Spoken language revision Flashcards
Transactional language
Language that is used to obtain goods and services (getting something out of it) e.g. what time is it?
Interpersonal language
Language that has a primarily social purpose
Ellipses
Part of a grammatical structure that is omitted without affecting understanding. More casual tone e.g. “makes a nice change”. One or more words are unnecessary but it is used to create cohesion
False start
Regularly occur in conversations. The speaker change their change of thought by changing/repairing it e.g. “yeah on sat (.) er tomorrow”
Back-channelling
Shows the speaker that they are being understood e.g. “oh yeah” or nodding or the head
Non-fluency features
Devices that interrupt the flow of talk. Hesitation or repetition e.g. “um”
Elision
The slurring together of sounds or syllables e.g. “gonna” rather than “going to”
Hedging
Shows uncertainty in a conversation. Also words/phrases that soften or weaken the force wherein something is said e.g. “perhaps, maybe”
Maxim of quality
Speaker tries to tell the truth
Maxim of quantity
Speaker tries to give right amount of information
Maxim of relevance
Speaker tries to be relevant to what they’re talking about
Maxim of manner
Speaker try to present their material in an orderly fashion
Accent
The way words are pronounced
Adjacency pairs
Parallel, ritualistic pairs of utterances. e.g. (question-answer) & ( greeting-return greeting)
Deixis
Words such as “this, that, here and there” which refers backwards or forwards, context dependant
Dialect
The distinctive grammar and vocabulary which is associated with a regional or social use of language
Filler
Items that do not carry meaning but allow the speaker time to think, pause or hold their turn
Phatic talk
Conversation utterances that have no concrete over than to establish or maintain personal relationships. Also known as small talk. E.g. “Yeah not bad thanks, you?”
Formal language
Professional language that is used to make texts sound more serious and appropriate
Informal language
More interpersonal so as the language as a more personal meaning
Spontaneous speech
Improvised and contains the thoughts in the present tense so has less meaning
Prepared speech
When somebody has their ideas and more detailed thoughts and feelings and so have stats and fats to back themselves up
Topic shift
When somebody changes the subject of the conversation either through uncertainty or over wise
Topic loop
When the speaker keeps going back to the same subject or point
Co-operative overlap
When two or more speakers overlap each over to help the other ones point
Idiolect
An individually distinctive style of speaking
Vague language
E.g. “sort of , like, or whatever, kind of things”
Prosodic features
Pitch, pace, stress and rhythm
Paralinguistic features
Gestures and facial expressions. Aspects of spoken language that do not involve words
Non-standard grammar
E.g. we was going down the road. Grammatical errors
