An Insight into Discourse Tact and Acts: An Analysis of a Case Study of a Spontaneous Argumentative Conversation
This case study investigated the discourse features and acts used in an argumentative conversation. The study employed purposive sampling method to gather data, and drew on a cell phone audio-recording of a series of authentic conversation. The data were analyzed through interpretive analysis technique. The results of the analysis reveal an authentic argumentative conversation appears more of interactional rather than transactional. The finding indicates how discourse articulates the ethical, ideological and family or social ties. It mirrors how the different linguistic features and speech acts performed influence the nature of a conversation and how the participants engaged in the conversation tried to respect maxims of politeness, relations, manners, quality and quantity to have safe and sound interaction. This implies discourse is not only constructed using different linguistic features and speech acts, but also it echoes the beliefs, feelings, cultural perspectives, social norms and relations of participants using different language functions.