Understanding Cooperative Utterances In Institutional Conversations

Institutional interaction is a certain form of interaction that various forms of institutional interaction are constituted by shared goals and communicative procedures. Interlocutors display their orientation to the institutional character of the interaction by accomplishing the tasks, in which process they carry out their responsibility for institutional cooperation. This thesis explores the interplay of conventional and interactional factors in the interpretation of institutional interactions, and intends to formulate pragmatic rules applied to the institutional interaction in order to avoid oral conflicts and ambiguities. Derived from transcripts of radio program and previous studies, the linguistic data cover a wide range of institutional interaction, including medical consultation, emergency call, police interrogation and courtroom examination. The Principle of Institutional Cooperation and four pragmatic rules would be concluded from the observations and analysis of institutional conversations.Among many features that depart institutional conversations from the mundane conversations, social constraint is the most complicated one that leads to the asymmetries of the talk. It is derived from two aspects of the institutionality, limited physical settings and power relation. A successful performance is not exclusively due to the power inherent either in the speaker or in the speech acts; ultimately, the power resides in the society, but is mediated and negotiated, through the use of pragmatic acts in the institutional setting. In other words, the asymmetry in social roles translates into differences in telling roles that allow one party to direct and/or intervene in storytelling performance of another party. Through their management of institutionally relevant tasks and activities, they perform particular responsibilities and duties associated with those roles to cooperate with each other and finally achieve the goals.Cooperation is a general feature of conversation through various forms, which guarantees clarity and efficiency. In order to better cooperate in institutional conversation, participants need clear and direct instructions to solve interactional problems efficiently; thus pragmatic rules should be applied into the interpretation of institutional interaction. With sufficient knowledge of the institutional setting, this thesis intends to specify the practices of institutional interaction, and formulate a set of rules for the Principle of Institutional Cooperation. Under the cover of "rules", they are "described" in nature rather than "prescribed". Different from laws which demand strict adherence at all times, on many occasions, the rules will be breached or flouted, only failing to meet the institutional cooperation; utterances still make sense. Dealing with institutional interactions is a crucial skill for people better take part in institutional activities. Looking closely at such conversation — examining the consequences that follow from different courses of action — can shed light on the communication practices that are most effective in moving toward a favorable resolution. The aim of this thesis is to provide an appropriate interpretation for the institutional interaction with the newly proposed rules of institutional cooperation so that the bearing of knowledge of the institutional practice will be opened up and institutional conflicts can be better understood.