Spoken Language

SPOKEN LANGUAGE

PURPOSES

- Informative - in a lecture (referential)

- Social - in an informal conversation (phatic)

- Aim to get something done - a telephone call to a plumber (transactional)

- Reveal a speaker's personal state of mind/attitude (expressive)

In each case, the context, audience and speaker's intentions will dictate the linguistic and prosodic choices made.

(1) Who are the participants and what are their roles?

(2) Do they have equal status?

(3) What is the purpose of the exchange?

(4) How is the discourse affected by the context?

FEATURES OF SPOKEN LANGUAGE

THE MANNER

- Depends upon the relative status of the participants

o The inequality at a job interview between the interviewers and interviewee means that the tone will be formal

o The equality between two students having a chat in the common room means that the tone will be informal

- Lexical, grammatical and prosodic choices will be dictated by the manner - the relative formality or informality of the encounter.

- Cultural and social expectations assimilated from an early age means that participants in any spoken discourse will often make the same kinds of decision about what is and what is not acceptable.

THE SPEAKERS

- The relationship of the speakers - or their relative status is the first area of a transcript to address

- Educational/social/economic status of the participants are fixed - but other features are not.

- Speakers may take it in turns to select topics

o Turn-taking may be co-operative or one speaker may be more dominant than others

o The purpose of the discourse could change - making a different participant the 'expert'

THE TOPIC

- The topic and goal of a spoken encounter are also directly related to the manner and the participants

- The more clearly defined the purpose - the more formal the exchange is likely to be

- A formal speech will often first be written in note form or in full - will have predetermined content