MEILA SARI (0713042033)

MEILA SARI
0713042033

NEGOTIATION OF MEANING

Negotiation of meaning is defined as a series of exchanges conducted by addressors and addresses to help themselves understand and be understood by their interlocutor. For example, during communicative exchanges in which addresses had difficulty understanding and addressors sensed this difficulty, addressors could restructure the conversation in order to make their input comprehensible ton addresses and thus allow the conversation to continue. In this restructuring, addressors could, for example, pause and question addresses as to whether they understood, or sensing confusion on the addresses’ part, addressors could simply repeat themselves vibratim or in paraphrase.

These same restructuring techniques could be used following utterances of the addressees. Such modification would give interlocutors more opportunities to negotiate for message meaning and would allow addressees more to produce message content and thus sort out the confusion it triggered. Addressees could restructure the conversation through requests to addressors for clarification or through utterances seeking to confirm whether what they heard was actually what had been said.

Veronis and Gass proposed a simpler model for the exchanges that create negotiation of meaning. The model consists of four primes called:

• Trigger (T) which invokes or stimulates incomplete understanding on the part of hearer.

• Indicator (I) which is the hearer’s signal of incomplete understanding.

• Response (R) is the original speaker attempt to clear up the unaccepted-input.

• Reaction to the response (R) which is an element that signals either the hearer’s acceptance or continued difficulty with the speaker’s repair.

The models also suggest that in an interactional modification or negotiation, there are at least two different moves: the move of signals and the move of reaction to the signal (repair or modification). The move of signal consists of three concepts: confirmation check, comprehension check, and clarification request. The repair move consists of self- and other-repetition, elaboration and justification.

THE CONVERSATION SCRIPTS & CODING

a. The First Conversation
This conversation was taken from the interaction between two women, named Fetris and Mey. They are university students taking English as their major.

Mey : Hai Fetris..
Fetris : Hai Mey..
Mey : What are you doing here?
Fetris : Emm, I doing nothing but what are you doing here?
Mey : I want to show you two pictures (Trigger)
Fetris : Two pictures? (Signal)
Mey : Yes, do you want to see it? (Respond, Self Expression)
Fetris : Ehh, yes. May I see? (Signal, Confirmation Check)
Mey : Yes, ehh This is the picture, look the first picture and the second picture. Can you.. ehh see the differences between two pictures? (Follow Up)
Fetris : Its quite same you know? (Trigger)
Mey : Ehemm, yes I know. How about..emm.. (Signal)
Fetris : About the second picture.. (Respond, Self Expression)
Mey : The first and the scond.. (Respond, self repetition)
Fetris : I see,, yah yes I can see the second person of this picture.. (Follow Up)
Mey : Yes,,
Fetris : Ehh, the finger, the finger of the second picture ehh, he show two fingers..
Mey : Yes,, its like peace
Fetris : Like peace but on the first picture, eh she show..
Mey : He.. he..
Fetris : Yes, he show eh five..
Mey : All the fingers, five fingers?? (Trigger)
Fetris : Yes.. yes.. she (Signal, Confirmation Check)
Mey : He.. (Respond, self repetition)
Fetris : He show five fingers and then after that,, where is the differences. Yah people who used ehh.. What is that? Ehh, Glasses, (Respond, Self Expression)
Mey : Yes,. Black glasses. (Signal, Confirmation Check)
Fetris : He is on the top of the picture but on the other picture he is not on the top. And then about the ehmm, (Follow Up)
Mey : How about the number, is it the same?
Fetris : The number, One two three four five six seven eight nine, on the second picture there are nine persons.
Mey : Ehemm, then?
Fetris : On the first picture, one two three four five six seven eight nine. Yahh,The persons is same, in the first and the second picture there are nine, nine persons.
Mey : Ok,do you know ehh,, who are they? (Trigger)
Fetris : I don’t know who are they, (Signal, Clarification Request)
Mey : Oyah? (Respond)
Fetris :Its not familiar to me.. (Signal)
Mey : Do you know he,, ehh they are my favorite boyband .. (Respond, Self Expression)
Fetris : Boyband?? (Respond)
Mey : Yah, his name.. emm his name (Signal, Comprehension Check)
Fetris : They name.. (Respond)
Mey : Yes, they name is Suju, Super Junior.. (Follow Up)
Fetris : Ohh, what is that? Strange name you know.. (Trigger)
Mey : Yes, it’s a boyband from Korea. (Signal)
Fetris : Korea? (Respond, Self Repetition)
Mey : Yahh. (Respond)
Fetris : Ohh, I don’t know. I don’t like Korean Singer or what do you call? (Signal)
Mey : Boyband? (Respond, Self Repetition)
Fetris : Yah, boyband I don’t like them. I just like ehh, singer from Indonesia like kroncong.. (Follow up)
Mey : Ohh, Bondan. Bondan prakoso?
Fetris : Yes, of course. Waljinah..
Mey : Oke.. I love she too.. hahaahaa
Fetris : Hahaaha..
Fetris : And then about this, about the light. The second picture is brighter than the first picture
Mey : Yahh,
Fetris : And then about the picture again, from the right, the second persons from the right. (Trigger)
Mey : Ok yes, the right of me? (Signal, Comprehension Check)
Fetris : Yes, the right of you. Ehh, on the first picture he is not smiling to you but on the second picture he is smiling. He smile. (Respond)
Mey : Oh,, yes ehh the tooth, you can see the tooth. (Follow Up)
Fetris : Ahahh, but in the first you can not se the thooth. And then the first picture ehh, person on the top of the picture the head is like this.
Mey : Yes, ehehh
Fetris : But on the second picture he is, the head is just like ehh,, not like this but like this. I don’t know what is the name. I forget,, yahh that’s all I think.. ohh,, here, here you can see on the left of the picture you can see something like sofa. You can see, there is just ehh, one. (Trigger)
Mey : Sofa? Where, where is the sofa? (Signal, Self Repetition)
Fetris : Here, one foot of sofa but here you can see there are two.. two ehh, two foot of sofa. Can you see? (Respond)
Mey : Are you sure it’s a sofa? (Signal)
Fetris : Yes, So,what is it? (Respond, Clarification Request)
Mey : Emm, let me see. (Signal)
Fetris : This is a sofa you know.. (Respond)
Mey : Ohh, yes. You are right. This is a sofa. Ok, emm (Follow Up)
Fetris : Enough?
Mey : Yes, enough ok. See you Fetris and thank you.
Fetris : Yah, you are welcome Mey.

b. The Second Conversation
This conversation was taken from the interaction between two men, named Hadi and Dicky. They are university students taking English as their major.

Hadi : Dicky,, eh,, look at this I have something to show for you. (Trigger)
Dicky : Ok, What is it about? (Signal)
Hadi : Taraaa,this is a picture. And then the first one, this one the second. (Respond)
Dicky : Oke. (Follow Up)
Hadi : Look at the first one, this is really different from the second one.
Dicky : Do you think so?
Hadi : Yahh, come on. Now I want you to find only one difference this is the first picture, and this is the second picture
Dicky : Emm, the first difference..
Hadi : Come on, what is that?
Dicky : Is the cat,, (Trigger)
Hadi : The cat? (Signal, Comprehension Check)
Dicky : You see the cat. (Respond)
Hadi : Where is the cat? (Signal)
Dicky : The cat beside the girl,, (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : The girl?? Is it the girl?? (Signal, Comprehension Check)
Dicky : Ya the red hair girl.. Ehh, the cat ehh.. (Follow Up)
Hadi : In the first picture,,
Dicky : Hold the spoon contain the food for the second picture but in the first picture the cat doesn’t ehh,, sorry the cat hold the spoon but it doesn’t contain the food.
Hadi : Ok,, now let me guess about the second difference.. ehh,, look at the clock here. (Trigger)
Dicky : The clock? (Signal)
Hadi : Yaa the clock, the clock on the first picture show half past two,, (Respond)
Dicky : Ok.. (Follow Up)
Hadi : and then for the second picture the clock show a quarter to three
Dicky : Not a quarter to three actually, (Trigger)
Hadi : Ohh, what’s time is that? (Signal, Clarification Request)
Dicky : Its ten past nine,, (Respond)
Hadi : Ten past nine?? (Signal, Clarification Request)
Dicky : Take a look at this. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : Ok, good you are right. You know I got confuse to look short needle and the long needle. (Follow Up)
Dicky : I got another difference
Hadi : Ok
Dicky : Take a look at you see the bananas there. For the first picture its only two, and the second picture its about three bananas..
Hadi : Ok, good. Now its my turn.. hemm, yaa I got it. See here for the first picture there is a cup. (Trigger)
Dicky : A cup? (Signal)
Hadi : Yaa or maybe the glass but in the second picture,, come on take a look in this picture.. (Respond)
Dicky : Sorry.. (Follow Up)
Hadi : In the second picture there is no glass, even there are two kinds of toys yahh.. we can call it toys.. and then yahh.. Come on.. now your turn
Dicky : Ehmm..
Hadi : I got one..
Dicky : I got one too,, you see the cupboard..
Hadi : The cupboard? Ok..
Dicky : The lock or the handle on the cupboard for the first picture is around.. for the second picture the handle its look like a heart
Hadi : Now its my turn.. emm look a small three in the first picture there is only one flower here. Ok, but here on the second picture you can see there are two small flowers. This one, the pink one..
Dicky : Ok, emm
Hadi : I got one again..
Dicky : I got one too.. you see for the cake ee the cookies for the first picture you can see cookies,, ehh what is it? (Trigger)
Hadi : What’s the color? (Signal)
Dicky : Ehh,, yes for the first picture the color is brown and the second picture is yellow. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : Yellow, and the shape is also difference. (Signal, Comprehension Check)
Dicky : Yahh, and I think it’s not a cookie.. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : Yahh, but its like a paper.. the yellow paper.. (Follow Up)
Dicky : So,, what’s the next?
Hadi : The next one look at the plate here,, there only two plate but the second plate is difference there is a kind of drawing here looks like someone smiling..
Dicky : I got the difference again.. (Trigger)
Hadi : Where?? (Signal)
Dicky : You see the grandma.. For the first picture the grandmother used,, ehh, what is “konde” in English? (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : Oh yahh.. she wear a konde yahh.. (Signal, Clarification Request)
Dicky : Its something to.. to.. to step on your hair yah.. The grandmother is used konde and the second picture she doesn’t used a konde.. (Follow Up)
Hadi : Ahh,, I got one. Look the mountain on the first picture.. there are two mountain but for the size is difference. And look at the second picture the size are the same..
Dicky : Yahh.. the shape is the same..


c. The Third Conversation
This conversation was taken from the interaction between one man and one woman, named Hadi and Mey. They are university students taking English as their major.

Hadi : Here I have a picture,, lets play a game with this picture ok??
Mey : Yes,,
Hadi : Emm, this is the first picture and then this is the second picture.. the first one come on find the difference from the first and the second.. (Trigger)
Mey : This is the foot,, this is black and white and this is.. (Signal)
Hadi : Black and white? Its like the song from Michael Jackson.. hahaa (Respond, Self Repetition)
Mey : Ok.. white and black and this is white and white.. (Follow Up)
Hadi : Ok good,, now look at the bird.. (Trigger)
Mey : The bird? (Signal)
Hadi : Yahh,, there are only two bird and this one we have three bird.. can you find another differences? Another one.. (Respond)
Mey : Emmm,, (Follow Up)
Hadi : Hey,, whose bird actually? (Trigger)
Mey : I don’t know maybe someone’s bird.. (Signal)
Hadi : But it’s not your bird right?? (Respond)
Mey : No, I don’t have a bird.. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : I don’t have too.. (Follow Up)
Mey : Hey,, look at here. What is it? (Trigger)
Hadi : The light of the sun?? (Signal)
Mey : Yahh, the light of the sun.. (Respond)
Hadi : So, what is the difference between the light of the sun? (Signal, Clarification Request)
Mey : Ehh, the number of this line.. this is just eight and this is nine.. (Respond)
Hadi : Oke,, so this picture has eight line and this has nine line.. and then look at the flower this is totally white and how about this? (Follow Up)
Mey : This there is a black spot..
Hadi : Yahh.. black spot in the corner.. ohh sorry
Mey : In the center of the flower..
Hadi : Good,, anything else mey?
Mey : Here, I see the.. emm,, what is it? (Trigger)
Hadi : What is that? (Signal)
Mey : I don’t know what we call it.. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : What is “sengat” in English? Maybe a short tail.. (Signal, Comprehension check)
Mey : Yahh a short tail,, ok, the second picture has a short tail and then the first picture there is no short tail.. (Respond, Self Repetition)
Hadi : Ok,, (Follow Up)
What is the function of the short tail anyway? (Trigger)
Mey : Ehh, to.. (Signal)
Hadi : To hurt someone.. (Respond)
Mey : Ok,, (Follow Up)
Hadi : Look at the grass,, here there are five lines.. but in the first picture there are only..
Mey : Four lines..
Hadi : Yahh,, there are only four lines.. ok, can you find another one?
Mey : Another one,, ok.. wait a minute.. here
Hadi : Ok,, what is it? (Trigger)
Mey : What is it?? The line also.. (Signal)
Hadi : The line under the lower lip.. there is a line under the lower lip and there is no line under the lower lip.. ok.. (Respond, Self Expression)
Mey : This is too,, the line too.. (Signal)
Hadi : Woow, so many lines.. is it lining?? (Respond, Self Repetition)
Mey : Yahh,, because it is a picture.. (Follow Up)
Hadi : Ok,, come on now another picture.. this is about Christmas. Are you celebrate Christmas?
Mey : No, I’m a muslim.
Hadi : Ohh,, yahh I see. That’s just a kidding.. look at this..
Mey : Can you find a difference?? (Trigger)
Hadi : Yes,, this is the lamp.. (Signal)
Mey : The lamp? (Respond)
Hadi : Yahh,, the lamp. This one has a lamp,, and this one doesn’t has a lamp.. And then take a look at the pink pencil here.. (Follow Up)
Mey : The pencil?? Where??
Hadi : Here,, you see.. There is a pink pencil,, and this one doesn’t has..
Mey : Ok,, I think that’s all..


DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS

As we can see from the transcript, negotiation of meaning does occur in each of the conversation. It does not matter who the interactants are (female to female, male to female, or female to male). Here are the break downs of each conversation above.

a. The First Conversation
This conversation contains of seven sequences of negotiation of meaning. Those seven sequences have:
• 7 triggers
• 14 signals; containing confirmation and comprehension cheks
• 16 responds, and
• 7 follow up.

Here is one example of the sequences:
Fetris : But on the second picture he is, the head is just like ehh,, not like this but like this. I don’t know what is the name. I forget,, yahh that’s all I think.. ohh,, here, here you can see on the left of the picture you can see something like sofa. You can see, there is just ehh, one. (Trigger)
Mey : Sofa? Where, where is the sofa? (Signal, Self Repetition)
Fetris : Here, one foot of sofa but here you can see there are two.. two ehh, two foot of sofa. Can you see? (Respond)
Mey : Are you sure it’s a sofa? (Signal)
Fetris : Yes, So,what is it? (Respond, Clarification Request)
Mey : Emm, let me see. (Signal)
Fetris : This is a sofa you know.. (Respond)
Mey : Ohh, yes. You are right. This is a sofa. Ok, emm (Follow Up)

b. The Second Conversation
This conversation contains of seven sequences of negotiation of meaning. Those seven sequences have:
• 7 triggers
• 12 signals; containing confirmation and comprehension cheks
• 10 responds, and
• 7 follow up.
Here is one example of the sequences:
Dicky : Not a quarter to three actually, (Trigger)
Hadi : Ohh, what’s time is that? (Signal, Clarification Request)
Dicky : Its ten past nine,, (Respond)
Hadi : Ten past nine?? (Signal, Clarification Request)
Dicky : Take a look at this. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : Ok, good you are right. You know I got confuse to look short needle and the long needle. (Follow Up)

c. The Third Conversation
This conversation contains of eight sequences of negotiation of meaning. Those eight sequences have:
• 8 triggers
• 11 signals; containing confirmation and comprehension cheks
• 12 responds, and
• 8 follow up.
Here is one example of the sequences:
Mey : Here, I see the.. emm,, what is it? (Trigger)
Hadi : What is that? (Signal)
Mey : I don’t know what we call it.. (Respond, Self Expression)
Hadi : What is “sengat” in English? Maybe a short tail.. (Signal, Comprehension check)
Mey : Yahh a short tail,, ok, the second picture has a short tail and then the first picture there is no short tail.. (Respond, Self Repetition)
Hadi : Ok,, (Follow Up)

From the analysis of the conversation we can see that in negotiation of meaning happen when two people with different capability in talking using the same language. One speaker is called Native speaker or expert, and the second one is called Non Native Speaker.

In negotiation of meaning there are four interrelated moves; trigger, signal, response, and follow up.

Trigger occurs when speaker say something but the hearer doesn’t understand clearly what the speaker says. Then, the hearer will ask something in order to clarify the sentence and it called signal. After the hearer give a signal, the speaker will response that signal and the follow up will also occur.