English 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 markers / discourse markers

Words that show the structure of a speech by breaking it into seperate chunks. These make clear the sequence of thought

Monitors

Words or phrases used by the speaker to check that the listener is following what is being said

Back-channeling / speaker support

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

Non-fluency features

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

Filler

Either words or sounds that signal that the speaker is thinking and has not finished what they are saying

Pauses

Can be of varying length

Voiced pauses

Type of filler

Repetition

Of words or phrases

Vocalisation

Sound that has a meaning but is not a word

Elision

Contraction, loss of sound without loss of meaning

Self-correction or reformulation

Speaker changes or corrects what they have previously said

False starts

The speaker changes their mind about what they are going to say

Hedges

Use of language that causes something to seem less certain

Vague language

Imprecise language used when the speaker is reluctant to give detail, or when precision or detail is not needed

Colloquilaisms

Informal register that can also include slang expressions

Ellipsis

Omission of standard grammatical elements without creating an unclear sentence

Minor sentence

An incomplete sentence in which elements are missing

Phonetic spelling

Where the spelling reflects the pronunciation

Number and letter homophones

where a word is subsituted for a number or letter

Deviant spelling

When a word is deliberately misspelled

Initiallisms

When a title is reduced to its key initials

lexis

vocabulary or word choice

Semantics

The study of meaning

Collocates

Words that are commonly associated together

Hyponomy

When one word is an example of another

Latinate lexis

Words originating from latin or greek

Modifiers

Words that modify the meaning of a noun