DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS -

TRANSACTION AND INTERACTION

1
Functions of discourse

There are two important functions of any

Form of discourse. These are:

 Transactional

 Interactional

2
 Transactional and interactional
The aim of transactional language is to
communicate a specific message
“I’d like a cup of tea, please” - ‘Here you are”
“Howard’s being eaten”
The aim of interactional language is to maintain a
social relationship
“good morning… good morning”

 Most discourse contains a mixture of

transactional and interactional language
3
Transctional v Interactional (1)
Aims and consequences
TRANSACTIONAL INTERACTIONAL

 Aim is for hearer to  Aim is for hearer to

understand feel that speaker is
message correctly friendly

 It has an effect on  It does not have an

the world effect on the world

4
Transactional v Interactional (2)
Typical contexts
TRANSACTIONAL INTERACTIONAL
 Doctor-patient  Phoning mum
 Customer-bank  Visiting a friend in
clerk hospital
 Teacher-pupil  Chatting at a bus
stop
 Internet chat
 Talking to the dog

5
Transactional v Interactional (3)
Typical content
TRANSACTIONAL INTERACTIONAL
 how to take the  greetings
medicine
 how to open an account
 coldness of the
weather
 how to do fractions
 recipe details  lateness of the bus
 prettiness of the
baby

6
Cafè - Elizabeth/Jenny

 Typical ch’stics of speech - repetition, filler, expressions of

attitude, simple lexis
 Transactional (Is that ..?; I’ll have .. Can I have …? We’ll
come back ..)
 Interactional (tag questions - haven’t I?, shall we? inclusive
“we”; laughs; search for agreement; lots of speaker support and
cooperation from all speakers
 Adjacency pairs (question-answer)
 Insertion sequence (with milk?)
 Preferred responses
 Politeness markers

7
 Conversations have both transactional
and interactional elements

The conversation in the cafè is an

example of both transaction and
interaction:
 The exchange between Elizabeth and
the assistant is basically transaction
 The exchange between Elizabeth and
her friends in mainly interactional