Nick: New page: In spoken language analysis an '''utterance''' is a smallest unit of speech. It is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the...

2016-02-04T21:24:00Z

New page: In spoken language analysis an '''utterance''' is a smallest unit of speech. It is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the...

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In [[spoken language]] analysis an '''utterance''' is a smallest unit of [[speech communication|speech]]. It is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the case of [[oral language]]s, it is generally but not always bounded by silence. Utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations do. It can be represented and delineated in [[written language]] in many ways.

==Bakhtin's Theory of Utterance==
According to linguist [[Mikhail Bakhtin]], there are four accepted properties that utterances should have.
* '''Boundaries'''- All utterances must be bounded by a "change of speech subject". This usually means, as previously mentioned, that they are bounded by silence.
* '''Responsivity or dialogicity'''- The utterance must be either responding/following a previous utterance or generating dialogue.
* '''Finalization'''- An utterance must have a clear ending, and only occurs if the speaker has said everything he or she wishes to say.
* '''Generic form'''- The choice of the speech genre is determined based on the specific circumstances and sphere in which the dialogue occurs.

Bakhtin also emphasizes that an utterance and a sentence are not the same thing. According to Bakhtin, sentences do not indicate a change of speech subject, and thus do not automatically satisfy one of the four properties of utterances. According to him, the sentence as a language unit is grammatical in nature, while an utterance is "ethical".

==See also==
* [[Pragmatics]]
* [[Phonological hierarchy]]
* [[Sentence (linguistics)|Sentence]]
* [[Speech act]]
* [[Speech processing]]

==References==

==Further reading==
* [[Mikhail Bakhtin]] ''The Problem of Speech Genres'' p. xvi
* [http://pubpages.unh.edu/~jds/Bakhtin%20utterance.htm BAKHTIN’S THEORY OF THE UTTERANCE:]

[[Category:Discourse analysis]]
[[Category:Sociolinguistics]]
[[Category:Oral communication]]
[[Category:Philosophy of language]]

Utterance - Revision history

Nick: New page: In spoken language analysis an '''utterance''' is a smallest unit of speech. It is a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause. In the...