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For the movie from Francis Ford Coppola, see The Conversation. A conversation is communication by two or more people, often on a particular topic. William F. Buckley's Firing Line, the Dick Cavett Show, and many other television programs described as "talk shows" are exercises in conversation. Conversations are the ideal form of communication in some respects, since they allow people with different views of a topic to learn from each other. A speech, on the other hand, is an oral presentation by one person directed at a group. Conversers naturally relate the other speaker's statements to themselves, and insert themselves (or some degree of relation to themselves, ranging from the replier's opinions or points to actual stories about themselves) into their replies. For a successful conversation, the partners must achieve a workable balance of contributions. A successful conversation includes mutually interesting connections between the speakers or things that the speakers know. For this to happen, conversers must find a topic on which they can relate in some sense. Conversation analysis is a branch of sociology which studies the structure and organization of human interaction, with a more specific focus on conversational interaction.
Types of conversation Conversations conducted in formal but unstructured settings can be particularly valuable in enlivening those in the growing population of retired, and sometimes otherwise isolated, people in advanced countries. Institutions such as the University of the Third Age provide such settings. Here the great diversity of life experience and points of view provide a very rich resource for advanced learning. "Banter" is the art of jovial and frivolous conversation and behaviour, which can be taken to several different levels, and can be liable to involve crude, offensive sexual joking which may offend some. It is also liable to be very personal, being directed at particular people and may develop into direct offense and 'mickey' taking of a person. This type of more offensive banter you would often find it amongst the public school population, and amongst groups of men at sporting events or in bars/pubs. Has derived its own saying, 'If you can't take the banter, canter', which means if you take offence to another's comments/ actions when they were intended only to amuse, then you should leave. Banter is particularly difficult for those with autistic spectrum or semantic pragmatic conditions. Internet Relay Chat, or Chat, is a method of conversing with other internet users, in real time, using a chat software program, or a Java plug-in which operates in your current web browser. There are many different chat channels, or rooms, covering every subject imaginable, and a list of the most popular channels starts at CHAT ROOMS. Literature on conversation Authors who have written extensively on conversation and attempted to analyze its nature include: See also | ||||||||
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