VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, HANOI
UNIVERSITY OF LANGUAGES AND INTERNATIONAL STUDIES
FALCUTY OF POST-GRADUATE STUDIES
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ĐINH THỊ THANH HUYỀN
A STUDY OF PREFERRED AND DISPREFERRED SECOND
TURNS USED IN THE FIRST EPISODE OF THE FILM
“DOWNTON ABBEY”
(NGHIÊN CỨU VỀ CÂU ĐÁP ƯU TIÊN VÀ KHÔNG ƯU TIÊN
TRONG TẬP 1 PHIM “DOWNTON ABBEY”)
Major: English Linguistics
Code: 60220201
Training Program: Type 1
Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Nguyễn Văn Trào, PhD
HANOI – 2016
DECLARATION
I hereby declare that this thesis, entitled, “A study of preferred and dispreferred second
turns used in the first episode of the film “Downton Abbey” and the work presented in
it is my own and has been generated by me as the result of my own research for the
Degree of Master of Arts in English Linguistics at University of Languagues and
International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.
I confirm that when I quoted from the work of others, the source was always given and
no part of this work has been published before submission.
Signature:
Date:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
During the period of completing this research, I have received great assistance and
support from many people.
First and foremost, I owe my deepest debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof.
Nguyen Van Trao, PhD who has always encouraged me to pursue this study and been
willing to give me clear and sighted guidance as well as valuable suggestions and
corrections in the completion of this research.
Second, I wish to thank all of the lecturers, professors and doctors teaching at the
Faculty of Post-Graduate Studies of ULIS for their lessons and support during my MA
course.
I would also like to express my warmest thanks to my parents, my beloved sister, and
my friend Ngo Thanh Huyen for their love, support and caring.
Finally, I am also grateful to all the authors whose books, newspapers and works have
been referred to in this thesis.
The research paper could not have been fulfilled without them.
Hanoi, October, 2016
Dinh Thi Thanh Huyen
ABSTRACT
This study is carried out in an attempt to investigate the general patterns of
preferred and dispreferred second turns as well as the common linguistic features
indicating them in the first episode of the film Downton Abbey based on the theoretical
frameworks of conversation analysis and preference structure.
The database comprises 108 conversations, in which 13 contain preferred
second responses and 95 consist of dispreferreds. Both quantitative and qualitative
methods have been employed to seek answers to the research question.
The findings reported in the study can be summarized as follows. Firstly, the
mere four patterns of preferred seconds, namely assessment – agreement, invitation –
acceptance, proposal – agreement and request – acceptance, can be found in the
movie and the assessment – agreement pattern is the most common one. Also, there are
four linguistic elements signaling the preferreds, among which „saying „Yes‟ as
answer‟ ranks the most. Next is the appearance of all the five patterns, respectively
assessment – disagreement, invitation – refusal, offer – decline, proposal –
disagreement and request – refusal, in the examined dialogues including dispreferred
second turns. The „delay/hesitate‟ feature is the most widely used one. Additionally,
the data analysis figures out that there is a combination of using several linguistic units
to indicate dispreferred second responses and some certain elements express the same-
class lines.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
DECLARATION .......................................................................................................i
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................ii
ABSTRACT ............................................................................................................... iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................................................... iv
LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES ............................................................................... vii
ABBREVIATIONS & CONVENTIONS .................................................................. viii
PART 1 – INTRODUCTION .................................................................................... 1
1. Rationale of the study ............................................................................................ 1
2. Aims of the study .................................................................................................. 2
3. Research Questions ............................................................................................... 2
4. Significance of the study ....................................................................................... 3
5. Scope of the study ................................................................................................. 3
6. Design of the study ................................................................................................ 4
PART 2 – DEVELOPMENT ..................................................................................... 5
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND ................................................... 5
1.1. Film ..................................................................................................................... 5
1.2. Speech Acts ......................................................................................................... 5
1.2.1. Definition ................................................................................................... 5
1.2.2. Typical types .............................................................................................. 6
1.3. Conversation analysis ......................................................................................... 6