discourse Flashcards
discourse
the subsystem concerning the sequences of language that are longer than a sentence
paralinguistic features
non-vocal signals
1. Facial expressions
2. body gestures
3. body language
4. eye gaze
code-switching
when speakers switch between languages.
-its often a marker of group membership and solidarity as it reaffirms the social or cultural background of the speaker and their audience
-> demonstrate affinity with both cultures
-> this form of inclusion has the side effect of exclusion
prosodic features
- stress
- pitch
- tempo
- intonation
- volume
opening and closings
formulaic utterances: typical oft-repeated phrases that form part of our conversational rituals and help give our conversations a framework or structure
openings:
-salutations
-vocations
-phatic questions or comments
adjacency pairs
adjacent turns in spoken discourse that relate to each other, such as questions, answers or greetings and responses
Phatic talk:
a: How hot is the weather!
b: I know, unbearable isn’t it.
overlapping speech
common in spontaneous discourse
interrogative tags
put on the end of a statement to turn it into a question
“will you?” “isnt it?” “no?”
–> often signal a speaker relinquishing the floor to another person, but they might equally be used to check that the other person is listening (seeking affirmation or empathy from the listener)
discourse particles
-yeah-no
-well
-okay
-like
-anyhow
-omg
-guess what
-i mean
-i guess
-kind of
-sort of
-you know
-i think
hedging expressions
reduce the force of what we are saying so that we are able to express uncertainty, modesty thus creating a more friendly less authoritative utterance
-> minimise social distance
-> build rapport
non-fluency features
occur mostly when we’re trying to formulate our words or ideas and often act as grammatical boundaries in our speech
-pauses: common indicators of hesitation or thinking
topic management
the strategies used for controlling the topic
-minimal responses to indicate they are following
-topic loop “getting back to”
-use words of same semantic field
taking the floor
signaled through
1. discourse particle ( ‘well’, ‘right’ or ‘now’)
2. explicit phrase (‘Sorry to bother you …”)
3. Interrupting a speaker (due to a lack of opportunity or cues to speak may be seen as uncooperative or unwelcome.)
holding the floor
- intonation plays an important role.
- continuing intonation signals that we haven’t finished our sentence, or that we still have more to say on a topic
- rising intonation might signal some type of list, or signal that our turn is not over.
- conjunctions or connecting words (‘and’, ‘but’ and ‘so’)
- Filled pauses such as ‘um’ and ‘ah’
- temporal markers (firstly..)
passing the floor
- floor-sharing generally takes a question and answer structure
- everyday conversations pass the floor by directly inviting someone to speak, using a vocative and/or an interrogative — ‘Amina, what do you think?’
- Falling or final intonation could also signal the end of our turn, as could a discourse particle followed by silence, for example, ‘Sooo …’ , with the drawn out vowel emphasising that the person has said all there is to say on the matter.
minimal responses
- back channelling=mhm, ahh, okay
- laughing
- echoing
- Facial expressions, smiles and body language
coherence
can be understood FLICC
- Cohesion
- Inference
- Logical ordering
- Formatting
- Consistency and conventions
inference
a conclusion that has been reached on the basis of evidence and reasoning,
-A: Could you give me a ride home?
B: Sorry, I need to visit mum this afternoon.
Logical ordering
ensures that a text is structured both visually and textually in a way that makes sense for that text type.
Formatting
-Headings and subheadings indicate the topic of the paragraph or paragraphs that follow,
making it easier for readers to quickly find the information they need.
-Typography is often used to aid coherence: typefaces, colours and sizes can draw attention
to particular components of a text.
-Bullet-point lists allow information to be condensed into its core components so that only absolutely necessary information is presented to the reader
-Images, graphics and charts provide visual representations that complement the
accompanying text.
Consistency and conventions
Consistency can be achieved by using lexical choices from the same semantic field,
for example, or by using dominant sentence types.
cohesion
-lexical choices: synonyms and antonym, hyponymy, collocation
-information flow: clefting, front focus, end focus
-anaphoric reference
-cataphoric reference
-deictics
-repetition
-ellipses
-substitution
-conjunctions and adverbials: additives, contrastive, cause and effect, sequences and timings
- hypernymy
synonyms
Synonymy, in terms of cohesion, is the process whereby lexemes with very similar
meanings are used to vary the language included in a text or utterance. This avoids
unnecessary repetition of ideas and keeps a text interesting.
antonyms
often employed to provide contrasting ideas in ways that are cognitively simpler for the brain to process; a person who knows the initial lexeme is just as likely to know its opposite. This produces a text that is more efficient in delivering its message, thereby supporting its function or social purpose.
Hyponymy
a term that represents a subclass within a broader category represented by a hypernym.
-“Rose” is a hyponym of “flower” because it is a specific type of flower.
collocation
Collocations are significant because they contribute to the naturalness and fluency of speech and writing.
-We drove into the car park.
‘car’ + ‘park’ are collocated
information flow
involves the modification of the structure of a sentence or clause, so that the element that holds the most importance gains prominence.
clefting
involves the movement of a phrase to another position within a sentence.
IT WAS a poem that was read by Cecily at the recital last night.
WHO read the poem last night at the recital was Cecily.
front focus
involves moving a phrasal element out of its usual position to the front of a sentence, thereby giving it prominence.
-We were watching the man down the street. TO ALL OF US he seemed to be acting suspiciously.
end focus
End focus allows for prominence to be placed on a particular phrasal element in a sentence by moving it to the end.
-can create suspense and drama.
-End focus: My cat dropped a mouse on the doorstep this morning, DEAD!
Anaphoric reference
anaphoric reference reduces unnecessary repetition. substitution AFTER the referent In this way it supports the cohesion, and thus the coherence, of a text.
-Charbel really enjoyed the slice of cake HE was given.
Cataphoric reference
substitution before the referent has
actually been mentioned
-An element of mystery is introduced, and
curiosity means we seek to find the referent further along in the text.
-As SHE felt a little cold, May put on her coat.
‘She’ is a cataphor referring to ‘May’.
deictic
substitution is one that relies on contextual information to determine the referent of the substitution.
A: Hey, where did you put that book you borrowed from me last week?
B: Over there (points towards a shelf).
repetition
Repetition acts to create cohesion as it helps reinforce or maintain a topic.
Conjunctions and adverbials
joining words or phrases that provide links within a sentence or within the larger context of discourse.
additives
the coordinate conjunction ‘and’ as well as
adverbials such as ‘furthermore’, ‘also’, ‘as well as’, ‘in addition’ and ‘by the way’.
-I like pie AND I like cake. BY THE WAY, I ALSO like cheese. I eat these foods NOT ONLY to sate my appetite, BUT ALSO to make me happy.
contrastive
‘but’, ‘while’, ‘nevertheless’, ‘yet’, ‘contrary to this’ and the correlatives ‘either … or’ for contrast and ‘neither … nor’ for exclusion.
– They provide a means to demonstrate opposition, alternatives, exclusions, contrasts and comparisons.
cause and effect
‘for’, ‘therefore’, ‘because’, ‘thus’, ‘so’, ‘consequently’ and ‘as a result’.
- These words and phrases act to show that one clause is a direct result or consequence of another.
Sequences and timing
-adverbials and conjunctions can be used to indicate sequencing within a text. This is important for signposting the delivery of information to an audience.
-‘after’, ‘meanwhile’, ‘when’, ‘previously’, “finally’ and ‘then’.
Discourse features
· openings and closings
· adjacency pairs, minimal responses/backchannels
· overlapping speech
· discourse markers/particles
· non-fluency features including pauses, filled pauses/voiced hesitations, false starts, repetition, repairs
Stratergies in spoken discourse
topic management
· turn-taking
· management of repair sequences (includes self-repairs, other repairs)
code switching as a marker of group membership and belonging
