| dc.description.abstract | The aim of this thesis is to analyse the differences between scripted and unscripted speech, specifically that of television dialogue and casual conversation. Despite the extensive history of studying conversation, there has been minimal research focusing on the relationship between the situational and linguistic features of conversation. Following a framework introduced initially by Biber and Conrad (2019, 73), this thesis will investigate the link between situational characteristics and linguistic features in conversation, and will research whether there are differences between scripted and unscripted communication. This thesis differs from previous research in that the focus is on a scripted ‘mockumentary’. Following the introduction, Chapter 2 offers a background on previous research in discourse analysis, conversation analysis, and comparative studies on natural conversation and scripted television dialogue. Chapter 3 focuses on the method and material; namely that of a script from The Office (US) and an unscripted interaction from a veterinary practice in the USA from the Santa Barbara Corpus. Chapter 4 presents the analysis of the data, with a separate investigation into each situational characteristic, and its corresponding linguistic features. Chapter 5 discusses these findings, highlighting limitations of the study and ideas for further research before concluding. The general consensus of the study is that the situational characteristics have a direct impact on the linguistic features present in this particular dataset. Furthermore, there are several compelling differences between the scripted and unscripted dialogue analysed, including but not restricted to the absence of many of the linguistic features associated with spontaneous speech. | eng |