Conversation Analysis of Conflict Talk between Couples in Why Women Kill

Abstract

Conflict talk is a natural but complicated language phenomenon and is one of the main focuses of linguistic research. Based on the Conversation Analysis Theory, this paper uses the TV series Why Women Kill as the source of corpus and is concerned with the development process and manifestation of the conflict talk in the initiating moves, oppositional moves and terminating moves. Through the observation and analysis of the conflict talk, the paper shows that the speaker’s identity, status, the social era in which he or she lives, and ethnicity all contribute to the choice of turn- taking.