated Management of Meaning
Abstract
Communication is achieved through language, therefore, it is important to study and give account of how effective communication takes place between interlocutors in a conversation. Meaning is generated in conversations by either of the interlocutors in different ways. A wrong interpretation of the speaker or listener’s intention results to conflict. Our aim in this study is to examine the action performed with language and how interlocutors manage and coordinate meanings in Olu Obafemi’s Pestle on the Mortar, using Pearce and Cronen’s Coordinated Management of Meaning (CMM) (1980) theory. From the analysis, we discovered that language is rule governed however the rules of language use is not universal and language the interlocutors interpret and understands one another according to language rules however, conflict normally takes place when these rules are flouted by the interlocutors. Also there were partial, perfect or no coordination in the exchanges as a result of class conflict and mutual intelligibility among the interlocutors. In conclusion, interlocutors through an hierarchical structure, organize meaning to messages received during conversations.
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Keywords
Communication, Language, Meaning