ABSTRACT
In Chapter 1 we discussed some of the differences between spoken and written English in general (see 1.6.2). In this chapter we will look at one variety of spoken language, spontaneous conversation. Naturally occurring conversation has received a great deal of attention over the last twenty years from scholars in such varied fields as speech act theory, the ethnography of communication, pragmatics, conversation and variation analysis. We will try to indicate the underlying shared assumptions that make conversations possible (7.1), how meaning is built up by speakers and perceived by hearers (7.2), how conversations are structured in interactional terms (7.3), how speakers negotiate whose turn at talk it is and how they select what they want to say (7.4). In conclusion, the major functions of words like well and you know in spoken discourse will be discussed (7.5). To save space, S will be used for speaker and H for hearer.
