Speaking terminology Flashcards
Accent
The ways in which words are pronounced.
Adjacency pairs
Parallel expressions used across the boundaries of individual speaking turns. They are usually ritualistic and formulaic socially. For example: ‘How are you?’/ ’Fine thanks’
Back-channel
Words, phrases and non-verbal utterances [e.g. ‘I see’, ‘oh’,‘uh huh’, ‘really’] used by a listener to give feedback to a speaker that the message is being followed and understood.
Contraction
A reduced form often marked by an apostrophe in writing – e.g. can’t = cannot; she’ll = she will. See also ELISION
Deixis / deictics
Words such as ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘here’, ‘there’ which refer backwards or forwards or outside a text – a sort of verbal pointing. Very much a context dependent feature of talk.
Dialect
The distinctive grammar and vocabulary which is associated with a regional or social use of a language.
Discourse marker
Words and phrases which are used to signal the relationship and connections between utterances and to signpost that what is said can be followed by the listener or reader. E.g. ‘first’, ‘on the other hand’, ‘now’, ‘what’s more’, ‘so anyway’, etc.
Elision
The omission or slurring [eliding] of one or more sounds or syllables – e.g. gonna = going to; wannabe = want to be; wassup = what is up
Ellipsis
The omission of part of a grammatical structure. For example, in the dialogue: “You going to the party?” / “Might be.” – the verb ‘are’ and the pronoun ‘I’ are missed out. The resulting ellipsis conveys a more casual and informal tone.
False start
This is when the speaker begins an utterance, then stops and either repeats or reformulates it. Sometimes called self-correction. See also REPAIRS
Filler
Items which do not carry conventional meaning but which are inserted in speech to allow time to think, to create a pause or to hold a turn in conversation. Examples are ‘er’, ‘um’, ‘ah’. Also called voiced pause.
Grice’s Maxims
Grice proposed four basic conversational ‘rules’ [maxims] as criteria for successful conversation: quantity [don’t say too much or too little]; relevance [keep to the point]; manner[speak in a clear, coherent and orderly way]; quality [be truthful]
Hedge
Words and phrases which soften or weaken the force with which something is said – e.g. ‘perhaps’, ‘maybe’, ‘sort of’’,‘possibly’, ‘I think’.
Idiolect
An individually distinctive style of speaking
Interactional talk
Language in conversation used for interpersonal reasons and/or socialising
Non-fluency features
Typical and normal characteristics of spoken language that interrupt the ‘flow’ of talk. Some examples: hesitations, false starts, fillers, repetitions, overlaps and interruptions.
Paralinguistic features
Related to body language – it is the use of gestures, facial expressions + other non-verbal elements [such as laughter] to add meaning to the speakers message beyond the words being spoken
Phatic talk
Conversational utterances that have no concrete purpose other than to establish or maintain personal relationships. It’s related to small talk – and follows traditional patterns, with stock responses and formulaic expressions: ‘How are you?’ / ‘Fine’; ‘Cold, isn’t it?’ / ‘Freezing’
Pragmatics
An approach to discourse analysis which focuses less on structures and more on contexts and purposes of people talking to each other. Crystal: ‘Pragmatics studies the factors that govern our choice of language in social interaction and the effects of our choice on others.’
Prosodic features
Includes features such as stress, rhythm, pitch, tempo and intonation – which are used by speakers to mark out key meanings in a message. Essentially, how something is said.
Repairs
An alteration that is suggested or made by a speaker, the addressee, or audience in order to correct or clarify a previous conversational contribution.
