Page 127 - Courting the Media Contemporary Perspectives on Media and Law

118 Per-Anders Forstorp

The concurrence of two principles of balance, symmetry and asymmetry,
is paradoxical but in discourse studies it is often indicated as characteristic of
complex communicative events [Markova & Foppa]. In discourse analytic
studies of naturally occurring talk, for instance between men and women or in
studies of domestic quarrels and disputes, it is not uncommon that these
principles of balance are simultaneous. Deborah Tannen shows in her study of
male and female language that pragmatic and discourse analytical perspectives
can be fruitful instruments for an analysis aiming to understand the double
character of expression building on both principles of balance [Tannen]. With
intensive knowledge about the perspectives of the actors in an interaction, it is
possible to interpret the conditions for this double character in the balance
between the parties. On the one hand, argues Tannen, there is a principle of
proximity and community that represents symmetry. On the other hand, there
is a principle of the independence of the parties that can be related to social
status and that represent asymmetry.
It is not at all unusual in the analysis of communicative utterances,
whether these take the perspectives of the actors or the researcher, to identify
expressions and discursive functions that both stand for proximity and
independence. Tannen gives the example of someone who asks a question if
another person currently has any occupation (ibid, p.26). The same expression
can be interpreted in at least two ways: as a communicative strategy that
expresses concern and empathy but can, on the other hand, also be interpreted
as paternalistic abuse.

The symmetry of connections is what creates community: If two
people are struggling for closeness they are both struggling for the same
thing. And the asymmetry of status is what creates contest: Two people
can‘t both have the upper hand, so negotiation for status is inherently
adversarial [Tannen, p. 29].

Asymmetry and proximity is a theme in Tannen‘s analysis of talk between
men and women where power and influence plays a large role as well as
closeness and community. In another book on everyday gender discourse,
Viveka Adelswärd discusses from a discourse analytical point of view quarrels
and destructive talk. She shows how a quarrel is a conflict oriented form of
communication that is dependent on cooperation, equality and intimacy
[Adelswärd]. When, in a quarrel, a person can feel that the parties are ―talking
beside each other‖, this is an example of that which must be accomplished by
both parties. Talking ―beside‖ each other is thus a joint construction. If one
party would surrender or would ridicule the whole situation, there would not