UNDERSTANDING

SPOKEN DISCOURSE
Discursive Practices. Verbal
Interactions

Explaining the term

Discourse is a set of utterances which

constitute any recognizable speech unit
and it is a behavioural unit which has
pre-theoretical status in linguistics. It is a
general term used in pragmatics to refer
to language that has been produced as
the result of an act of communication. In
another words, it stands for a stretch of
language which is unified, meaningful
and purposive.

Features of Spoken Language

1.The syntax of spoken English is much less structural:

i.Spoken language contains many incomplete sentences, often

simple sequences of phrases, for example, okay, thatll do

ii.Spoken language possesses rather little subordination.

iii.Spoken language contains a lot of active declarative sentences:

There are five million people at risk.
I am no wine connoisseur, but I know what I like.

2.In spoken language the chunks of utterances are connected by

and, but, then and more rarely, if.
3.It is rare in spoken language to find more than two pre-modifying
adjectives, and there is a strong tendency to structure the short
chunks of speech so that only one predicate is attacked to a given
referent at a time as in its a biggish cat= tabby + with torn ears.

Features of Spoken
Language

4.The use of passive is not found in speech.

Instead active constructions with indeterminate group
agents are noticeable in spoken language, as in-oh
everything they do in Edinburgh + they do it so slowly.

5.In a chat about what is happening outside in

terms of weather, the speaker may, for example, look
out the window as to supply a referent. (looking at
the rain) frightful isnt it?

6.The speaker may replace or refine expressions

as he/she goes along for example, this man +this chap
she was going out with.

Features of Spoken
Language

7. In spoken language, the speaker typically uses a lot

of rather generalized vocabulary, for example,-a lot of,
thing, got, nice, do, stuff, place, etc.

8. In spoken language, the speaker frequently repeats

the same syntactic form several times - repetitions and
hesitations.

9.The speaker may produce a large number of

prefabricated fillers, such as, well, em, I think, you know, of
course and soon.

10.The speaker tries to establish and maintain role

relationship with the listener.

How spoken language

works

1.Adjacency pairs: A pair of utterances in

talk is often mutually dependent. A most
obvious example is that a question predicts an
answer and that an answer presupposes a
question.

2.Turn taking: People take turns when they

are selected or nominated by the current
speaker, or if no one is selected, they may
speak of their own accord (self-selection).If
neither of these conditions applies, the person
who is currently speaking may continue.

How spoken language

works

3.Transactions and topics: In transactions, we are concerned

with how speakers manage longer stretches of talk. They are most
marked in settings. Such as classrooms, doctors surgeries and
formal interviews, they are also present in openings and closings.
We also considered the question of realizations of markers in
different languages. On the other hand, topics could be defined on
the formal level, as stretches of talk bounded by certain topic
and/or transactional markers, such as lexical ones (by the way, to
change the subject) or phonological ones (change in pitch)

4.Interactional and transactional talk: Transactional talk is for

getting business done in the world i.e.in order to produce some
change in the situation that pertains. On the other hand,
interactional talk has as its primary functions the lubrication of the
social wheels, establishing roles and relationships with another
person prior to transactional talk, confirming and consolidating
relationships expressing solidarity and so on.

How spoken language

works

5.Stories, anecdotes, jokes: Almost any

piece of conversational data between friends
will yield occasions where people engage in
the telling of stories, anecdotes, jokes and
other kinds of narratives. The ability to tell a
good story or joke is a highly regarded, talent
probably in all cultures.

6.Speech and grammar: Brief mention

must be made here of the role of
grammatical accuracy in unprepared speech.

Distinction between written and spoken

discourse

Spoken and written discourse differ for many

reasons. Spoken discourse has to be
understood immediately; written discourse
can be referred to many times

General Differences

1. Grammatical intricacy
2. Lexical density
3. Nominalization
4. Explicitness
5. Contextualization
6. Spontaneity
7. Repetition, hesitations, and
redundancy

Grammatical Intricacy
View:
Written discourse is more structurally
complex and more elaborate than
spoken discourse .
In other words, sentences in spoken
discourse are short and simple, whereas
they are longer and more complex in
written discourse.

Grammatical Intricacy

But Halliday argues that spoken

discourse is NOT less organized. He
claims that spoken discourse has its own
kind of complexity.
In spoken discourse clauses are long
and spread out => Spoken discourse
can be grammatically intricate as well.

Lexical Density

Lexical density refers to the ratio of

content words (i.e. nouns, verbs,
adjectives, and adverbs) to grammatical
or function words (e.g. pronouns,
prepositions, articles) within a clause.

View: Spoken discourse is less lexically

dense than written discourse. Content
words tend to be spread out over a
number of clauses, whereas they seem
to be tightly packed into individual

Nominalization
Nominalization refers to presenting
actions and events as nouns rather than
as verbs.
View:
a. Written discourse has a high level of
nominalization: i.e. more nouns than
verbs.
b. Written discourse tends to have longer
noun groups than spoken discourse.

Explicitness
View:
Writing is more explicit than speech.

Rebuttal:
-This is not always true.
-It depends on the purpose of text.
A writer/speaker can state something
explicitly or infer it depending on many
variables.

Contextualization

Rebuttal:
This may be true of conversations, but
not in all types of spoken discourses.
Some types of written discourse may
show high dependence on shared
contextual knowledge, e.g. personal
letters between friends.

Spontaneity
View:
a. Spoken discourse lacks organization and is
ungrammatical because it is spontaneous, whereas
written discourse is organized and grammatical.
b. Spoken discourse contains more uncompleted and
reformulated sentences.
c. Topics can be changed.
d. Speakers may interrupt and overlap
.Rebuttal:
Spoken discourse is organized, but it is organized
differently from written discourse.

Repetition, Hesitation, and Redundancy

a.

b.

View:
Spoken discourse contains more
repetition, hesitations, and redundancy
because it is produced in real time (i.e.
on the spot).
Spoken discourse has many pauses and
fillers, such as hhh, er and you
know.

About function

Hymes (1972) observes that how something is said is

part of what is said (in Coulthard 1985:50).
For example: I.
shut the door
II. Can you shut the door
The above clauses have the form-classifications of, (I.)
imperative and (II) interrogative, but both could be
assigned the functional classification of directive. The
directive function of the above stem from the verb
shut and whatever follows (the door, the window
your mouth etc.). While example II above looks like an
inquire that could be paraphrased as Are you willing to
shut the door?, this Can you equals Are you willing
paraphrase is faulty (Haegeman, 1983:83).

About function

According to Grice (1975), for an utterance in form to

be unambiguous requires that the speaker fulfil four
maxims:
1. Relation be relevant
2. Quality a) do not say what you believe to be false b)
do not say that for which you lack adequate evidence
3. Quantity a) make your contribution as informative as
is required b) do not make your contribution more
informative than required
4. Manner a) avoid obscurity of expression b) avoid
ambiguity c) be brief d) be orderly (In Coulthard,
1985:31)

About function

Many utterances do not conform to these maxims, but

retroactive application of these maxims by the listener onto
the utterance, allows him or her to interpret the function of the
speakers (potentially) ambiguous utterance. For example, if
one roommate says to another: The music is a bit loud,
rather than focus solely on the utterances declarative form,
which seems like a mere statement of fact, the listener
mentally rephrases the utterance as if the speaker had fulfilled
Grices maxims. The listener is able to interpret the utterances
declarative form as a directive, the speaker likely means: Turn
down the music. The utterances function is now understood,
despite the speaker having violated maxims of both Quantity
and Manner. This constant effort to interpret each others
utterances is what Grice (1975) calls the Co-operative
Principle.

Exchanges

Exchange Structure Sinclair & Coulthard (1975)

created a rank scale for discourse, modeled on
Hallidays (1961) rank scale for forms, comprised
of, in ascending order, the act, move, exchange,
and transaction (Brazil, 1995: 23). Spoken
discourse, by definition, must consist of at least
two turns involving at least two people. According
to Sinclair and Coulthard, the exchange structure
has at least two elements, Initiation and Response.
For example:
I: Are you busy?
R: Yes (original example)

Exchanges

However, the same exchange could go:

I: Are you busy?
?: Why?
?: Im going for a drink.
R: Cant, Ive got exams to mark.
?: Thats too bad. (original example)
[section 6.0]
The why above is not really a response, in that it does not answer the
Initiation (question) above. The why is labeled by Sinclair and
Coulthard as R/I (an optional element).
Nothing about the above R: Cant, Ive got exams to mark required
the other participant to say Thats too bad. Thats too bad is an
option labeled as Follow-up (F). A Response does not predict or require
a Follow-up unlike an I or R/I, which predict and require a Response. The
structure of exchanges can then be described as I (R/I) R (F)

Moves

A switch between an element (I, R/I, R or

F) requires a move. In section 6.0, the
Initiation was made using an eliciting
move, but in the following:
I: Im tired
R: Me too. (original example)
I is an informing move, as is the
Response. However, an acknowledging
move for R, such as Oh could also have
occurred.

On the topic of pitch

Utterances are rarely said in monotone, rather the

tone and pitch within or between utterances often
changes, and these changes in pitch convey the
utterances intended function. A pitch difference,
called the key, can be labeled high, mid, or low
relative to the pitch preceding it (Coulthard, 1992:42).
Pitch can set up constraints/expectations of what
should follow in response to an utterance. Take
keytone termination, the function value of the key of
the last prominent syllable in a tone unit.
A high termination is used to elicit a yes/no or
agree/disagree response:

On the topic of pitch

Iritating you say

VERy

irritating
Doctor: //VERy
//
Patient: //
Fig. 1
The doctors utterance was declarative
in form, but due to the intonation was
correctly interpreted by the patient as a
polarity elicitation, with the response
very irritating serving as a yes

On the topic of pitch

A mid-termination is used to elicit expected confirmation,

and therefore is not a polarity elicitation (Coulthard, 1992:
46).
Its DRY
Doctor: //
skin//Isnt it Patient: //mmm//
Fig. 2
The patient only needs to, and is only expected to,
confirm the doctors elicitation. Note also that the key of
the patient's response concords with the doctors
elicitation. This is because a high key is used as a
contrastive, so the high tone (Fig.1) very irritating
means yes not no. Whereas the mid-key (Fig.2) mmm
is neutral and additive, meaning Thats correct

On the topic of pitch

Interestingly, a low termination does not

constrain a response on the listener,
unlike high or mid-termination, and is
similar to follow-ups (see section 6.0) in
this regard. Utterances that do not
require responses are often boundary
exchange markers (indicated by ///),
marking the end of one mini-topic and
the
shift
to
another
(Coulthard,
1992:49). For example:

On the topic of pitch

OK// could you take off your

Doctor: // very
///
DRY skin
By using a low-termination the doctor is saying,
enough about your skin for now, let's move on.
The patient knew from the low-termination that the
doctor was not initiating or eliciting a response, and
therefore does not contribute one, despite the fact
that the form of the doctors utterance (very dry
skin) could easily have been an elicit given a
different intonation.

Stylistic devices in famous speeches

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiE04RgyJ8

Body language (Analyzing a meeting

between B. Obama and D. Trump)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85BlwjC4Jwg
A body language expert has analysed President
Barack Obama and Donald Trump's mannerisms
during their meeting at the White House.
The two men both gave positive feedback about the
90-minute conversation but after years of clashing,
it was clear there was some tension between them.
Patti Wood, a body language expert, analysed the
two men, concluding that Mr Obama was resigned
and not hopeful, while Mr Trump was serious and
perhaps fearful.

Body language (Analyzing a meeting

between B. Obama and D. Trump)

There is a part where he says he has

been encouraged. As he says it he closes
his eyes. I call that an eye block. That
tells me he doesn't feel totally
encouraged, Ms Wood told the
Daily Mail.
Obama was extremely fatigued,
resigned and not hopeful but very
presidential. Trump was serious and
showed indications he heard information
that made him fearful.

To Sum It Up

Spoken language has the following features:

Variations in speed, but it is generally faster

than writing.

Loudness/quietness.
Example 1

Announcer: an the winner iz:s

To Sum It Up

Spoken language depends on:

Gestures/ Body language (Mr. Bean)
Intonation.
Pitch range: - the shift to the higher pitch; the shift to the lower pitch, V - a fall rise.
Stress: underlined words in transcription: good.
Rhythm.
Pausing and phrasing: (.) a tiny gap, difficult
to be measured, (7.1) a pause of 7.1
seconds,a longer pause like (..)