Spoken Discourse Features

Question 1

Deixis

Answer 1

Pointing words
e.g. that,here,this,there

Question 2

Discourse marker

Answer 2

Announces shift in topic
e.g. so, right, okay, but

Question 3

Back-channelling

Answer 3

Shows attention and agreement
e.g. yeah, mmh, OK

Question 4

Hedging

Answer 4

Avoids being direct
e.g. kind of, sort of

Question 5

Overlapping

Answer 5

2nd speaker starts before 1st finishes
e.g. Where is my hat?– Over there

Question 6

Interruption

Answer 6

2nd speaker violates 1st speakers turn
e.g. Are you eating that– What time is it now?

Question 7

Ellipses

Answer 7

Omission of words
e.g. don’t, wanna

Question 8

Tag questions

Answer 8

Speaker support/ uncertainty/ clarifies
e.g. You’re 16, aren’t you?

Question 9

Fillers

Answer 9

Pauses, can show uncertainty
e.g. er, umm

Question 10

Initiation-Response-Feedback (IRF)

Answer 10

I - “How are you?”
R - “Fine thanks. You?”
F - “Yeah, alright thanks.”

Question 11

Insertion sequence

Answer 11

Turns that intervene an adjacency pair before it is complete
e.g. I - “How are you?”
R - “Fine thanks. You? You know, yesterday…”

Question 12

Adjacency pairs

Answer 12

Turn taking exchange
e.g. Thank you– You’re welcome

Question 13

Transition Relevance Point

Answer 13

When talk passes to the next speaker
e.g. What do you think? / Any comments?

Question 14

Skip Connectors

Answer 14

Return to previous topic
e.g. Anyway, what i was saying was

Question 15

Fixed expressions

Answer 15

Colloquial/Routine phrase
e.g. Basically/All in all

Question 16

Vague expressions

Answer 16

Deliberately non-committal
e.g. thing, something

Question 17

Non-fluency features

Answer 17

Non-verbal utterances
e.g. laughter, coughing

Question 18

Phatic speech

Answer 18

Small talk/Social
e.g. Have a nice day