Spoken Language and Digital Communication

Accent

the way you pronounce words.

Adjacency pairs

Two part exchanges that follow a predictable pattern. They can come in different forms, e.g greetings (“Hello, how are you?” “Fine thanks, you?”).

Alphanumeric combinations

a combination of letters and numbers.

Accommodation

the way in which individuals adjust their speech patterns to match others’.

Accommodation theory

developed by Howard Giles to explain how speakers adjust their language to create a positive or negative social distance with their audience.

Backchanneling

short speech contributions provided by a listener in a conversation, signifying positive attention and that they do not wish to take a full turn (e.g mm

Building on topics

can be seen as a co-operative move in conversation.

Colloquial expressions

informal expressions, more common in speech than in writing.

Conversational threads

an online discussion format where people talk by posting messages and replies in an organised way under topics or groups.

Covert prestige

when a positive value is assigned to a variety of language that is within a specific group.

Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC)

human communication that takes place via the medium of computers.

Deictic expressions/deixis

words or expressions that rely on the context to convey meaning (e.g it, this and there).

Dysphemism

a harsh, disparaging or unpleasant expression used in the place of a more neutral one.

Disparaging

expressing the opinion that something is of little worth (derogatory).

Disinhibition effect

the tendency for people to act more disinhibited or less restrained in online communication than in face

Equal power encounters

when people conversing hold the same amount of power in the conversation.

Euphemism

a mild or indirect word/phrase used to avoid saying an unpleasant or offensive word.

Emoticon

a representation of a facial expression formed by a short sequence of keyboard characters to express a particular emotion (e.g :D).

Expressive function

utterances that express the speaker’s feelings.

Ethnolect

distinct varieties of a language that mark speakers as part of specific ethnic groups or communities.

Elucidation

where a point of information is clarified.

False start

the phenomenon of starting an utterance twice, or rephrasing.

Feedback

a convention of conversation. Includes verbal responses, backchanneling and paralinguistics.

Filler

words, sounds or phrases that people use to ‘fill in’ empty spaces in communication (e.g like, um, er). They have little meaning and are added out of habit or to give a speaker time to think.

Face needs

what we need in order to feel like somebody is being polite to us.

Face threatening acts

when a person’s face needs are threatened or ignored.

Face theory

the concept of how all communication relies on presenting a ‘face’ to listeners and audiences, and how the management of positive and negative face contributes to interaction.

Familect

a style of language used within a family.

Framing

the idea that speakers mark their understanding of the context they are in (e.g by smiling or laughing to showcase playfulness).

Genderlect

a style of language thought to be distinctive of either men or women.

Hedge

linguistic forms that suggest uncertainty. They are linked to politeness, and can ‘soften’ opinions.

Idiolect

a speaker’s linguistic fingerprint, including their accent, pitch, word choice and style.

Initiator

words that signal a person is about to speak.

Interactional function

used when speakers are socialising. Emphasis is placed upon this social relationship between the speakers.

IRF structure

a pattern of discussion between a teacher and a learner (also known as Initiation

Interlocutor

a person who takes part in dialogue or conversation.

Implicature

an indirect way of conveying meaning.

Interruptions

violations of the turn-taking rules of conversation.

Jargon

specialist vocabulary for a particular subject or profession. It can confuse those who aren’t familiar with it.

High-frequency lexis

words that appear often in everyday speech. They are typically more informal.

Low-frequency lexis

words that are used rarely. They are typically more formal.

Loanword

a word adopted from a foreign language with little or no modification (e.g emoji was adopted from Japanese).

Language ideologies

cultural conceptions about language, its nature, structure and use, and about the place of communicative behaviour in social life.

Linguistic appropriacy

the use of language that is suitable, fitting, and proper for a particular context or situation.

Latch-on

where speaker 2 leaps in immediately after speaker 1 has completed an utterance without time for a micropause.

Minimal response

sounds/words indicating the listener’s positive attention.

Monitoring feature

words and phrases that check that the addressee is listening.

Natural end to a conversation

all participants must agree that the conversation has ended and there must be a build up to it (e.g the end of a story).

Non-fluency features

repetition, stumbling over words, false starts/repairs, fillers.

Non-verbal closing sequences

ways of indicating a conversation is about to close through non-verbal sequences (e.g collecting belongings or getting up).

Negative face needs

our need for privacy, independence, autonomy, freedom and the right to make our own decisions.

Negative politeness

avoidance based - presumes that the speaker will be imposing on the listener, therefore respecting their negative face needs.

Non-standard utterances

an utterance spoken in non-standard English.

Non-standard English

the ‘informal version’ of English. It can change depending on where it is being spoken.

Non-rhotic

where the letter ‘r’ is only pronounced in pre-vocalic positions.

Netiquette

a set of rules and etiquette for appropriate online behavior, including respectful language, avoiding all caps (which can seem like shouting), and respecting others' privacy.

Non-verbal behaviour

communication that takes place via the body (e.g gestures and facial expressions).

Omission

when a word that should be in a sentence or utterance is missing.

Omitted punctuation

when punctuation is not included.

Overlaps

instances of slight over-anticipation by the next speaker, with the next speaker beginning to speak at the very end of the current speaker’s turn.

Paralinguistic features

gestures and accompanying facial expressions which contribute to the communication of meanings in speech.

Phatic talk

small talk. It has no obvious purpose other than establishing and maintaining personal relationships.

Pre-closing sequences

ways of indicating a conversation is about to close (e.g “well, I’ve got to go”).

Prosodic features

aspects of the use of the voice (intonation, stress, tempo, volume and pitch) which contribute to meanings communicated in speech.

Positive face needs

our need to be respected, honoured, included, approved of, liked, and considered competent and trustworthy.

Positive politeness

minimises threats to the listener’s positive face and makes them feel good about themselves.

Paralinguistic signs

paralinguistic features that are used to convey a meaning (e.g shrugging of the shoulders to convey confusion).

Prosodic representation

prosodic features that are used to represent or convey something (e.g a raised voice may convey anger).

Pre-vocalic

a sound or letter that comes before a vowel in a word.

Post-vocalic

a sound or letter that comes after a vowel in a word.

Paralanguage

aspects of an individual’s vocal expression, such as whispering, laughter and breathiness.

Personal pronouns

a type of pronoun that substitutes for another noun.

Phoneme

the smallest and most basic unit of sound that distinguishes words from one another.

Question and answer sequences

a type of adjacency pair (“Do you have the time?” “Yes, it’s 10 o’clock).

Repair

where speakers make a mistake and correct themselves.

Repetition

saying something more than once.

Referential function

utterances that provide information.

Reactive token

A short response given by a listener while someone else is speaking.

Rhotic

where the letter ‘r’ is pronounced in all positions in a word.

Slang

a type of language that consists of words and phrases that are regarded as very informal. They are typically restricted to certain groups or contexts, and are more common in speech than in writing.

Sociolect

the form of a language that people in a particular social group speak (i.e teenagers, the upper class, doctors etc.).

Self-correction

where speakers make a mistake and correct themselves.

Social networks

a structure composed of individuals (or organisations) connected through relationships and interactions.

Tag questions

short question forms (‘isn’t it?’) tagged onto the end of utterances.

Turn-taking

a conversational structure where one person listens while the other person speaks.

Current speaker selects next

the first part of an adjacency pair that is directed at another speaker.

Self-select

any participant looks for transition relevance points and speaks at the next available one.

Speaker continuation

the current speaker continues with their turn.

Three-part exchanges

another familiar way of organising conversation (e.g the typical teacher-student interaction - “What’s the capital of Vietnam?” “Hanoi” “Correct”).

Topic

gives a conversation coherence and structure.

Topic loop

where a conversation returns to an earlier topic.

Topic selection

can be seen as a sign of conversational dominance.

Topic shifters

change the topic. They can be discourse markers.

Transactional function

used when participants are exchanging services, buying something, going to the doctor etc. It focuses on getting something done.

Transition relevance points

points in a conversation where the current speaker is willing to give up the turn.

Unequal power encounters

when one person in a conversation holds more power or authority over another.

Unvoiced pauses

a silent gap in speech, marked in a transcript by (.).

Utterance

a complete unit of speech, with the ending marked by a pause or a new speaker taking over.

Voiced pauses

a gap in speech marked by a noise such as um, erm or er.

Vocative

the form of a noun, pronoun or adjective that is used when talking to someone or something.