Topic 13 - Shared knowledge and absurdist drama (Session A) > Analysing Rita > Task B > Number of Turns

Analysing Rita

Task B – Who speaks most, and how does this compare with our schematic expectations?

Number of turns

The two characters, as we would expect given that there are only two people in the conversation, have roughly equal numbers of turns. Frank has 19 and Rita 20.

But on closer inspection the turn distribution is not quite as even as these overall figures would suggest. We happen to have started and stopped the extract on Frank’s turns, so we would expect him to have one more turn than Rita, not one less. The disparity comes about because of turns 6/7 and 11/12. In turn 6, Rita asks ‘I’m a what?’ but Frank does not respond, presumably because he has been taken aback by her impolite question. So Rita gets an extra turn here, as she restarts the conversation in 7. Something similar happens in 11/12. Rita uses a taboo term ‘Look at those tits’ in referring to the painting on Frank’s wall and Frank does not respond. He searches through his paperwork instead (another sign of embarrassment), and Rita ‘steals’ another turn by continuing to ask questions about the painting.

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