Language and Situation Language of Interviews.

Question 1

Outline the features of spontaneous speech.

Answer 1

Pauses.
Interruptions/overlaps.
Incomplete utterances.
Hedges.
Fillers.
Ellipses.
Repetition.

Question 2

Outline pauses.

Answer 2

Silences, indicating thinking time, uncertainty or a change of subject.

Question 3

Outline interruptions/overlapss.

Answer 3

When one speaker is interrupted by another, sometimes people interrupt because they are excited about what is being said.

Question 4

Outline hedging.

Answer 4

Ways of making a statement less certain.

E.g. ‘I think’.

Question 5

Outline fillers.

Answer 5

Words used to fill in pauses whilst the speaker is thinking for example ‘you know’ or ‘um’.

Question 6

Outline Ellipsis.

Answer 6

Where words are left out often because the meaning is clear.

e.g. ‘I caught the bus but Julie didn’t [catch the bus]’.

Question 7

Outline turn taking in interviews.

Answer 7

Typically unequal turn taking.

Question 8

Outline power in an interview.

Answer 8

Power can be distributed. Both interviewer and interviewee can have power. Interview stops if interviewee does not answer.