British man in America - Speech 1

Views; 1 871 979 Likes; 1 660

(cutting out first 8 seconds in the video due to silence)

A: For those of you who don’t know me (.) I’m Ollie ((cheering)) (xxxxxx) (2) I hope (.) supposed best man (.) uh all the way here from the UK with my friend Pete (.) who’s hiding somewhere

B: Whey

A: Whey> there we go Pete (.) so first of all I’d like to raise a massive toast (.) to two of the most beautiful and wonderful and loving people I have ever had the pleasure to have in my life (.) so if everybody could raise their glasses (.) I’ve lost mine but uh (2.5)

((laughter))

A: So a huge cheer to their future (.) our incredible fortune (.) and to everybody having a blast in this celebration of this wonderful event (6)

((various cries of cheers))

A: So before I really get going (.) let me just say (.) that the formative years I have spent in the company of the groom miz- means that he has had as much of a part in developing my sense of humour as anyone (1) so although I have tried to make this speech as funny as possible (.) please blame Simon if it’s not (2) and my second disclaimer is (.) that my speech does not really  contain any original material so if anyone is offended (1) it’s got nothing to do with me (2)

((laughter))

A: So I’m told that the best speech makers follow three simple rules (2) speak up then very- (.) sorry stand up (.) speak up (.) then very quickly shut up (.) so I’ll try and stick to that advice (3)

((laughter))

A: As part of my research I discovered that according to tradition I’m supposed to sing the grooms praises (.) and tell you all about his many good points (.) well I’m very sorry to say (.) that I can’t sing and I won’t lie (4)

((laughter))

A: I am slightly bothered with the title of being the best man (.) If I am the best man (.) then why is Kim marrying Simon (7)

((enthusiastic laughter))

A: So I’m just happy to say (.) that I’m a pretty good man because today Simon is the best man (.) and he is a man I admire for many reasons (.) most notably his generous nature what with him donating his body to science when he sta-

 ((Laughter))

A: when he started at Queen’s University and preserving it in alcohol the entire time

The Source

TRANSCRIBING SPEECH

Notation for Conversation Analysis (CA)

(.) Just noticeable – ‘natural’ – pause (.3), (2.6) Examples of timed pauses in seconds ↑word,↓word Onset of noticeable pitch rise or fall (can be difficult to use reliably) A: B: A: B: A: B: word  [word           [word word  //word           //word word  ||word           ||word Any of these symbols aligned across adjacent lines denote the start of overlapping talk. Some transcribers also use the symbol to show where the overlap stops. .hh, hh in-breath (note the preceding full stop) and out-breath respectively. wo(h)rd (h) is a try at showing that the word has  "laughter" bubbling within it wor- A dash shows a sharp cut-off wo:rd Colons show that the speaker has stretched the preceding sound. (words) A guess at what might have been said if unclear (            ) Unclear talk. Some transcribers like to represent each syllable of unclear talk with a dash or an "x" A: B: word=         =word The equals sign shows that there is no discernible pause between two speakers' turns or, if put between two sounds within a single speaker's turn, shows that they run together word, WORD Underlined sounds are louder, capitals louder still °word° material between "degree signs" is quiet >word word< <word word> Inwards arrows show faster speech, outward slower → Analyst's signal of a significant line ((sobbing)) Transcriber's attempt to represent something hard, or impossible, to write phonetically

If you wish to use diacritics (symbols placed above or below the words) to indicate intonation, devise your own system and provide a key.

Methodology

To discover the features within best man speeches I had to take transcripts from YouTube clips. I decided to use the first two minutes from when the dialogue begins from four best man speeches. This way I would have enough data to show patterns and similarities in the speeches.

Best man speeches tend to be at a length of around ten minutes. I wanted to compare features within different speeches so decided to take only the first two minutes which narrows down my data allowing a more detailed analysis of the first part of the speech.

To make sure that the speeches I looked at were considered to be good by a wide audience I looked at the number of views, likes and dislikes a video had; only choosing videos which were widely liked with the most views. I made sure that the speeches where dialogue based as some of the videos which were widely liked and viewed had other reasons other than the dialogue for being liked such as dance sequences.