What Is An Example Of Upward Convergence

all adapt our spoken language in different situations. An example of this is called convergence, there are two types of convergence. Upward convergence which is when you use more Standard English and formal language and downward convergence, when you make yourself go down to a different persons level of speaking and use more non-standard English and informal language An example of upward convergence is a student speaking to a senior teacher. The student would use upward convergence to sound more formal. An example of downward convergence is an adult speaking to a teenager who doesn’t use as formal language techniques. Another example of this is subject specific language this is where someone uses language which is specific to a job or topic. An example of subject specific language is when a police officer says things like they are taking someone into custody. The subject
specific word in this is custody. This shows they are experts in their jobs.

The transcript we are working on is a conversation between two nurses who have been taking care of a patient in the hospital.
The purpose of this conversation is to inform the patient, whose name is Reg, about the arrangements that have been made for him for the period after his discharge from the hospital. For example nurse one says “we’re aiming to go home tomorrow. I’m arranging a district nurse to pop in on a daily basis … um, to dress your foot and the nasty sore you’ve got on your back …” This quotation includes subject specific language to show that she is a professional in her job area. This is a reason that Reg is nervous at the start because they are talking like professionals but after a few lines he settles in and stops being nervous. A quotation to prove he was nervous is “yes. It is still painful occasionally, yes” him repeating the word yes shows that he is nervous around the nurses. However a quote to show he settles down is “Thank you very much, nurse. That’s fine, yes.” This shows that now he has gotten used to the nurses he has settled down and become friendlier with
them.

In this transcript the first nurse is the agenda setter. We know this because she is the one who is setting the topic and taking charge of the conversation. We know this because she says “I’m just going to tell Caroline about you; she’s been away for a couple of days.” In this quotes she uses informal language because she is talking to Reg, this makes him feel more comfortable with the nurse’s presence. However when she talks to nurse two she makes her language more formal. An example of how she does this is when she says “Reg had an amputation of his second and third toe, two days ago. She does this to show that she was only using informal language to help Reg settle in and feel more comfortable. Another one of the features we see in the transcript between a patient (Reg) and two nurse’s. (Nurse 1 and Nurse 2) is convergence. An example of upward convergence is when Reg says “oh, well err ... the wrist collapsed … overnight. So they made this very nice frame which has enabled me to use those fingers, you see?” The upward convergence in this is when Reg says “The wrist collapsed.” This shows that he is thinking very carefully about what he is saying when he is talking about him being in lots of pain through the night.” This is an interesting way to show the reader that Reg has settled down with the nurses and is no longer nervous in their presence.