Turn-Taking (22-26)

22. Concerning the texture of the dialogue, the lexis is formal. Basil and his wife Sybil are owners of a quaint hotel/bed and breakfast. They both speak to their guests politely and respectfully and listen to them with interest. They treat them properly as paying customers that deserve first class treatment.
23. Upon the Abbotts’ arrival, Basil was fooling around, “just enjoying himself”, and in general behaving in an informal and unprofessional manner. Sybil’s dramatic irony in declaring that they are “terribly busy at the moment” revealed her intolerance of her husband’s actions. When Basil discovered that the Abbotts were doctors, he attempted to be more formal and offered his services, albeit with a nervous undertone. His dialogue again lost its formal tone when he discovered that Dr. Abbott was not just a doctor, but a psychiatrist, and when he believed that Mr. Johnson had snuck a female into his “single” room. Underneath Basil’s façade of formal, respectful behaviour however is an underlying lack of care and respect for Mr. Johnson. His jokes at Mr. Johnson’s expense and his talking down to him corroborate this observation. Basil’s use of normal non-fluency features such as pauses in the form of “umm"s and “ahh”s also deviate from the norm of formality.
24. In the passage specified in question 9, Basil takes the most turns at 13 and Sybil takes 10. Basil takes the longest turns, initiates conversational exchanges, and controls the topic because of his insecurity in the presence of a psychiatrist. As Sybil responds to Basil’s actions without comprehension of his speech, she answers his questions with questions of her own. Her constant questions elicit yet more turns from Basil. Unlike Basil however, Sybil attempts to follow through on topics of conversation but experiences Basil’s continuous interruption. Both characters allocate turns to each other.
25. While Basil is the dominant/powerful speaker in this passage, he shows his weaknesses as a character. He stammers at his wife to remember who she is and thus shows the audience a different side of him. Furthermore, he enacts a self-fulfilling prophecy as the thought of Mr. Abbott the psychiatrist viewing him unfavourably leads him to act unfavourably. On the other hand, while Sybil is viewed as the more powerless speaker, she portrays a powerful character. She may not have as many turns or as long a turn as Basil, but she asserts herself over her husband in declaring that the Abbotts are “down here on holiday. They’re just here to enjoy themselves.” Ultimately, even though Basil made every attempt to prevent Mr. Abbott’s non-existent intrusion into his private affairs, he elucidates the nature of his personality and his relationship with his wife in public, right in front of Mr. Abbott.
    
    Even though Basil is involved in virtually almost every conversation throughout the episode and is a dominant character, the audience likely views his character as weak. His constant panicking and attempts to run the hotel in an orderly fashion result in chaos, thus adding to the comedy of the episode.
26. This passage demonstrates that Basil and Sybil have known each other for quite some time. They are used to each other’s actions and often have similar conversations in which Sybil does not get wrapped up in Basil’s concerns but ignores her husband and continues to do her own thing. While Sybil attempts to understand what Basil is talking about, she remains uninterested in what he has to say and rejects any assumptions that he has made.