A fictional dialogue against selected linguistic outlooks on spoken language and conversation

Abstract

This work provides an analysis of the fictional dialogue of the first chapter of Faith, a novel by the British writer and novelist, Lesley Pearse. The choice of the novel itself is not considered key. It is most important though that it is a recent novel, with up-to-date topics relevant to an ordinary person. The research question that this author attempts to answer is the extent to which the FD (fictional dialogue) of the first chapter of the novel is similar to real talk and conversation. To this end the FD as a mimetic camouflage is discussed against selected cognitive, processing and pragmatic models of speech, talk and discourse. The analysis suggests that in many respects the FD of the first chapter of Faith is indeed a gross simplification of the processes that real talk involves. However, this is only to be expected given the contention that it only constitutes the writer’s construal of a prison conversation between women inmates. The FD contains only selected features of real talk. These, however, suffice for the reader to mentally simulate an entire scene.