Spoken vs written features

Question 1

spoken features

Answer 1

Incomplete minor sentences – speakers use context to interpret meaning​

Shorter grammatical units – a reliance on compound sentences with repetitive coordinated conjunctions​

Slang/informal lexis – more likely to be of Old English origin​

Non-fluency features: fillers (um); voiceless pauses (.); repairs where a speaker self-corrects an error (this is how to sync a two um to sync two android phones); repetitions (so um so so what); false starts where a speaker rephrases their expression (Right what I want to do…what we are going to do)​

Hedges – used as a form of mitigation (like, sort of)​

Deixis – a ‘pointing’ word that is only clear in the context (space/time)​

Lexically informal pre-starts (LIPS) – to mark the start of a turn​

High frequency lexis – words which are used often (Old English)​

Direct address – use of second person pronouns ​

Elision – words are joined together when spoken (e.g. gonna)​

Question 2

written features

Answer 2

Complete grammatical sentences​

More complex grammar – more frequent use of complex sentences with subordinate clauses​

More formal lexis – more likely to be of a French/Latinate origin​

Sentence demarcation through punctuation​

Fewer/no hedges – more precision (no longer a need to mitigate) ​

No deixis – text more likely to be understandable on its own​

Formal discourse markers – to show organisation (firstly, secondly)​

Low frequency lexis – words used infrequently (French/Latinate)​

Third person address ​

Words less likely to be elided/fewer contractions​