cla

• Transcription


  An exact record of spoken language
• Discourse


  Any spoken or written language that is longer than a sentence (in this section, it applies primarily to spoken language)
• Spontaneous speech


  Unplanned speech like a conversation
• Utterance


  Spontaneous speech is in utterances and not sentences, and these utterances are not transcribed in the same way as written language
• Transcripts


  • Do not follow the conventions of writing
  • Do not just record what was said, they also record how it was said
  • Do not include quotation marks around speech and do not begin new lines or sentences with a capital letter
  • The speakers' names are usually written in all caps and are on the left side, using a colon to separate the name from their utterance
  • Do not use punctuation like commas, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks
• Body language


  Nonverbal gestures that put across meaning
• Conversational floor


  The one speaking when someone is about to finish his or her turn
• Strategies to determine or signal who will take over the conversational floor

  1. Name the person

  2. Complete what we are saying

  3. Hesitate - it only takes a fractionally longer pause than usual for someone to fill the silence

  4. Use sound and body language - our voice may start to fall and we may look more closely at those who are about to take their conversational turn
• Opening greeting


  Conversations usually begin with a standard form to help ease participants into the conversations, such as 'g'day', 'howdy', 'hi', 'hiya', 'hello', 'good morning', 'how are you?'
• Adjacency pairs


  Dialogue that follows a set pattern of an utterance from one speaker and a response from another
• Turn taking


  Yielding the floor by prolonging a pause or by glancing at the elected next speaker. Conversation is usually cooperative with participants taking turns, but quite frequently, speakers overlap
• Holding the conversational floor

  Strategies used when someone is about to finish their turn to determine or signal who will take over: naming the person, completing what we are saying, hesitating, using sound and body language
• Clashing


  When two people start to speak at the same time, the clash is acknowledged - one participant must stop talking while the other continues
• Status


  The perceived position of a person's authority and influence in relation to those around them, which is important in managing a conversation
• Repairing


  Correcting oneself when an error has been made, using phrases like 'I mean...', 'I should have said...', 'no', 'that's wrong', or 'I wanted to say...'
• Topic shift


  The point at which speakers move from one topic to another, signalled by expressions like 'Oh, by the way...' or 'which reminds me...'
• Conversation endings


  Closing a conversation, using formulaic utterances like 'see you later', 'bye', 'nice to see you', or making plans to be in contact again
• Elision


  The omission of sounds or syllables which are present in the word, either within a word or between two words
• Ellipsis


  The omission of a word or words in speech or writing, though the sense is still evident through the context
• Non-fluency features


  Fillers which give us time to think and/or to announce that we are going to say something when the sound is extended (e.g. 'mmm')
• Pauses


  Meaningful in any conversation, sometimes indicating unease and tension as well as simply when someone is thinking about what to say
• Vocal expressions


  Sounds like giggling, sighing, tutting, oohing, and aahing
• Prosodic features


  Nonphonemic segments - emotional features of the speaker or of their utterances: their obvious or underlying emotional state, the form of utterance (statement, question, or command)
• Tone


  Relates to the emotion associated with the utterance - you can generally tell whether someone is irritated, angry, happy, sad etc.
• Pitch


  Whether the voice is high or low
• Speed


  Relates to the pace we speak - when excited or frightened, we may speak faster, and when uncertain or wishing to be careful, we tend to speak more slowly
• Paralinguistic features


  Unspoken elements of communication such as body language, gestures and facial expressions
• Feedback signals


  That the listener is following the conversation, including back-channel words and sounds like 'agreed', 'oh', 'yeah', 'right', 'uh-huh' 'really', 'mmm', 'uh huh'
• Non-verbal


  Facial expressions and body language to reinforce what is being said
• Adverbs


  Words or phrases which modify or add to adjectives, used to convey attitudes and values, and to intensify feelings and opinions
• Hedges and vague language

  Strategies used to avoid coming to the point or saying things directly, to soften the force of what is said
• Discourse markers


  Words or phrases which mark boundaries between one bit of conversation and another, where the speaker wishes to change the subject, or signal the end of the conversation
• Contractions


  Words shortened by placing an apostrophe where letters have been omitted, considered colloquial language
• Repetition


  Common in conversation, used deliberately for emphasis or unintentionally to gain thinking time
• Deixis


  Words in the context of the conversation, which a non-participant would not be able to make sense of, like 'this', 'that', 'here' and 'there'
• Non-standard English features and forms

  Errors in standard English commonly used when a speaker struggles to phrase utterances, like lack of agreement between subject and verb, incorrect use of tenses, and unfinished utterances
• Phatic communication


  Polite 'ice-breakers' used when greeting people to initiate a conversation, with a social function of building relationships rather than informing
• Tag questions


  When a speaker adds a question to prompt a response from the listener, e.g. 'It's hot in here, isn't it?'
• False start


  When a speaker realizes they have made an error and attempts to repair it through reformation, e.g. 'I come home/came home very quickly'