Attitudes towards telephone communication in Malta : a sociolinguistic study

Abstract

" Describing telephone conversation provides a pathway to understanding the human spirit, language, and social interaction." (Hopper 1992: 8) The unique property that places the human species higher up on the evolutionary ladder than other species is language. This property enables all human beings to communicate in diverse ways and through different mediums. Telephone conversation is a phenomenon encountered daily in modern life. Whenever the phone rings, we stop whatever we are doing and hurry towards the promise of conversation. This research project aims at discovering the attitudes and conversation strategies Maltese people adopt when using their telephone and mobile phone. Moreover, the study will also focus on whether the respondents' residential locality, their socio economic group and their age are determiners affecting their attitude. The stances and strategies observed will be studied by using the quantitative method of data collection. A further analysis of the results will be made by means of the gender variable. Among the questions are the following: What are the main reasons behind phone calls? Do people do away with pleasantries and apologies when calling? How do people feel when there is a long pause during a conversation? Are women more inclined to be polite during a telephone conversation? Does a stereotype for gender exist? This study asks these questions and others, to seek explanations for this observed sociolinguistic behavior and discover how telephone communication is a distinct form of human interaction, which is worth studying in its own right.