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When more than one person speaks at a time, an overlap occurs.

Spoken Language

Spoken language is more than words. Tone, pauses, and politeness shape meaning in real conversations, speeches, and interviews that you study for GCSE English.

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Fascinating Fact:

Politeness strategies matter. Please, indirect requests, and thanks help save both speaker and listener from embarrassment.

In GCSE English, spoken language analysis looks at how people use voice, register, and context to achieve purposes. You will explore turn-taking, fillers, discourse markers, accent and dialect, and how power and politeness guide what is said and understood.

Key Terms

Register: The level of formality used for a specific audience and purpose, such as formal interview or casual chat.
Filler: A short sound or word like um, er, or like used to hold the floor or think.
Turn-taking: The way speakers share speaking time, including overlaps, pauses, and cues to speak.

Frequently Asked Questions (Click to see answers)

What is spoken language in GCSE English?

Spoken language is everyday talk and performance speech. You analyse how speakers use tone, pauses, register, and strategies like politeness to meet a purpose for an audience.

How is spoken language different from written language?

Speech is interactive and immediate, with fillers, repetition, and non verbal cues. Writing is planned, edited, and more tightly structured with fewer spontaneous features.

What features should I analyse in a transcript?

Comment on context, purpose, audience, register, turn-taking, fillers, discourse markers, interruptions, politeness strategies, and any effects on meaning or power.

Try These Related Quizzes

1 .

People vary their speech according to their audience (or other participants) and the ...... in which they are speaking.

discourse

context

theme

educational level

2 .

In a transcript, which of the following represents a micro pause?

(3)

(.)

...

[...]

As with interruptions, there are many different reasons why a speaker might pause: a change of mind, hesitating to finish the sentence, asking the other person a question, indicating that it is someone else's turn to speak, etc.

3 .

Speaking purely for social purposes or for the sake of interacting is known as...

hedging

informal speech

formal speech

phatic communication

Phatic communication is generally called 'small talk'

4 .

What does 'stress' mean in the context of spoken language?

The way a speaker pronounces words

Specialist vocabulary

An emphasis on an individual word

Anxiety

Part of a word might be stressed, rather than the entire word

5 .

Spontaneous speech is the opposite of...

choreographed speech

gifted speech

practised speech

scripted speech

Scripted speech has been written (and probably rehearsed) beforehand; spontaneous speech is unrehearsed

6 .

Which one of the following is a reason why one speaker might interrupt another?

Excitement

Rudeness

Strong disagreement

Any of the above

Speakers frequently interrupt each other, so it's important to be sensitive to the tone of the interruption

7 .

When more than one person speaks at a time, ......... occurs.

an ellipsis

an overlap

a hedge

a filler

Sometimes speakers say the same thing; sometimes they finish each other's sentences; at other times, an overlap might result from a disagreement between the two speakers

8 .

Someone who speaks without much repetition or many fillers, pauses, or false starts would be described as...

hesitant

incoherent

inarticulate

fluent

9 .

What is a transcript?

A transcript is exactly the same as a playscript

A transcript is a written conversation which has had all of the errors corrected

A transcript is a recorded conversation which has been written out exactly as it took place

A transcript is a dialogue written in a narrative

A transcript includes the hesitations, interruptions, unfinished sentences, filler words, etc., which are present in spoken language

10 .

The words 'um', 'er', 'uh', 'okay', or 'you know' are examples of...

fillers

hedges

ellipsis

pauses

Fillers give the speaker a chance to think - they can also be used to discourage another speaker from taking a turn in the conversation

You can find more about this topic by visiting BBC Bitesize - Voice

Author: Sheri Smith (PhD English Literature, English Teacher & Quiz Writer)

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