4 Managing interpersonal meaning
In the next activity you’ll listen again to the audio clip.
Activity 2 Interpersonal meaning in mediators’ talk
Listen to the clip again and, as you listen, focus in particular on the ‘typical’ phrases or sentences that Katherine gives as illustrations of mediators’ talk. In particular:
- Think back at the five sentences given at the start of this week and note which ones Katherine says mediators might say and which they would not:
- ‘I’m wondering if...’
- ‘It sounds like …’
- ‘You seem distracted’
- ‘Am I right in …’
- ‘So you think Barry’s a bully?’
- Jot down some of the examples of mediators’ language given.
- Make a note of the interpersonal meanings expressed overall in terms of:
- speaker roles and the relative social status of participants
- the social distance between participants i.e. are they of equal standing or does one person have power over another
- speaker positioning.
You might find it helpful to make a note of Katherine’s own explanations of the type of talk she tries to use as a mediator, in relation to these interpersonal aspects.
Discussion
- Katherine suggests that a), b) and d) are examples of mediator’s language. Example c) is rather evaluative and the mediator is more likely to comment on the physical manifestation of the client’s behaviour (‘I noticed you’re rocking on the chair … and I’m wondering what’s going on for you’). Example e) – if uttered by a client – would be reframed by the mediator by describing Barry’s behaviour and something like ‘you feel that that’s bullying’.
- Three examples of mediator language are given below, but there are others in the interview:
- ‘Can you tell me how you feel?’
- ‘This seems a shared experience’
- ‘We came here on the understanding that both of you were going to have a chance to speak to one another, Janet, you’re not letting James speak, I want to check with each of you, are you still here to help each other to speak and listen? [Clients: yes, yes] Okay, in that case, Janet, it’s your turn to be quiet. James, away you go.’
- Expression of interpersonal meaning:
- Speaker roles and relative social status: The mediator has the highest status in the interaction and is responsible for the nature of the whole conversation. The mediator sometimes downplays her controlling role and presents herself as sharing equal status; however, at other times she asserts her authority. Katherine offers clues to this when she comments: ‘you need to stop people who are raising their voice or going off-track.’ She even seeks to direct the language that clients use: ‘you might quite explicitly tell them to use “I statements” not “You statements”’.
- Social distance: The mediator seeks to reduce social distance, creating a sense of informality. Katherine explains that she consciously uses language that will reduce social distance – ‘ordinary language’ – which helps clients to think of her as an ‘ordinary’ person.
- Speaker positioning: The mediator clearly invites the responses and thoughts of others, presenting herself as happy to be corrected and steered by clients, ‘because you want them to feel that they can correct you, you want them to give you the steer and for them to end up saying what it is that they’re feeling or believing.’ However, at times she positions herself as relatively sure of her views.
Social role, social distance and speaker positioning are part of the interpersonal function within Michael Halliday’s theory of language known as systemic functional linguistics or SFL (Halliday and Matthiessen, 2013) – which you first encountered in Week 3.
Activity 3 The language of interpersonal meaning
In this activity you’ll look further at the three following aspects of interpersonal meaning:
- speaker roles and relative social status
- social distance
- speaker positioning.
The partially completed table below lists some aspects of the lexicogrammar – the words or ‘lexis’ and grammar – associated with these three aspects of interpersonal meaning. For example, social roles and status may be indicated by who in an interaction has control of topic choice or speaker turn. In the audio clip, Katherine describes and gives examples of mediator language that illustrates these different lexicogrammatical expressions of different dimensions of the interpersonal.
In your own notes, reproduce the table and, in the right-hand column, make a note of the descriptions and language examples given by Katherine that correspond to these different areas of lexicogrammar. The first row has been completed as a guide. You may wish to listen to the audio clip again to help you complete the table.
| Speaker roles and relative social status: | Descriptions and language examples |
| Control of topic choice | [Example] OK, let’s crack on … we’ve got a heck of a lot to get through. [Description] You might ask them to say something positive about each other. [Description] Sometimes, you need to stop people who are … going off-track ... |
| Control of turn management (who can decide which participant speaks and when) | |
| Reformulation (by mediator) | |
| Control over language choices of others | |
| Social distance: | |
| Choice of colloquial language | |
| Choice of personal pronouns (such as I, you, he, she, we) | |
| First name terms (or use of ‘given name’) | |
| Speaker positioning: | |
| Use of tentative language | |
| Occasionally, use of bare assertions – statements which are baldly given with no softening or hedging |
Discussion
Below are some examples of what you might have included.
| Speaker roles and relative social status: | |
| Control of topic choice | [Example] OK, let’s crack on … we’ve got a heck of a lot to get through. [Description] You might ask them to say something positive about each other. [Description] Sometimes, you need to stop people who are … going off-track ... |
| Control of turn management | [Example] Janet, it’s your turn to be quiet, James, away you go. |
| Reformulation (by mediator) | [Example] I feel you’re being unreasonable becomes you think they’re being unreasonable. |
| Control over language choices of others | [Description] You might quite explicitly tell them to use ‘I statements’ not ‘You statements’. |
| Social distance: | |
| Choice of colloquial language | [Example] Let’s crack on … we’ve got a heck of a lot to get through. [Description] really homely phrases ... not a special, technical user of grandiose language. |
| Choice of personal pronouns | [Example] We came here… You both… [Description] You’re using language to indicate the connection that they should have or that they’re aspiring to have. [Description] Using we, a lot, rather than I or you |
| First name terms | [Example] Janet, James |
| Speaker positioning: | |
| Use of tentative language | [Example] I’m wondering what/if, Am I right in [thinking that]..?; It sounds like/as though. [Example] This seems a … |
| Occasionally, use of bare assertions | [Example] We came here on the understanding that…’ [Example] Janet, you’re not letting James speak’ |
This analysis suggests that the mediator is very much responsible for the tone of the session, and so for ensuring that interpersonal meanings are deployed in helpful ways throughout. The mediator projects an open, tentative positioning for herself, creating a sense that all the participants are ‘in it together’. Despite this impression, there are clear differences in mediator/client roles: the mediator seems to have control over topic choice, turn management and even influences the language the clients themselves use, within certain understood ‘rules’ of interaction. One way in which this is achieved is through what linguists call reformulation – referred to in the audio clip as ‘reframing’. In the mediation, clients can and do express attitudes and make evaluations, but the mediator puts them – and is allowed to put them – into different words. This indicates a clear asymmetry between the roles and status of the mediator and the client, in which the professional is in control, and this is a common feature of professional talk studied by linguists.
OpenLearn - Language in professional life
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