Audience & purpose

Step 1 Audience & purpose

Step 1 These affect the way in which something is spoken and perhaps prepared for.

Step 1 Context

Step 1 The social situation, including audience and purpose, in which language is used; this situation is an important influence on the language choices made by speakers and writers.

Step 2 Adjacency pairs

Pattern of speech in which one utterance is followed by an appropriate linked response. • Typical ones: • A question followed by an answer • A greeting followed by an appropriate response • A statement followed by a statement of agreement/ disagreement • A command followed by obedience or disobedience Step 2

Step 2 Chaining

Step 2 The linking of a series of adjacency pairs to build up a conversation.

Step 2 Interruption

Step 2 When a speaker begins to talk before the previous speaker has finished, in an attempt to take over the conversation and gain control.

Step 2 Overlap

Step 2 When a speaker begins to talk before the previous speaker has finished, perhaps because of their enthusiasm to join in the discussion or to show support for the speaker. An overlap is generally more cooperative and supportive, and less competitive, than an interruption.

Step 2 Turn-taking

The pattern of spontaneous interactive speech in which participants cooperate or compete for the roles of listener/ speaker. • CONSIDER: • Who dominates the turn- taking • How speakers get a turn and gain control of the conversation • Who does not get a turn and why • How speakers prevent others from taking a turn • How speakers indicate that their turn is finished and they are ready to pass the turn onto another speaker • What happens when speakers deliberately flout the expectations we have about turn- taking. Step 2

Step 2 Repair

A self-correction in spontaneous speech. You may pick up signals from your audience that what you are saying is too difficult for them to understand or too boring, and so change or shorten what you are saying. You may realise that what you are about to say may cause offence, and so adapt and amend your language. You may suddenly think of a better or more interesting way to express yourself and so go back and ‘cross out’ what you have started to say. Step 2

Step 2 Side sequence

Step 2 A sequence of utterances inserted into a conversation, which causes the main topic of the conversation to be temporarily suspended.

Step 3 Phatic utterance

Step 3 Words spoken to establish social contact and express friendly intentions towards another person, rather than to convey significant information ‘Nice day today’

Step 3 Monosyllabic words

Step 3 Words with only 1 syllable

Step 3 Polysyllabic words

Step 3 Words with more than 1 syllable

Dialect Step 3

A variety of a particular language characterised by distinctive features of accent, grammar and vocabulary. Used by people from a particular geographical area or social group. Indicative of a group Step 3

Step 3 Hedge

Step 3 A word/ phrase such as ‘maybe’, ‘perhaps’, or ‘sort of,’ used to soften the impact of what’s said or to make a speech sound more polite.

Step 4 Accent

Step 4 The characteristic pronunciation, features and speech rhythms of a speaker, usually related to regional or social influences. Individual

Step 4 Elision

Step 4 The running together of words or the omission of parts of words- ‘gonna’ for going to or ‘y’know’ for you know

Step 4 Ellipsis

The omission of part of a sentence. ‘Hope you get well soon’ is an example as the personal pronoun, ‘I’ has been left out. Can also be represented by ... to indicate the missing part of the sentence. Step 4

Step 5 Fillers

Step 5 Sounds such as ‘erm’ and ‘um’ and ‘er’ which speakers use to fill pauses in speech. Some speakers also use expressions such as ‘y’know’ and ‘like’ as verbal fillers.

Step 5 Micropause

Step 5 An even shorter pause in a spoken text.

Step 5 Pause

Step 5 A short break in a spoken text, recorded in seconds.

Step 5 Paralinguistic features

Step 5 Non-verbal aspects of communication such as intonation/ pausing, which work alongside language to help a speaker convey meaning effectively.

Audience & purpose