Phraseology and Culture in English

8. Conclusion 
Conventions do not come out of the blue. They evolve and become en-
trenched within the discourse community because of their usefulness in 
solving recurrent problems (Clark 1996: 340). Over time, routine phrases 
may become more fixed as has been the case with phrases used in tele-
phone conversations. However just as on the telephone there are competing 
strategies and routines. The medium and its institutionalisation also plays a 
role for what conventions develop. For example, it is important for the 
caller to identify himself when leaving a message so that the recipient can 
call back. The conventions emerging in the use of the answering machine 
may be familiar to varying degrees depending on how experienced people 
are in using the machine. Especially in the LLC material we find examples 
of strategies and routine phrases reflecting the participants’ uncertainty 
concerning appropriate strategies and their realisation as routine phrases. 
Just as in face-to-face conversation several factors play a role, for example 
who the participants are, the setting, the degree of politeness expected, 
constraints caused by how the participants conceptualise the situation, etc. 
Users may address an imagined recipient although no feedback can be ex-
pected.
When the medium was new it was natural to use strategies typical of 
face-to-face conversation and above all of telephone calls. Some strategies 
used on the telephone were bypassed from the start as inappropriate, for 
example asking about the recipient’s health, while other strategies such as 
greetings, questions and requests were adapted to the situation. 
The caller who uses strategies from telephone conversations uses clos-
ings where the preclosing and the closing rituals occur together. New clos-
ings, more appropriate to the medium, may involve a simple thank you
where the function is not only to thank. However there is still an implicit 
thanking function, e.g. for being allowed to leave the message in the hope 

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Karin Aijmer 
that a response will be forthcomng from the owner of the machine. Other 
strategies such as closing off without indicating a termination seem to be 
disappearing because they have, presumably, proved to be less useful. 
Some strategies are the same on the telephone and on the answering ma-
chine. For example, phrases such as ‘this is X’ which are used for self-
identification are appropriate in both communication situations but could 
not be used in face-to-face conversation. A phrase such as ‘Looking for-
ward to hearing from you’ however is now mainly associated with a letter 
writing frame. There is still competition between strategies and the routines 
which are used. Thank you (in that form) is more strongly linked to closings 
on the answering machine at least in institutionalised settings than good bye 
as shown by its frequency as a closing signal. 
Notes
1. For the transcription conventions used in the LLC, see Appendix. Both in the 
LLC and the Surrey material the names and telephone numbers have been re-
placed.