spoken language terminology

turn taking

the way participants take turns in a conversation

adjacency pairs

the way turn taking often proceeds when it is cooperative

overlapping/simultaneous speech

when speakers talk at the same time

speech/discourse markers

words that show the structure of a speech by breaking it into seperate chunks

monitors

words of phrases used to check or monitor that the listener is following what is being said

speaker support / back-channelling

a word, expression or vocalisation used by a listener to indicate that they are listening

non-fluency features

features that reflect the fact that speech is spontaneous and ‘drafted’ as it is spoken

filler

words or sounds that signal that the speaker is thinking and hasn’t finished what they’re saying

pauses

can be of varying length e.g (.) or (3)

voiced pauses

type of filler e.g uhh, um, err

repetition

of words of phrases

vocalisation

sound that has meaning but is not a word e.g uh oh or sigh

elision

contraction of words so that parts of them are not pronounced e.g gonna

self correction / reformulation

speaker changes or corrects what they previously said

false starts

speaker changes their mind on what they want to say

hedges

language that causes something to seem less certain e.g kind of, i think

vague language

language used when someone is reluctant to give detail or when context means presicion isn’t needed

colloquialisms

informal register that can also include slang

ellipsis

omission of words that would normally be included in the composition of a grammatically standard sentence e.g got to go now

minor sentences

incomplete sentences in which elements are missing e.g nice shot, all right, mate?, …