The elements of vlog closings and their functions – close analysis

Some of the closings in the sample appear to be fairly similar in structure, containing elements familiar from closings of other genres, most notably AMMs. These elements fulfill functions similar to those that they have in these other genres. In contrast to that, other closings simply lack these features or redress the balance with other elements (often genre related). The following analyses delimit the spectrum covered in the sample, and they illustrate how the functions of the contained elements are adjusted to the monologue situation.

The first example features a man in his twenties. The first five lines represent the end of a story including constructed dialogue before, starting in line 6, he wraps up the vlog, and finally, in line 20 he initiates the core closing:

Example 3.2

1 “I had an issue yesterday with my card”, 2 and if it happens again today,=

3 =I’m gonna be very upset.

4 “they were like,”

5 “of course Mister Wolf.” (2.5) 6 and that’s it...,

7 it’s nice to be back?

82 8 please be expecting videos from me,=

9 =that, .h

10 aren’t so much my personal history of the last year, 11 but you know,

12 a little more entertaining.=

13 =but I just needed to fill you guys in, 14 on where I’ve been,

15 and,

16 what I’m doing…

17 and, 18 uhm,

19 looking forward to seeing you again, 20 alright,

21 I’ll talk to you later.

22 bye bye.

The vlogger progresses from the vlog body to a mediating phase, which leads to the closing. A pause of over two seconds (l. 5) indicates the end of the preceding narrative and positions the following talk as a separate unit. “and that’s it..,” (l. 6) signals that the speaker has related everything he wants to say, and thus represents an instantiation of the ‘no unmentioned mentionables’ category. While in conversation this type of move has the function of offering the interlocutor an opportunity to make a further

contribution, this is certainly not the case here, for there is no interlocutor. Although there is a pause of over one second, as if to create a transition relevant place, this line has an organizational function within the monologue, that is, it prepares the viewer to expect the end of the vlog, rather than demanding a speaker shift (cf. Coulthard and Montgomery 1981 for organizational features and the structure of monologues).

Interestingly, the video shows the speaker turning his head about 90° to his left during this pause, apparently searching for something (cf. screenshot). This gaze shift is owed to the adaptation of the pre-closing move to the monologue situation, in that it

83 compensates for a speaker shift and gives the vlogger time to follow up with more talk himself.

Figure 3.1, Pause in line 6

Lines 7-19 can be subsumed under the term relationship management. The speaker expresses his positive feelings regarding his vlogging activity (l. 7), he promises more communication via vlogs (l. 8), and he qualifies the content of his vlogs (l. 9 through 16).

Contained in that is the reason for making the vlog in lines 13 through 16: “=but I just needed to fill you guys in, on where I’ve been, and, what I’m doing…,” which is reminiscent of AMMs. Line 19, “looking forward to seeing you again,” is of course semantically odd, since there has not been and will not be a physical encounter between him and his viewers. However, since it constitutes a fixed phrase, it

nevertheless works as reference to a possible next virtual encounter, thus falls in the arrangement category. Compared to the initial example, where there does not seem to be any relationship management in the closing section, this stretch from line 7 to line 19 is fairly long. Whether that difference is due to speaker personality, topic, or both, is a matter of speculation. But the function that it fulfills seems to involve providing for a smooth transition to the closing, which in conversation would be realized through negotiation.

After the mediating phase is finished, the final moves are accomplished: “alright,” (l. 20) acts as a closing component, which is then immediately followed by two terminating components in lines 21 and 22: “I’ll talk to you later. bye bye.”. All three elements are standard devices which might occur in telephone conversations.

84 Generally speaking, this example does not offer anything in the way of surprise

regarding the structure, the elements employed, and the functions they fulfill. Clearly, the speaker borrows conventions from conversation and AMMs, some of which are adapted to fit the genre. He apparently favors a smooth transition over an abrupt ending, which results in a vlog section that emphasizes the implicit goal to inspire interaction with the viewers.

The following examples illustrate other vloggers’ choices when accomplishing closings, which are not all as straight forward as the previous one. The next example (3.3) was recorded by a woman in her late thirties. It is structurally interesting in that the terminal component is followed by a coda to a previous topic in the vlog. Thus, the leave-taking formula does not constitute the final move.

Example 3.3

185 yeah,

186 she ate her cheese and took off. (1.5)

187 so I might do a a vlog before I leave tomorrow so,…

188 that's about all,=

189 =I really just want to say ha- happy St. Patrick's Day.

190 uhm,

191 I almost wore one of my pink tie dye shirts today, 192 then I realized what day it was,

193 and I.. this one was clean so, 194 I had to get on the green though….

195 even Dad wore green today.

196 and I don't even think he did it.. because of St. Patrick's Day, 197 I think it just happened.…

198 .h a:nd it was 65 degrees today and I opened up my sun roof in the car?

199 “it was awesome,”

200 “awesome I say,”

85 201 all right.

202 so.

203 bye:.

204 I gotta take this thing off my head,=

205 =my head is starting to sweat.

Lines 185 and 186 represent the closing of a topic, namely the speaker’s cat, which also appears in the vlog several times. The transition between topic and closing is

accomplished with the help of an extended pause during which the vlogger chews food (compare the gaze shift during the pause in the previous example). The closing is first initiated in lines 187 through 189, when the speaker refers to the next possible vlog encounter, states that she has made all relevant contributions, and restates the reason for making the vlog, here in the form of well-wishing. Following these three elements that are all common elements in closings (both monologic and conversational), she reopens topic talk. The first topic is related to the well-wishing in line 189, thus it can be assumed that her narrative-like comment on her choice of clothing is triggered by her

“happy St. Patrick’s Day.”-wish. There is no detectable connection to the next topic (weather/her car, in lines 198 through 200), except that she is referring to events that happened the same day. The actual closing of the vlog is subsequently taken up again:

lines 201-203 contain two standard pre-closings and a terminal component, each representing complete intonation units. Thus, the topic talk inserted into the closing (l.

190-200) is comparable to a conversational closing sequence which is aborted when one participant takes up the opportunity to make a further contribution. While the quick succession of turns in conversational closings would make such a lengthy digression subject to negotiation, the speaker of this vlog can proceed comfortably with pauses and hesitation markers without any risk of losing the turn.

The two lines following the terminal component refer to a large green hat she is wearing for St. Patrick’s Day (l. 204-205). The hat actually represents the very first topic of the vlog (the vlogger starts the vlog with a sing-songy “happy St. Patrick’s Day”). Along with the whole theme it symbolizes, the hat topic provides a frame for the monologue. In the

86 closing section, it adopts a particular function: While the “bye:” in line 203 provides a conventional closing, signaling the end of a stretch of spoken language, it is clearly relieved of part of that function here. The position of final element is occupied by the hat-coda. Thus, structurally, the “bye” loses its function; however, semantically it is still necessary since the hat topic is not a conventional way of ending talk. The vlogger can choose to alter standard functions of elements for two reasons: one, there is no negotiation possible, so it is up to her to assign the relevant meanings and the viewers have to accept them; two, the actual closing is effected by the final cut, an editorial feature – therefore, whatever happens last has the function of closing the vlog. The vlogger might have cut the video off right after the “bye:.”, thereby preserving the conventional form-function unit. However, her decision illustrates that in vlogs, conventions can be challenged without a significant loss of communicative force.

Apparently, vlogs constitute a genre that fosters experimentation, or at least vloggers do not necessarily adhere to conversational constraints. While in this example, editing is only minimal (there really is only the final cut, but none throughout the vlog), and thus the coda is produced as such on the spot while recording, in other vlog closings, a coda is later added using another cut. It seems that when adding a coda in the editing

process, it involves a different quality of effort to violate established conventions, as it is not done under the time pressure of online speech production. The following short excerpt shows an edited coda:

Example 3.4

82 alright guys, 83 until next time.

84 it’s Christoph Von,

85 and <I SEE YOU.. WHEN I SEE YOU>.

86 CUT