Dramatic conversation: an exploratory application of Burton's discourse model

The British sociolinguists Sinclair and Coulthard have generated a systematic approach to the analysis of natural conversation using classroom discourse. Burton has articulated an innovative development of this model that she claims is applicable to a broad range of spoken discourse. She focuses on the language of dramatic plays. Her model is explained, and in an attempt to assess its viability, an application to a brief exchange in a Tennessee Williams play and its Italian translation is proposed. Interesting differences between the interactive structures of the two texts are revealed, indicating that Burton's model may be fruitful for the analysis of fictional dialogue. However, theatre talk may differ in as yet unknown ways from natural conversation