Spoken Language Features

Question	Answer
Interactional Talk	Language in conversation used for interpersonal reasons and/or socialising.
Non-fluency Features	Characteristics of spoken language that interrupt the 'flow' of talk. Some exacples include hesitations, false starts, fillers, repetitions, overlaps and interruptions.
Paralinguistic Features	Related to body language - it is the use of gestures, facial expressions and other non-verbal elements (such as laughter) to add meaning to the speakers message beyond the words being spoken.
Phatic Talk	Conversational utterances that have no concrete purpose other than to establish or maintain personal relationships - similar to 'small talk'.
Pragmatics	An approach to discourse analysis which focuses less on contexts and purposes of people talking to eachother.
Prosodic Features	Includes features such as stress, rhythm, pitch, tempo and intonation. It is essentially, how something is said.
Repairs	An alteration that is suggested or made by a speaker in order to correct or clarify previous conversational contribution.
Sociolect	A social dialect or variety of speech used by a particular group, such as working-class or upper-class speech.
Tag Question	Strings of words normall added to a declarative sentence to turn the statement into a question.
Transactional Talk	Language to get things done or to transmit content or information.
Turn Taking	A turn is a time which a single participant speaks, within a typical, orderly arrangement in which participants speak with minimal overlap and gap between them.
Utterance	An utterance is a complete unit of talk, bounded by the speaker's silence.
Vague Language	Statements that sound imprecise and unassertive.
Accent	The ways in which words are pronounced. Accent can vary according to the region or social class of a speaker.
Adjacency Pairs	Parallel expressions used across the boundaries of individual speaking turns. They're usually ritualistic and formulaic socially. Eg, 'How are you?' 'Fine thanks'
Back-channel	Words, phrases and non-verbal utterances ('I see', 'oh', 'uh huh', 'ahh') used by a listener to give feedback to a speaker that the message is being followed and understood.
Contraction	A reduced form, often marked by an apostrophe in writing - 'cannot' 'can't', 'she will' 'she'll'.
Deixis/Deictics	Words such as 'this', 'that', 'here', 'there' which refer backwards or forwards outside a text. It is very dependant on context.
Dialect	The distinctive grammar and vocabulary used which is associated with a regional or social use of a language.
Discourse Marker	Words and phrases which are used to signal the relationship and connections between utterances and to show that what is being said can be followed by the listener or reader - eg, 'first', 'on the other hand', 'now', 'anyway'.
Elision	The ommision or slurring (eliding) of one or more sounds or syllables - gonna = going to, wannabe = want to be
Ellipsis	The omission of part of a grammatical structure. For example, 'You going to the party?' has the word 'are' missing.
False Start	This is when the speaker begins an utterance, then stops and either repeats or reformulates it.
Filler	Items which do not carry conventional meaning but which are inserted into speech to allow time to think, create a pause or hold a turn in conversation. Examples include 'er', 'um', 'ah', 'like'.
Hedge	Words and phrases which soften or weaken the force with which something is said - eg, 'perhaps', 'maybe', 'sort of', 'possibly', 'I think'.
Idiolect	An individually distinctive style of speaking.
Alloiosis	Breaking down a subject into alternatives; 'You can either...'
Anadiplosis	Repetition of the last word of a linee to begin another: 'We have worked hard to improve our policy on immigration. Immigration; an issue that requires further discussion'.
Anaphora	Repetition of the same word at the beginning of successive clauses: 'It has been an amazing five years - five years of happiness, five years of change...'
Chiasmus	When the order in the second half of an expression reverses that of the first: 'When the going gets tough, the tough gets going'.
Diacope	Repetition of a word or phrase with one or more words placed in between: 'Give me strength, O Lord, give me strength'.
Epiphora	The opposite of anaphora. The word is repeated at the end of the successive clauses: 'When I was a child, I spoke like a child, dressed like a child...'
Occupatio	Emphasising a point by pointedly seeming to pass it over: 'I will not discuss his crimial record, his several jail terms, the daring escape...'
Pathos	When a speaker appeals directly to the emotions of the audience.
Tapinosis	Debasing/mocking language. For example, calling an 'air hostess' a 'trolley dolly'.

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Spoken Language Features

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	Created by Emilly Todd over 10 years ago