TY - JOUR AU - Gаlynа Tsapro, Tetiana Kychan PY - 2017/09/18 Y2 - 2024/03/29 TI - CONVERSATIONS AMONG FRIENDS: REFLECTING GENDER SOCIAL NORMS JF - Studia Philologica JA - SPFS VL - 0 IS - 2 SE - Мовознавство DO - UR - https://studiap.kubg.edu.ua/index.php/journal/article/view/189 SP - AB - <p>The article studies gender differences in speech in the sitcom series “Friends”. The research focuses on the topic<br />choice made by characters. The dialogue discourse under study is interpreted and subdivided into minimal<br />conversational fragments. The conversation topics are considered in three groups: conversation between two<br />female friends, conversations between two male friends and conversation in the mixed sex group. To study gender<br />peculiarities of the conversation among friends the following methods have been applied: discourse analysis,<br />context-interpretation analysis and conversational analysis — the combination of these analyses is used to study<br />the dialogue discourse with the aim to select, mark and separate minimal dialogue fragments for further gender<br />topic research; comparative method is used to compare topics in three groups of characters: F-F (homogender<br />conversation between women), M-M (homogender conversation between men), M-F (heterogender conversation<br />between a man and a woman).<br />Television series are marked by a number of particular features: regularity of broadcasting, stable plot unfolding,<br />length, recurrence of some plot lines. Furthermore, series are in an advantageous position if compared with<br />any other television product due to their unique relations with the viewers. Television series are considered<br />to be an impactful instrument of reaching the audience and one of the primary sources of giving information<br />to those who watch. Being the mass culture outcome, series express the spirit of the contemporary society, have<br />enormous ability to effect emotional reaction and simultaneously and to moderate (weaken, reduce) rational<br />perception of the reality. Moreover, series create the peculiar picture of the world which is immensely different<br />from everyday routine life. Besides, due to series the audience is given some new experience. Furthermore,<br />present-day films focus on the future norms of the society more than reflecting the past ones; they create and<br />introduce new vision of social norms and stereotypes.<br />Gender is studied as a set of physical, psychological, behavioural features that are expected from the corresponding<br />gender in the society, in other words it is the blending, mixture or cooperation of sex and social status of a personality.<br />The sitcom “Friends” has created a particular image about young people’s life implying clearly that women<br />might be seeking more independence than it is usually depicted in fiction stories and movies. The series has<br />been forming a public perception of friendship in the modern society stressing the fact that friendship is possible<br />not only between friends of the same sex but of the opposite as well. This idea is rather revolutionary. In huge<br />megalopolises when people feel more and more lonely the idea of someone you can talk to, someone you can<br />share your feelings with and simply spend time and talk about whatever is supported and developed in the series.<br />The idea is that you can make friends and enjoy relationships not only with the friends of the same sex.<br />Recent research on everyday dialogues has revealed that five broad topic areas can be identified: people and<br />relationships, work and money, leisure activity, appearances and personal traits of character, and social issues such<br />as current events, politics, sport.<br />Social roles in films may accentuate dynamics of changes in the society. Generally, according to social stereotypical<br />patterns, girls should be taught to wash clothes, to separate clothes, to be aware of similar things On the contrary,<br />in the series “Friends” male character Ross teaches his female friend Rachel how to deal with her clothes. It creates<br />a certain comic effect in the scene. On the other hand, it reflects possible true-to-life situations and in its turn makes<br />the audience accept the new variant of social roles when young men do know how to do the chores and young girls<br />have no idea about it.<br />Analyzing conversation discourse of the series “Friends”, 81 fragments of minimal dialogue part have been singled<br />out for the study: 36 fragments of conversation between female friends, 15 fragments between male friends and<br />30 fragments between a male friend and a female friend.<br />112 Філологічні студії<br />The topic variation is presented with the biggest proportion of talks about people and relationships: 63.9 %<br />of all conversations between female friends, 73.3 % between male friends and 66.7 % between a male friend and<br />a female friend.<br />Topic choice in the comedy mostly concerns relationships. Topic choice suggested in comedies mainly concerns<br />relationships. The explanation is determined by the aim of the series to entertain the audience instead of speaking<br />about job or money problems.<br />The aim of the further research is studying gender conversational topics in series demonstrating friendship<br />of middle aged generation representatives paying attention to the sitcoms made in Ukraine which will enable<br />the researchers to make a comparative analysis of gender topic choices in different cultures.</p> ER -