Spoken Discourse

Question 1

Openings and Closings

Answer 1

The author starts/opens or closes/ends a conversation
Eg: “Hi, how are you?” or “Goodbye”

Question 2

Adjacency pairs

Answer 2

Set of phrases that come one after another. This builds rapport. Often done in a question, answer, greeting response.
A: How hot is this weather?
B: I know, it’s totally unbearable, right?

Question 2

Minimal responses

Answer 2

Sounds/words that show encouragement/support to the speaker. Also called backchannels.
Laughter, nodding, smiles
Vocal responses eg. uh huh, oh, mhmm, ah
Words and phrases eg. yeah, I see, ok, right

Question 3

Overlapping speech

Answer 3

Talking over the top of each other. Most commonly used in spontaneous discourse. Can be cooperative or competitive.
:(agreeing with the other speaker/s) cooperative.
(jumping in) competitive.

Question 4

Discourse particles

Answer 4

The fillers we insert into our speech can be to show that we are still talking.
“Well, kind of, like, so”

Question 5

Non-fluency features

Answer 5

Occurs when trying to formulate words or ideas, whilst maybe trying to ‘hold the floor’.
:Pauses
Filled pauses/voiced hesitations
False starts
Repetition/Repairs

Question 6

Topic management

Answer 6

These strategies are for controlling the conversation/topic. Can initiate change, develop/maintain a topic or loop back to the previous topic.
:Initiate a topic
Change a topic
Develop or maintain a topic
Loop back to a previous topic

Question 7

Turn taking

Answer 7

Taking the floor: speaking when a natural break in conversation occurs.
Hold the floor: Use filled pauses to show not finished.
Pass the floor: offer someone the opportunity to speak (ask questions) or trail off.
:Take the floor
Hold the floor
Pass the floor

Question 8

Management of repair sequences

Answer 8

When the speaker adjusts statements to clarify their intended meaning.
Student: What score did I get again?
Parent: I think 78%.

Question 9

Code-switching

Answer 9

Changing between languages in speech. Often indicates a social distance.
My Casa is your casa

Question 10

Discreteness

Answer 10

A series of units. Sign sounds which combine to create meaning.

Question 11

Displacement

Answer 11

The ability to talk about things elsewhere, things that might happen, things that never happened

Question 12

Grammar

Answer 12

A system of rules that guide how a language is used.

Question 13

Productivity

Answer 13

Can combine units and language in an infinite number of ways to make meaning

Question 14

Arbitrariness

Answer 14

We randomly assign labels to objects and ideas and use them to communicate.