FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF SPOKEN LANGUAGEUniversity of California, Riverside, Extension TESOL - Conversation Methodologies Fundamental Characteristics of Spoken Lanquage Reza Bahrami, PhD 1, Performance Effects: - Definition: audible effects of real-time processing difficulties Categories: A) Hesitation (e.g. urm, uh, ...) B) Repeats C) False Starts D) Incompletion/ Incomplete Utterances (¢.9. if you ever need anything) E) Syntactic Blends/ Anacolutha (singular: Anacoluthon) ))= Definition: utterances that ‘blend’ two grammatical structures (e.g. I've been to China ... in 1998.) A syntactic interruption or deviation: an abrupt change in a sentence from one construction to another which is grammatically inconsistent with the first. Anacoluttion is sometimes considered a stylistic fault (a type of dysfluency) and sometimes a deliberate rhetorical effect (a figure of speech). 2. Prefabs: (common short form for: Prefabricated Chunks or Prefabricated Language) (a.k.a. Lexical Phrases, Holophrases, Formulaic Language) - very broad definition: any combination of words which occur together with more than random frequency Another Definition: A prefab is ‘a common ready-made unit freeing the speaker from having to construct each utterance from scratch - Advantages of using prefabs: A) increasing fluency: Fluency is defined as 'the capacity to string long runs together, with appropriately placed pausing.’ Fluency requires a good level of automaticity, which can be, in part, achieved by the storing and retrieving of prefabs as whole units. There is an inverse correlation between (i.) the number of units to assemble, and (ji.) gain in fluency. In other words, with fewer units to assemble at the moment of articulation, there is a proportionally greater gain in fluency.B) saving formulation time (leading, in tum, to fluency) C) serving as ‘islands of reliability,’ on which the speaker can rest while planning the next run. Note: A, B, and C above are closely related, D) Naturainess: Using prefabs helps the non-native speaker to sound more natural to her int (especially if the interlocutor is a native speaker of the language). Cor Gal an Categories of Prefabs: A) Collocations (e.g. 'set the table’) B) Phrasal Verbs (e.9. run out of ) C) Idioms, Catchphrases, and Sayings (e.g. of an idiom: ‘make ends meet’) D) Sentence Frames ~ Definition: the fixed components of sentences, especially at the beginning of sentences, that frame’ open slots e.g. ‘The thing is..." e.g. 'What really gets mes..." E) Social Formulas (e.9. ‘See you later.’) F) DISCOURSE MARKERS (Due to the extreme importance of Discourse Markers, they are explained separately.)3, Discourse Markers: In order to achieve Coherence/Cohesion in speaking, speakers use both their Lexical Knowledge and Grammatical Knowledge both ‘between utterances’ and ‘across turns’ through the use of Discourse Markers, leading to Discourse Competence. Discourse Markers connect one utterance to another and one tum to another (the previous turn). Discourse Markers are used in order to: A) signal one's intentions B) hold conversational turn C) mark boundaries in the talk In formal contexts, interactional Moves are formally signaled (e.g. By the raising of hand); in contrast, in informal contexts, this is accomplished using Discourse Markers. (See pages 9 and 15 in 'How to Teach Speaking’ by Scott Thombury for examples.) 4, Backchannel Devices: (a.k.a, Backchannel Signals) (e.g. uh-huh, ie. ‘I'm listening.) Definition: (in conversation) a noise, gesture, expression, or word by a listener to indicate that he or she is listening and paying attention Backchannel Devices include head movements, brief vocalizations, glances, and facial expressions; often in combination“They do ‘not’ constitute tums or attempts to take the ett floor (These are what Discourse Markers are used for.). On the contrary, they are indications that we expect the speaker to continue. As it can be seen above, Backchannel Devices can be either Verbal or Non-Verbal, although the two forms are often used in combination,5, Production Strategies: Production Strategies are ‘tricks’ that speakers use to give and/or maintain the ‘lusion of Fluency’ and to compensate for the attentional demands involved in speech production. An illustration of Production Strategies is the ‘ability to disguise pauses,’ which can be accomplished by the use of: A) Pause Fillers (e.g. uh, um, er, erm) B) Vaqueness Expressions ( e.g. sort of, | mean) (Refer to page 9-16 in this handout. C) Repeats (.e. the repetition of a word or phrase at the point where formulation has been temporarily pauses.) 6. Ellipsis: = Definition: lack of explicitness in speaking (vs. writing) by /eaving out words, phrases, and clauses due to the existence of a shared context (the ‘situated’ nature of speech), nh 8 making such words etc. redundant e.g. Sounds great! (as opposed to: That sounds great. - ‘That’ has been left out.) 7. Deictic Language/ Deixis: Definition of 'Deictic’: of, relating to, or denoting a word or expression whose meaning is dependent on the context in which it is used Definition of 'Deictic Language/ Deixis': words and expressions that point to the place, time, and participants in the immediate or a more distant context. The exact referents ofdeictic expressions- that is, the exact things or people they refer to- are only recoverable by reference to the context - Main Categories: A) Spatial Deixis e.g. here, there, this/that (place, thing, etc.) B) Temporal Deixis e.g, now, then, this/that (place, thing, etc.) C) Person Deixis e.g. |, me, you, your 8, Structure/Construction of an Utterance: (as opposed to standard sentence structure: subject + verb + object or complement) A) Head + Body + Tail e.g. Pizza | said. (Head + Body) €.9. This is awesome this pizza. (Body + Tail) B) Body + Tail + Tag e.g. He is nice, isn't he? The following list illustrates some of the grammatical structures that are remarkably more common in speaking than in writing; 1. Active (vs. Passive) 2. Direct) Quoted Speech (vs. Indirect/ Reported Speech) 3. Implied Forms:e.g. | wouldn't spend that much money on an old car. (v.s. If | were you, | wouldn't spend that much money on an old car.) 4, Simple Tenses (especially Present Simple Tense) (v.s. Progressive and Perfect Tenses) 5. Clauses are usually added/embedded/coordinated (as opposed to ‘subordinated’). Rationale: in speaking, Clause is the basic unit of construction, while in writing, Sentence is the basic unit of construction.VAGUENESS (VAGUE) EXPRESSIONSUniversity of California, Riverside, Extension TESOL - Conversation Methodologies VAGUENESS EXPRESSIONS (¢ Vague Expressions) Reza Bahrami, PhD Vague language is very common, especially in speaking. We often add words and phrases such as about, kind of, sort of, and that kind of thing to make what we say less factual and direct: There were about twenty people at the meeting. It's kind of cold in here. Did you see lions and giraffes and that kind of thing when you were in South Africa? + We generally use vague language when we don't know the name of something, or to make things sound less factual, or t6 talk about groups and categories. 10When we don't know the name of something We can use vague expressions when we are not sure of the name of something. These expressions include: What do you call it?, What's it called?, It’s a kind of X, It's a sort of X, It's a type of X, or something, thing, stuff. A Val's been in hospital for tests. Did you know that? B: No. What's wrong? A Well, they're not sure. She's had to have that test, er, what do you call it? Where you have to go into a type of X-ray machine. B: ACAT scan? A Yeah. She's had that done but they still don't know what's causing her headaches. - She's got a small dog, a kind of poodle, or something. - What's that stuff you use when your lips get dry? - Where's the thing for cleaning the window? 1Spoken English: In very informal speaking, we sometimes say /‘wotfjemeko:Irt/, / wotfjemako:Irnv/, / @inemi/, / xnemedgig/. These are informal versions of what do you call it/him/her, etc. We never write these words: A: ‘Andrew's just moved in with whatyamacalihim / wotfjemeko:iim/? No, his friend from Manchester. Making things sound less factual Being very factual can sometimes sound too direct in speaking, and so we add vague expressions. These are called hedges: about, kind of, sort of, ish (suffix), stuff, thinas: Ppl Oc, There's sort of something | don't like about her. (more direct: There's something | don't like about her.) It's kind of bright in here. (more direct: It's too bright in here.) I can't meet up later. | have too much stuff to do. | forget so many things these days. - We especially use vague expressions before numbers, quantities and times to make them sound less factual: 21 see you at about 8 tomorrow morning for breakfast. Is that okay? (more direct: I see you at 8 tomorrow morning for breakfast.) We expect to take in or around two years to complete the project. (more direct: We expect fo take two years and four months to complete the project.) We're meeting Veronica at four-ish. (more direct: We're meeting Veronica at four.) We've been living here for more or less five years. (more direct: We've been living here for five years and three months.) Talking about groups and categories We use certain vague expressions to make groups or categories. We usually give examples of members of the group or category and then add a vague expression, e.g. necklaces, bracelets and things like that. Common vague expressions include: 41, and that kind of thing and stuff like that 2. and that sort of thing and stuff 3. and that type of thing and so on 4. and things like that and this, that and the other 5. and the like Where are all the knives and forks and that kind of thing? I need to buy cards and wrapping paper and stuff like that. BWhere's Emma? B: She's gone to the doctor. She's been getting pains in her stomach and feeling tired and things like that. He never eats chocolate, sweets and that type of thing. There are so many vans and trucks and that sort of thing passing by our house, even during the night. We sometimes find vague category expressions in formal speaking, but we usually use different expressions, such as: and so forth, et cetera, and so on, and so on and so forth: [from a university lecture on literature] The book has often been looked at from a feminist perspective and so forth but | want to look at it from a political perspective today. {from a university lecture on communication} If you use an advertisement in the newspaper, a thirty-second ad on television et cetera et cetera, it will receive quite a wide audience but there’s relatively little you can say in it. (ad = advertisement) What are your views on the new government and the changes they have made and so forth? 14We sometimes use vague category expressions in writing, The most common ones are: and so on and et cetera (which is shortened to etc.) The new theatre will be used for big events such as opera, ballet, drama and so on. The house is equipped with a cooker, washing machine, television, etc. When can vague expressions be impolite? Expressions such as stuff and whatever, whoever, whenever, whichever are sometimes used to be vague in an impolite way. These are especially impolite when they are used in a reply to a direct question asked by someone who is senior to us’ [a father to his son] A: What did you do at school today? B: ‘Stuff. (This is not a polite reply. It can mean ‘I don't want to talk to you'.) [parent to teenage daughter] A You spend too long on the phone. Whatever. (This is a very impolite response and means ‘I don't care’.) [two friends talking] 15A: We're meeting around seven at Mel's place. No, it's at six thirty. A: Well, whenever. (This is not as impolite, because it is between friends. A uses whenever to show that she is annoyed that she has been contradicted about the time and that it doesn't really matter whether it's six thirty or seven.) 16