In general, only one person can hold the floor in a conversation. When a debate is taking place, there are often periods where negotiation of the floor occurs. The current speaker will use rhetorical devices to try and maintain the floor while other participants in the debate will interrupt and overlap in an attempt to gain the floor.
In the following transcript, from the end of a debate on the Hijab in schools on Channel 4 News, two guests (AL & ZH) negotiate for the floor while the interviewer (IN). The general flow of the conversation is:
- Negotiation 1: AL has the floor; ZH tries to interrupt (line 15). AL forcefully tries to maintain the floor but looses out to ZH (line 17-24)
- Negotiation 2: ZH has floor; AL tries to interrupt (line 31-35)
- Negotiation 3: Interviewer (IN) interrupts to close the debate
Negotiation 1
AL has the floor from line 01-14. ZH interrupts in line 15 and requests the floor. AL forcefully rejects this in lines 17 and 19-21. The interviewer (IN) interrupts (22-23) and inadvertently hands the floor to ZH
13 so to say it’s about choice 14 is disin[genuous in the extreme 15 ZH: [can I just say 16 those [there is one thing= 17 AL: [NO I didn’t interrupt you 18 ZH: =can I just say [there is one 19 AL: [NO NO 20 Zubaida I didn’t interrupt you 21 have the respect that I gave you 22 IN: please please be quick though 23 because we’re nearly out of time 24 ZH: can I just say 25 there is one fundamental issue here
External link to clip (from 20 secs)
Negotiation 2
ZH has the floor (24-30). AL overlaps (31) and tries to gain the floor. ZH tries to maintain floor in line 36 ‘sorry cou- can I finish’.
29 do these practices exist 30 is there [compulsion in some xx 31 AL: [yes these practices exist 32 ZH: [there is that question 33 AL: [Muslim 34 ZH: and [without a doubt 35 AL: [women organisation 36 ZH: sorry cou- can I finish 37 [without a doubt 38 AL: [er well you didn’t let me finish 39 AL: women’s women’s organisation
External link to clip (from 39 secs)
Negotiation 3
The interviewer (IN) interrupts and announces ‘neither of you can finish’ (line 43) and closes the interview.
40 ZH: can I finish 41 AL: have have 42 IN: I’m really sorry 43 neither of you can finish 44 ZH: without a doubt without 45 IN: er because we we’re out of time 46 we’ll have to have this debate 47 er for a little longer (.) next time 48 but for now thank you both
External link to clip (from 50 secs)
Transcript
01 AL: ... 02 and actually (.) it’s not about choice 03 it is about (.) an encroaching it- er er (.) 04 interpretation of religion 05 which is telling women to cover up 06 otherwise you would not have 07 forty two percent of (.) Islamic schools 08 that have hijab as er part of their uniform 09 women would be allowed to go in mosques 10 without having their head covered 11 Muslim women would show their flesh 12 they are not allowed to do that 13 so to say it’s about choice 14 is disin[genuous in the extreme 15 ZH: [can I just say 16 those [there is one thing= 17 AL: [NO I didn’t interrupt you 18 ZH: =can I just say [there is one 19 AL: [NO NO 20 Zubaida I didn’t interrupt you 21 have the respect that I gave you 22 IN: please please be quick though 23 because we’re nearly out of time 24 ZH: can I just say 25 there is one fundamental issue here 26 that both you and Amanda 27 make the mistake of 28 which is (.) there is the question 29 do these practices exist 30 is there [compulsion in some xx 31 AL: [yes these practices exist 32 ZH: [there is that question 33 AL: [Muslim 34 ZH: and [without a doubt 35 AL: [women organisation 36 ZH: sorry cou- can I finish 37 [without a doubt 38 AL: [er well you didn’t let me finish 39 AL: women’s women’s organisation 40 ZH: can I finish 41 AL: have have 42 IN: I’m really sorry 43 neither of you can finish 44 ZH: without a doubt without 45 IN: er because we we’re out of time 46 we’ll have to have this debate 47 er for a little longer (.) next time 48 but for now thank you both ... IN = Interviewer (Krishnan Guru-Murthy) AL = Amina Lone; ZH = Zubaida Haque
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