Introducing Spoken Language Study

Introducing spoken language study

Repetition, hesitation, interruption

In conversation we often find examples of the following features of talk:

Interruptions / Turn-taking / Repetition
Overlap
Starting to speak before another speaker has finished / Fillers and pauses
Hesitating with pauses or words such as ‘erm’ / Hedges
Soften the impact of what we say by using words and phrases such as ‘perhaps’, ‘slightly’, ‘I think’ etc

Identify

Read the following transcript and highlight any of these features of talk:

Introducing spoken language study

Repetition, hesitation, interruption

Analyse

What are the effects of the features of talk you have identified? What might they reveal about the speakers or their relationships?

Do you think any of the following might be applicable? Can you think of examples when these might be the case?

Reveals that the speaker is over-excited or enthusiastic / Shows agreement with what has been said / Shows interest in what is being said / Allows the speaker to avoid an uncomfortable situation
To be polite / Encourages a speaker to continue talking / Suggests that a speaker wants to be centre of attention / Shows support for a speaker
Avoids confrontation / To take control because you have something interesting to say / Appeals to a higher status speaker / Allows thinking time for a speaker
Shows understanding / Reveals disagreement / Softens a contrary opinion / Clarifies a point being made by the speaker

Introducing spoken language study

Repetition, hesitation, interruption

This is a spontaneous conversation between people who are very comfortable with each other at a social occasion of good will. The participants seem relaxed. They have shared gender and family. The interpretation of some of the motives will be uncertain as we do cannot hear the tone of each speaker for clues and cannot see the non-spoken signals.