Chairing Meetings: Turn and Topic Control in Development Communication in Rural Zanzibar

Abstract

This paper presents a linguistic analysis of the roles and verbal contributions of chairwomen in two agricultural co-operatives in rural Zanzibar. Discourse analysis with a focus on realizations of politeness and powerless speech style is used to study two communicative events. In the first co-operative, the chairwoman controls the meeting through the allocation of turns and topics, as well as the use of her position and its privileges to persuade others of her opinion. In this context, the use of passive voice, subjunctive forms, hedges, the choice of pronouns and address forms is of specific interest to us. In the second co-operative, an Agricultural Extension Officer present in the meeting interferes, practically taking over the task of chairing the meeting. While the chairwoman is forced to defend her position, her irritation and uncertainty are expressed in contributions that contain several characteristics of a powerless speech style. At the same time, the chairwoman's reply to the intrusion shows commitment and emphasis on a point that is crucial to her. In Meeting Two presequences, false starts, changes in the word order, hedges, direct speech, choice of tense and address forms are particularly relevant.