Examples from the role‐play shop conversations

132 

the software Transana 2.21. The customers’ contributions were located in the

transcriptions and coded with respect to communicative functions, primarily speech acts.

Five of the participants had together taken part in nine shop conversations where they used a keyboard-based VOCA and nine shop conversations where they used a VOCA with dynamic screen and Phrases 2 (see table 7.1). The nine conversations where the keyboard-based VOCAs had been used were compared to the nine conversations where the same group of participants had used VOCA with dynamic screens and Phrases 2, regarding the number of utterances, the distribution of speech acts and Mean Length of Utterance (MLU). A further comparison was made regarding the distribution of speech acts with a VOCA with Phrases 2. The use by the group of five in the previous analysis was compared with a group of six participants who had not also used a keyboard VOCA.

Three of the new participants had participated in the present study (F4, F5 and F6), while the other three (F7, F8 and F9) had tried Phrases 2 in another role-play session, reported in chapter 10.

133  A: har du bestämt dig vilken du ska ha          have you decided which one you want 

C: SVÅRT         DIFFICULT  A: mm

S: har du provat dem        have you tried them on  C: JA

        YES  S: mm

C: (holds up the caps and looks at them)

S: jag tror det var så att det var väl bara en storlek på dom hära va (takes the caps) (.) eller

        I think it was like this that they were only in one size (takes the caps) (.)   weren’t they  C: VAD KOSTAR

         HOW MUCH 

S: du nog (.) ska vi se här (.) det var nog kanske lite olika pris på dom hära (.) nej det var det faktiskt inte det var samma pris på dom (.) eh hundra kronor kostar de

you well (.) let’s see here (.) it was maybe different prices on them (.) no it wasn’t it was the same  prices on them (.) eh hundred crowns are they 

C: (looks at the caps again)

S: du är lika fin i båda färgerna (.) eller alla färgerna         you look just as good in both colours (.) or all colours 

A: mm (looks at the device while C is typing) C: JAG (.) TAR (.) DEN (.) GRÖNA

         I (.) TAKE (.) THE (.) GREEN  

S: okej (.) den (.) ser nästan (.) såna där kamouflagefärgade mössor (.) sånt de har nu (.) jättefint (.) mm (.) ska jag ta den andra kan jag lägga tillbaka

okay (.) it (.) almost looks like (.) such camouflage coloured caps (.) like they have now (.) really  nice (.) mm (.) shall I take the other one so I can put it away 

(S takes the other cap and puts it away)

S: japp (.) vill du att jag slår in den eller vill du ha en påse yep (.) do you want me to wrap it or do you want a bag 

C: PÅSE         BAG 

S: en påse (takes out a bag for the cap)          a bag 

134 

A: vad har du för färg på din jacka (.) passar den mössan bäst till din jacka eller

what colour is your jacket (.) does this cap go best with your jacket or C: BEIGE

A: ja men då blir det ju bra ju          yes but that’s fine then 

B. Extract of role‐play shop conversation using a VOCA with Phrases 2 

A woman (C) driving a wheelchair enters the role-play shop. She has a VOCA with Phrases 2 on her lap and is accompanied by a male assistant (A). The shop assistant (S) greets the two as they approach.

S: hej         hello 

A: goddag goddag         hello hello 

C: HEJ         HELLO  S: hej         hello 

((C accidentally bumps into a table with her wheelchair)) A: oj

        oh 

S: kan jag hjälpa till med något         can I help you with something 

C: JA DÅ SKA JAG HA EN SÅN         WELL THEN I’LL HAVE ONE LIKE THAT 

((C points to a bright red plastic cup with a built-in straw that A holds in his hand))

S: okej (.) ska se (.) den kostar nitton kronor ja         okay (.) let’s see (.) it’s nineteen crowns yes 

C: DET ÄR JU LITE ROLIGA FÄRGER PÅ DEM         THERE ARE SOME FUN COLOURS ON THEM 

S: ja visst är det (.) visst är det en häftig färg verkligen         yes aren’t there (.) sure it is really a cool colour 

((A nods)) C: JA         YES 

135  S: vill du ha (.) en kasse till den          would you like (.) a bag for it 

C: JA (.) MEN (/) HAR NI (/) OCKSÅ EN (/)         YES (.) BUT (/) DO YOU HAVE (/) ALSO A (/)  

((C spends 36 seconds searching in the VOCA and composing her message before her next utterance. During this time the shop assistant and the assistant are discussing if they should intervene))

...

C: HAR NI (/) HAR NI ÖRHÄNGEN        DO YOU HAVE (/) DO YOU HAVE EARRINGS 

S: vi har faktiskt ett par kvar här (.) ett par örhängen har vi kvar         we actually have one pair here (.) we have one pair left 

In these two examples the same participant acts as the customer using a VOCA. In the first example where she uses the SpeakOut with a keyboard, she is very brief. The expressions she uses in the excerpt are JA (YES), SVÅRT (DIFFICULT), JA (YES), VAD KOSTAR (HOW MUCH), JAG TAR DEN GRÖNA ( I TAKE THE GREEN), PÅSE (BAG) and BEIGE.

In the second excerpt where she uses the VOCA with Phrases 2, the participant for the most part uses the pre-stored phrases. Her expressions in the excerpt are HEJ (HELLO), JA DÅ SKA JAG HA EN SÅN (WELL THEN I’LL HAVE ONE LIKE THAT), DET ÄR JU LITE ROLIGA FÄRGER PÅ DEM (THERE ARE SOME FUN COLOURS ON THEM), JA (YES), JA, MEN, HAR NI, OCKSÅ EN (YES, BUT, DO YOU HAVE, ALSO A) and HAR NI, HAR NI ÖRHÄNGEN (DO YOU HAVE, DO YOU HAVE EARRINGS).

We can see that some of the expressions with Phrases 2 are longer, and when they are uttered they also seem more fluent than the ones that are spoken word by word as they gets written on the SpeakOut. But there is also a long pause in the second conversation, while C searches in the VOCA for expressions she can use. This is probably partly due to the fact that the vocabulary is new to her, so she does not really know what to find there.

It could also be something that goes with using pre-stored phrases, at least for some users and/or in some situations. There is a demand on the users to learn the vocabulary and remember what is in there, a demand that is absent for the other kind of device, if all you want to do is to write what you want to say, at the moment you want to say it. It is possible to turn to the keyboard in a device with Phrases 2, if you know that you do not have a pre-stored expression or if you do not want to waste any time looking for something you do not know is there.

136 

It is important to remember that it is possible to store expressions in the keyboard devices Lightwriter and SpeakOut too, as well as it is possible to put Phrases 2 in a small portable computer with a regular keyboard. For the purpose of the study, these two features were separated so that no phrases were stored in SpeakOut and the participants used the on-screen keyboard with Phrases 2.

Apart from the participant’s choice of expressions in the two excerpts there is also another difference that may have influenced the way she expressed herself with the two devices, and that is the fact that the customer is served by two different shop assistants with different attitudes and different personalities. We can see in the excerpts that shop assistant 1 is much more talkative than shop assistant 2. Maybe that was also a reason for C to be briefer in the first example - she had to hurry to be able to say something before the shop assistant started talking again.

From these and other conversations in the role-play sessions, it was evident that there was a certain amount of stress involved in using the VOCAs. Being fast enough to be able to take the turn was one issue, with the keyboard VOCAs especially, but searching for something to say in the Phrases 2 vocabulary, not knowing what to find seemed to be another stressful event. In these situations some of the participants turned directly to the keyboard instead.