1. Learner resource 8
Features of spoken English

2. Utterances
People do not speak in sentences. They speak in utterances. These utterances are composed of sounds (vowels, consonants, monophthongs and diphthongs etc) which are created by the lips, palate, vocal chords and tongue.
Spoken language is ephemeral – written is (semi) permanent.
Utterances serve different functions, some of which might be: referential, transactional, expressive, interactional or phatic. More later.

3. Other features
C, P, R: context, purpose, receiver = a branch of pragmatics.
Monologic or dialogic
Adjacency pairs
Addressee or interlocutor
Body language, expression = paralinguistic features
Phonology – phonological features: pitch, timbre, volume, tempo
Deixis and deictic expressions. Anaphoric deixis and cataphoric deixis. More later.
Hedges
Vague language

4. More…
Tag questions.
Overlaps, interruptions, seizing the floor and the politeness principle
Non-standard variation/grammar/constructions
Verbal and non-verbal fillers
Hesitation
Slips
Repetition
False starts
Digressions

5. More… Turn-taking Agenda-setting Upwards and downwards accommodation
Accent, dialect, sociolect, idiolect
RP and SE
Prestige dialects – S.E.
Topic shifters – ‘by the way’
Back-channel behaviour
Taboo language
Elision and ellipsis
Grice’s maxims: quantity, relevance, manner, quality (truthfulness)

6. More…
Labovian structure of conversational narratives: abstract, orientation, complication, resolution, evaluation, coda
Prosodic elements: intonation, tone, pitch, pace, pauses, volume, stress
Spoken lang less structured than written version
We learn to speak before we learn to read and write: spoken lang has a slightly ‘lesser’ status in the eyes of many people
Subject-specific lexis or occupational dialects = same as sociolect = signifier of class, occupation etc

7. Compare - contrast Written:
“Right then my friend – I would like for you to assault your opponent in a very forthright manner. Strike him here and then manage it so that your right hand comes through to make contact with his person in this manner. You can also feint by skipping to one side and parry his incoming blows.”
Spoken [from transcript]: Yeah I want you to do to make the first move so the jab comes BAM and you can slip in there [pretends to box] like yeah you know the right hand comes I can skip outside and I can go straight down the level so.

8. What comments can you make about the differences?
Permanent versus impermanent
Phonological features
Prosodic features
Register and formality
Ellipsis
Script itself: punctuation
Fillers
Paralinguistic features
CPR

9. Listen . . . Spoken English is made up of sounds.
Listen to the following recording and make a LIST of all the SPOEKN FEATURES you can spot
Work with a partner
Try also to comment on DIALECT AND ACCENT
Try to guess the SOCIAL CLASS
Try to work out the gender

10. Lol speak…ROFL 
I IS TEN NINJAS

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