People alter the way in which they speak to suit the place, people or situation that they are in, one example is teenagers, teens change the way they speak and the words that they use for example when teens are in a situation such as being on a TV show such as the Junior apprentice they change the way they speak in terms of tone and standard, for example some teens refer to Standard English language to speak when in an important place which is the pure English language with no slang or abbreviations, this is when they want to be formal. Non-Standard English however is a language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal, are more common in speech than writing .
The formal conversation between the teenagers in the Apprentice (extract A) contrasts between formal (throughout the beginning) and informal towards the end. This small piece of information can help us conclude the borderline to how teenagers speak and act when meeting and starting to know each other, for example the majority of the challengers at the scene all seemed to be extremely shy or quiet at the beginning then they eventually started to have a spark of confidence as the show developed and finally became completely friendly with each other and started to have a more lively group conversation which consisted of a speck of slang but mostly Standard English since they were in a place of high standards.
When the conversation begins we see that the teenagers seem to be interrupting each other quite a lot which also could be interpreted as overlapping each other, "//so (.) done (.) instinct.huh." This small speech said by person C gives us more proof that it was still a bit awkward at the start since there were quite a lot of pauses and overlaps which were unnecessary and were due to the fact that the teens were uncomfortable with each other and didn't share the same ideas which could have been the reason behind why the pauses and awkward silences seemed to be constant. However the way in which they were speaking to each other gave the conclusion to the audience that it was infact a formal Standard English conversation.
The use of slang in extract B (detention) makes the text seem very informal and the complete opposite of extract A since in extract B the friends knew each other and simply were regurgitating random things that came to their heads since they weren't putting any thought into what they were saying and seemed to be chilling out , they also were bored in detention trying to entertain themselves , so they were just trying to make the time go faster by talking about random things. Which juxtaposes extract A because the people in extract A seem to hesitate when saying the simplest things and seem to think twice before they say anything to ensure they won't become the outcast or 'weird person' in the group, they also aren't familiar with each other at all.
Overlaps are commonly used in both texts, they are similarly used to either bring a point across to the other party or to state something such as a fact or an opinion, in extract A overlaps are used a handful of times which is the opposite to text B because in text B the people give each other time to speak rather than deciding when the other person has to stop since in Text B the conversation is more slow paced. Interruptions can have a big impact on the conversation people are having since the more powerful person ( in terms of importance) tends to choose when the person either starts or stops talking . One example in extract B when person A is leading , person B says 'yeah' and person a interrupts with "//so what." which points out the importance of person A since they have the power in this case.
language and context differs depending on what the people are trying to achieve, as aforementioned i was talking about how peoples confidence and how they adapt to the situation that they are in. Another point that i would like to bring across is the way the number of people influences the conversation ; in terms of the flow, the amount of interpretations and the simplicity or complication of the things said. When there are five people in a conversation (extract A ) it is much harder to get your point across since everyone is trying to get their point across and constantly overlapping because they all want to have a say, which makes it much harder to get your own point across and its more difficult to have your say because it is considered rude to interrupt somebody while they are talking.
One other way in which people are effected in terms of confidence depends on how many people are not just in the conversation but listening, for example in junior apprentice the teens know that quite a bunch of people are watching the show as well as being sat in the group and watching, some people find it uncomfortable when in groups or just lose their confidence when they don't know each other very well.
Slang also might be seen as "not cool" which is why they don't feel quite confident to use it.
Speakers D and C are persistent to the speaker A's statement, by replying simply with 'yeah' or ' I like instinct', showing that the speaker A is the more dominant character in this section.
Overlaps are used a lot throughout the transcript, which show that they are either in agreement or in disagreement, but the main purpose is to give an impact on the other person or to give out a valid point.
In the apprentice transcript, person 'A' speaks in a clear and standard form of English and keeps a solid tone when speaking to others which gives out the effect that he is a well spoken and intelligent person, for example when he says "even something like instinct" he is overlapped straight after by person B who says "//tha's a good one//". This overlap shows us that person B is in agreement with person A, after this there is an instant shutter in terms of the confidence between them since they all start talking informally.
The second transcript in the detention room seems to be more non-scripted and naturally composed because they both seem to be talking as if two friends would, "Ah Beyonce Shakira and dat bruv (.)dey're nice man" this use of slang and informal language is used since they are chilled out and aren't trying to impress anyone.