Principles in Conversation

Tutorial Week 1:
For the first week, we were asked to act a scenario which comprise the 5 principles of conversation. Below is a dialogue prepared by our group. our situation was a discussion among family members to choose a holiday destination.

Son : Where are we going for our holiday this time, Dad?

Dad: Well, I have been planning a trip to Kuala Lumpur. What do you think? [ SUGGESTING]

Son : Why don’t we go to Kota Kinabalu instead? We could have a holiday as well as hiking Mount Kinabalu. Mum, you could do your shopping in 1 Borneo as well. Summer sales will be on as Chinese New Year is just around the corner. You will be thrilled to get good bargains.[SUGGESTING]

Mum: That’s true. My friends had told me that the stuffs are very cheap in 1 Borneo. Furthermore, I had been planning to buy some presents for your sister’s wedding.[AGREEING]

Sister : That’s great, mum. I could buy some accessories for my wedding as well as learning my future husband’s culture. I almost forgot that my hubby was a Sabahan.[INTERRUPTING]

Dad : But, sweetie, wouldn’t it be a good idea to go to Kuala Lumpur as you can travel to Sabah anytime after you get married. Apart from that, there are a lot of choices available there. We seldom get a chance to travel so far.[DISAGREE]

Sister : Well, I think that we should consider Dad’s idea since there’s a lot more to do and see in KualaLumpur. Do you all realize that our favourite football team, Real Madrid will be having a match against Barcelona at Bukit Jalil Stadium during that time.[AGREEING]

Son : Oh my God, I almost forgot about it. I’m sure that Lionel Messi will be play the best for Barcelona. Mum, what do you think?

Mum : Well, since most of us are agree to choose Kuala Lumpur as our holiday destination. I’m sure that we will have much fun there.[SUMMARISING]

Son : I love you, mum.

A conversation is communication between two or more people. I realised that conversation allow people with different views on a topic to learn from each other. the above conversation comprise of 5 principles of conversation.

As what our lecturer Mr Camillus had explained to us, turn taking in conversation is guided by two main rules, which are avoid speaking at the same time and avoid silence between turns. this is true as we know, a good conversation is impossible to take place if two person speak at the same time.

according to Paul Grice, a British-educated philosopher of language, noted that all conversations follows a basic set of rules which people use to express themselves when speaking.

now, imagine that if there are no rules to follow during conversation? what will happen to the language? conversation would be impossible to have. Based on this tutorial session, i had learnt that we need to follow rules in conversation, but it doesn't mean that people are aware of what the rules or how they work. In fact, it often works outside our awareness. For me, the most important thing is what makes us human and how we can communicate with each other without a common language.