Feedback on my AC

[NickN]

Hi,
Was wondering if anyone could give me feedback on my AC at all. (Its focus is on informal language)
 *taken from Lingofile book*
Many thanks

Spoiler

This text is an informal conversation between the Horse Dentist (R) and G. G has just arrived to pick up her horses following R’s examination on them. The topic of the text is about G’s horses where R explains to G what she will have to do in the future in order to care for them. The function of the text is to inform and educate, where R explains to G on how to care for her already old horses. This reduces the social distance between G and R by the building of rapport by R educating G on her horse’s health.

The use of prosodics in this text showcase how R is building rapport with G by telling her horses teeth condition holding the floor In Lines 3-5 using a High rising terminal (HRT) “well huh they’re worn/, nothing is missing/, nothings loose/” and following up with a fall in pitch to a serious tone in Line 6 “they’re worn\” telling G her horses teeth are in condition but worn. Using her primary accent in intonation, R seeks to emphasize certain words in her speech to educate G on her horse’s health condition. This is evident in Lines 8, 15, 18, 28 and lines 60-63. In addition, readers could infer from G’s expressions following R’s sentence on how horses become more expensive when they get older L60-63 that she would be uncertain and worried for her horses when she says “right” L64 lengthened. Whilst there is a bit of challenging of G’s positive face given her horse’s health condition, it helps build rapport with R as she can be trusted well with her horse’s health.





R’s usage of lexical choices and semantical words shows that they are a professional in their field of work. R use of words belonging to the semantic field of medical is seen in lines 8, 19, 28, 36-37 and lines 42-43 where R uses words such as “ulcers”, “dental chart”, “diarrhea”, “metabolic rate” this shows their superb knowledge of animal medicine. In addition, R use of the content word “spasmodic” L28 shows the seriousness of one of G’s horse’s having diarrhea really bad diarrhea. Furthermore, R using the euphemism “knackery” L46 shows softens the blow towards G if one of her horse’s health deteriorated very badly. The word knackery is a softer word for the word executioner (where one kills an animal). R goes on to explain that the knackery euthanizes the horses with respect L48.

The dialogue between R and G is a coherent piece of discourse as both R and G acknowledge each other’s face. G attends to R’s face by the use of back channeling with utterances such as “uh huh” L23 and “right” L32, 38, 64. This shows that G is acknowledging the advice being given to her by R. this aids the coherence of the discourse. Furthermore, the use an anaphoric reference in Line 47 “I know yes it sounds horrific” with the word “it” referring to “ringing the knackery” Line 46. Refers to how it’s horrible to ring the knackery on a beloved pet or animal. Overall, R’s use of lexical choice helps frame the coherence in this text by using anaphoric references followed by G’s use of back channeling to aid the turn-taking and topic management of the dialogue between the two.