| Leon James | Department of Psychology | University of Hawaii | 1975 |
|---|
| Display Repertoire Topic Focus |
= | Function Structure |
= | Transformation Connectivity |
= |
| Value Orientation Group Membership |
= | Competencies Intentions |
= | Control Relationship |
These functions express the Second Dialectic Movement (M 2: Labeling Coordinates or Operationalizing).
[ 2] Display Repertoire is a standardized signaling system that operates in four register modalities:
A. Fragmenting Register Modality
B. Predicating Register Modality
C. Identifying Register Modality
D. Imagining Register Modality
The specification of these four register modalities is given in the accompanying figure.
Register Modality is a standardized mechanism that specifies the derivation of display repertoire. There are four "channels" or modalities of derivation, each having associated with it a different order of operational specification. The delimitation of topic boundaries or Fragmenting is accomplished by reference to a standard membership ES-Coordinates chart that specifies the situational parameters of display components or exchange units. The specific composition of the standard coordinates chart characterizes a particular
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FIGURE: THE FOUR REGISTER MODALITIES OF DISPLAY REPERTOIRE
1. FRAGMENTING: THE DELIMITATION OF TOPIC BOUNDARIES or ES-COORDINATES
(Subjects, Substantives, Noun Phrases, Labeled Topical Entities, Topic Domain, Anchor Concepts, Conceptualizations, Themes, Paragraphs, Novels, Plays, Jokes, Conversations, Street Signs, Maps, Traffic Signals, Transactions, Speech Acts, Words, Morphemes, Lexemes, Ideograms, Hieroglyphs, Images, Speeches, Lectures, Books, Films, Programs, Menus, Cards, Departments, Sections, Zones, Areas, Interviews, Magazines, Textbooks, Almanacs, Dictionaries, Encyclopedias, Registers, News, Songs, Poems, Operas, Arias, Prefaces, Introductions, Prologues, Epilogues, Messages, Notes, Letters, Telegrams, Writs, Warrants, Tickets, Files, etc.)
2. PREDICATING: THE SPECIFICATION OF LOCALIZED PROJECTIONS
( Verb, Conjunction, Subordination, Relativization, Exclamation, Punctuation, Capitalization, Indexicalization, Paraphrastic Transformation, Quotation,Summary, Synopsis, Antonymy, Synonymy, Concord, Metaphor, Eulegism, Pet Peeve, Morals, Sayings, Epigrams, Incantations, Magic Words, Curses,Prayers, Epitaphs, Dates, Qualifying, Intersecting, Contrasting, Rejecting, Reflecting, Symbolizing, Localizing, Conjugating, Intensifying,Euphemism, etc.)
3. IDENTIFYING: THE SIGNALING OF INFORMATION
(Deictics, Pronouns, Possessives, Capitalized Topical Entitities, Labels, Titles, Headings, Names, Demonstratives, Signals, Codes, Symbols, Neologisms, Numbers, Orders, Colors, Directions, Places, Positions, Solutions, Identifying Markers, Signs, Posters, Arrows, Figures, Shapes, Classes, All Exhaustive Cataloguing Systems, Letters, Drafts, Authorizations, etc.)
4. IMAGINING: THE CONSTRUCTION OF A RECORD
(Reconstruction, Projection, Reification, Actualizing, Witnessing, Intellectualizing, Declaring, Claiming, Talking Up An Aligument, Intending, Preparing, Practicing, Rehearsing, Explaining, Elaborating, Justifying, Rationalizing, Converting, Transmuting, Typifying, Typologizing, Classifying, Integrating, Unifying, Understanding, Inventing, Creating, Composing, Enacting, Representing, Interpreting, Criticizing, Reformulating, Correcting, Instructing, Grinding, etc.)
STANDARDIZED REPERTOIRES of ES-PARAMETERS and OPERATIONS
1. E-S Coordinates Chart: - characterizes Membership ("Ethnicity")
(e.g. Identity, Ethnicity, Belonging, Morale, Sympathy, Antipathy, Liking, Affiliation, Affection, Tie Bonds, Pair, Dyad, Inclusion, Exclusion, Character, Color, Dept. )
2. Operations Manual: - characterizes Sophistication
(e.g. Competencies, Skills, Demonstrations, Arguments, Testimonials.)
3.
Display Repertoire
(1.) The unit of analysis of display repertoire is the comment. In face-to-face interaction, alternating turns at talk are minimally ratified by a single comment. Though there are other organizing parameters of turn-taking organization in conversations, the single comment is not only the most frequent and natural (viz. automatic, unnoticed by participants), but also most basic in that it is a constitutive element in all the others (see Section ). In written discourse, two comments constitute the minimal argument, the latter being the minimal paragraph (the smallest chunk of written discourse; "chunk": separated and marked separated from other adjacent chunks). In jurisprudence, the minimal expressions of "Yes," "No," "Guilty."' "Order!" "Objection." are constituted of a single comment and ratified as proper court behavior for an intervention. In art, a comment is the minimal standard unit of "visual communication." In politics, the expression "No comment." literally illustrates the finality of the comment as the minimal display in the interaction ritual.
(2.) The explication of the structure and function of comments is thus the theme focus of the analysis of display repertoire. The minimal structure of a comment is identified with its absence. Thus, in face-to-face talk, the display of silence is the minimal structure for a situated comment. The display of situated silence requires a proper sequentiality (see Section ) in that a participant's access to a talking turn is a necessary situational condition; otherwise, his display is not counted or ratified as a comment. Similarly, in written discourse, only a blank that counts, when left blank constitutes a comment, a situational frame is a pre-condition (e.g. blank page of a book, blank section on a running magazine page -- but not recognized spacings between sections).
In court, a situated silence is ratified as a comment, and is sufficient justification for legal action (e.g. being found in contempt of court)e In visual art, the blank canvas when ratified as an original work by an authentic signature or by its display in a gallery, constitutes the minimal artistic expression in painting (note that additional comments on the canvas may increase or decrease the value of the painting depending on the madness of the exchange!) The minimal structure of the minimal unit of interactional display, namely the silence, ironically, as well as in wisdom, occupies the most venerable position of all participatory involvements, for does not the West say that "Silence is Gold" and does not the East look down upon even this much as too much Western talk?
(3.) In the visual medium of symbolic interaction, the minimal visible structure of a display is given by the setting features that are reciprocally ratifiable by the participants. Thus, physical presence alone, is sufficient to constitute a comment (e.g. attendance at a meeting). In geometry, the minimal visible display structure is the point. In face-to-face talk, minimal visible comments are sufficiently ratifiable in such form as physical presence, physical attitude, recognizable gesture, facial composition, color changes, etc.,
(4.) The minimal independent expression for display is the situated argument. The minimal structure of the argument is that of two comments linked by an argument operator. In face-to-face exchanges, the minimal independently existing display is that of a single comment, overtly enacted, which is linked to a second, implied comment that serves to justify the first. For instance, an individual may find himself face-to-face with a guard in a locked office building and say, "I forgot to lock my office," which is ratified as a remedy for his presence (e.g. "I forgot to lock my office" ... "and consequently I am here on legitimate business." Diagramatically, we have:
[Argument] = [Comment 1] + {Argument Operator} + [Comment 2]
In this example, the setting features for Comment 1 allow the derivation of Comment 2 and the particular argument operator that resolves the two comments as an argument (here: " ... and consequently ..."). Thus, recognition of jointly ratifiable setting features (reciprocal ratifiable recognitions) is a pre-condition for the acceptability or ratifiability of the participant's enacted resolutions to a situated argument. For instance, in the illustration above, if instead of the guard the individual meets the secretary whose regular duty it is to lock the office, both participants recognize different relevant contingencies in the setting features. This is evidenced by a different comment which is now appropriate, e.g. "I forgot my briefcase" or equivalent, such that the implied resolution, "... and consequently ..." " I had to come back," is successfully maintained (i.e. has standard ratifiability).
(5.) In written discourse, the minimal independent unit is the paragraph. The minimal structure for the paragraph is a single argument. In face-to-face conversation, the minimal independent unit of exchange is the transaction, which is made up of two alternating comments linked by an episodal sequentiality. Thus, the paragraph and the transaction are parallel analytic units and constitute the components of a social event. We shall now elaborate upon the structure and function of comments, these being the analytic elements that constitute cultural behavior.
(6.) The following is a catalogue description of a book listed in the Art ~ Archaeology section of a mail order publishing firm. Catalogue descriptions are readily recognizable as independent paragraphs both in intent and in spacing. As such, this type of paragraph serves as a convenient departing point for our discussion:
"The author presents a brief critique of conflicting opinions and then proceeds to present a new hypothesis about the question of authorship of the Legend of St. Francis in the upper Church at Assisi."
The structure of this paragraph allows the derivation of two comments linked by an argument operator. Thus, it is both independent and minimal. Diagramatically, we have:
[Comment 1] => The author presents a brief critique of conflicting opinions.
+
{Argument Operator} => and then
+
[Comment 2] => proceeds to present a new hypothesis about the question of authorship of the Legend of St. Francis in the Upper Church at Assisi.
As defined earlier, the comment is the minimal display unit. A comment can be specified as a situated assertion. Utterances and sentences are common references to assertions. A situated assertion is an utterance or comment that occurs within the context of a natural social event. Any situated assertion can be transformed into a sentence by lifting it from its situated locale. Such a sentence can be said to have meaning by virtue of the syntactic and lexical information it contains.
However, a sentence is not a unit of discourse since it has been stripped of the information situated displays contain. On the other hand, the derivation of the meaning of a. display (viz. its interactional function) requires specification of the setting features within which it occurs. Thus, any sentence can be transformed into a display by attaching to it specifications relevant to setting features (e.g. who said it to whom under what circumstances).
Looking at Comment 1, we see that it is a situated assertion (catalogue description) made up of two topic elements linked by a predication which we call assertion operator. The first topical element, on the left of the assertion operator, is called topic nominal; to the right of the assertion operator we find the second topic element called topic complement. Diagramatically:
Comment 1
[Topic Nominal] => The author
+
[Assertion Operator] => presents
+
[Topic Complement] => a brief critique of conflicting opinions
Comment 2
[Topic Nominal] => "the author" -- implied
+
{Assertion Operator} => proceeds to present
+
[Topic Complement] => a new hypothesis about the question of authorship of the Legend of St. Francis in the Upper Church of Assisi.
+
{Argument Operator} => and then
We next look at the structure of topic nominals, topic complements, assertion operators, and argument operators, these being the minimal sufficient components of the independent paragraph and the complete transaction.
(7.) Topic nominals and topic complements are structured labeled entities whose connectivity or order of organization is derived through the ethnosemantic operation of topic fragmentation (see Section ). Topic fragmentation is describable by the mathematical or geometric operation of joining intersections on a continuously connected figure (see Notes on Ethnosemantics). Labeling the nodes of such an intersected matrix is the mathematical corresponding specification for the ethnosemantic operation of topic fragmentation (see Notes on the Dialectics of Ethnosemantics).
Topic fragmentation is derived through the iterative application of the triangular method of resolution of situated contention points, an operation equivalent to labeling intersections. The topical entity that labels intersections is called conceptualization. The iterative procedure allows the derivation of clusters of conceptualizations called fragmented topic domain. The organizational structure of topic domains is derivable through the mathematical corresponding operations of transformation, graphing, and cutting spaces. Ultimately, topic domains are derived from cultural life themes as organized by an individual biography (See Notes on ).
By way of review, we present the following GLOSSARY CHART:
|
Topic Nominals Topic Complements Topic Fragmentation Topic Domain (Labeled) Topical Entity |
==> | Elements in the analysis of topic structure |
|---|---|---|
|
Labeling Intersections Transformation Graphing Cutting Spaces Connectivity Order of Organization Derivation Specification Iterative Procedure Operation Intersected Matrix |
==> | Mathematical operations that specify the derivation of topic structures; geometric/ethnosemantic correspondences |
| Conceptualization Triangular Method of Resolution of Contention Points |
==> | The iterative operation for the derivation of topic entities |
| Life Themes Individual Biography |
==> | The functional features of topicalization dynamics |
To Chapter 2, Part 2: Display Repertoire