The Talk during a Meeting: Conversation Analysis of Speed Dating

Abstract

The article is dedicated to the analysis of talks during acquaintance on the content of recordings of speed dating. The issue of research of the romantic discourse is taken into account. The format of speed dating is described, which is not only a unique cultural and socio-psychological phenomenon and a special genre of dialog, but is also regarded as a promising methodology of communication, interpersonal relationships and attraction studies. The review of studies, based on this methodology is presented. Special consideration is given to the method of conversation analysis, created by H. Sacks et al. at the end of the 1950s to solve applied problems of expertise in phone-calls, which belongs to the group of qualitative methods of research in social sciences and is oriented to the detailed analysis of short episodes of talks of the two or more interlocutors. A model of analysis of mundane talks is proposed, which includes elements of the scene-context, the general design of the talk, ways to change the sequence of speech, recurring patterns, communicative difficulties and institutional specifics of the talks. The results of empirical research on young people (N = 48) during the process of acquaintance at the speed dating parties is presented. The phenomena of talks in this situation are found and described: typical and atypical ways to start the talk, the increase in the size of the turns during the communication, pattern “question-answer-commentary”, the search for mutual similarities as a strategy of the talkers, recapturing of initiative, the direct transference of the turn, the change of the theme as a way to avoid confrontation, speech patterns to soften misunderstanding, hesitations and their influence on the talk, clarifications, the conveyor of the interaction, the transference of content and postponed reaction, the “telegraphic style”, the lack of finishing lines in a dialog, the gender asymmetry of the interaction.