Spoken Discourse Terms

Question 1

Hedges

Answer 1

Signify uncertainty and / or a lack of knowledge

Question 2

Overlap

Answer 2

Interruption - implies that the speaker believes the interruption is important

Question 3

Blending

Answer 3

The combination of two existing terms to create a neologism

Question 4

False starts

Answer 4

A non-fluency feature - incomplete sentences, often due to hesitation

Question 5

Topic marker

Answer 5

Initiation of a conversation

Question 6

Topic shift

Answer 6

Changing the subject of a conversation, often in order to save face

Question 7

Positive face

Answer 7

Egocentric - the need to feel valued, respected and be a competent communicator

Question 8

Rapport

Answer 8

A conversational relationship

Question 9

Topic loop

Answer 9

Looping back to the original topic

Question 10

Positive face-threatening act

Answer 10

Being proven wrong when you confidently believe that you are right, resulting in embarrassment

Question 11

Negative face-threatening act

Answer 11

Being given an order, demand or imposition

Question 12

Adjacency pairs

Answer 12

Phrases and answers that keep conversation flowing and can cause awkwardness or rudeness if ignored

Question 13

Omission / Deletion

Answer 13

The removal of certain words or letters

Question 14

Backchanneling

Answer 14

Sounds or phrases of encouragement to move along the conversation and make it obvious that you are listening

Question 15

Multimodal

Answer 15

Containing both written and spoken language features

Question 16

Phatic talk

Answer 16

“Small talk” which is overall meaningless and useless