A Conversation Analysis Approach To Dramatic Stylistics In The Theater Of The Absurd

The Theater of the Absurd, due to its specialty, is rarely studied. This present thesis intends to use of the theory of Conversation Analysis to criticize drama in the Theater of the Absurd. The play for study is The Zoo Story, the first play categorized as the Theater of the Absurd written by the American playwright, Edward Albee. It displays the general nature of the Theater of the Absurd as well as its own characteristics. The present analysis focuses on three extracts of the conversations, conducted among the two characters at the beginning of the play and near the end. The data are collected based on judgmental sampling, on the assumption that they are typical of the playwright's characterization and the theme of the play, which is the difficulty of communication and uselessness of human existence.The present thesis attempts to prove that the turn-taking framework in conversation analysis, with some adaptation, can be applied to analyze the drama in the Theater of the Absurd. The analytical framework of the present study includes three parts: turn types, types of non-verbal turns and turn-taking patterns. Turn-taking patterns are further classified into seven items including number of turns, average turn length, skip-connecting, floor-holding strategies, interruption, silence and repetition. The three extracts selected from the play texts are analyzed in an explanatory and quantitative way. The notable features of the character's turn-length with or without the use of floor-holding strategies, turn-types, non-verbal turn types, and the frequency of the use of repetition, interruption and several forms of silence explicitly indicate the character relationship and the theme of the absurd in an objective way.The present study shows that turn-taking analysis is effective to reveal the characters and their relationship in dramatic dialogue, that such analysis helps with the appreciation of character relationship, the plot development as well as the theme of the Theater of the Absurd from a new perspective. This thesis demonstrates that the revised framework of turn-taking analysis can serve as a supplement of literature appreciation. It is hoped that the present paper will not only enable readers and analysts to evaluate and understand the Theater of the Absurd from a linguistic perspective but also enhance the research in the area of Conversation Analysis.