An utterance is a section of spoken language, but its definition is debated. Spoken and written language differ due to pauses in speech. Enunciation is used to study sections of speech, as sentences don’t always apply. The definition of utterance can refer to a turn or words between pauses.
An utterance can be defined simply as a section of spoken speech, separated by pauses or silence. The specific definition of the term is difficult to pin down, because some people believe it refers to an entire “turn” spoken in conversation, while others believe the definition is more episodic, almost the equivalent of sentences for spoken English. Regardless of the preferred definition, an utterance can generally be defined as a piece of spoken language.
Spoken language and written language are different in many ways. The main reason for this is that the spoken language is usually generated on the spot by the speaker, which means that there are frequent pauses while the speaker thinks about how to continue. These pauses are often filled with filler words like “like” or “err…” or silence. In contrast, written language only has grammatical pauses, such as a period or comma, to dictate when a pause should be taken. Because of this difference, in written language, a sentence can easily be defined as the words between the capital letters and the period, but in speech the definition is much more difficult.
The difficulty in defining sentences in spoken language has led to the need for the term enunciation. This term is only really needed in linguistics and language study, and is generally used to refer to any section of speech that is being studied. Sentences cannot be used since they are in written language because the rules of the sentences are not always observed. For example, if someone answered a question by saying “not really,” that would hardly qualify as a complete sentence. Likewise, a long, rambling description may not lend itself to being broken up into grammatical sentences, so referring to the section as a phrase makes this process easier.
The main argument that arises regarding the specific definition of the term utterance is whether it refers to the whole spoken “turn” or to the words between two pauses. This is more of a semantic argument than one required to use the term correctly, so both definitions are suitable for a functional use of the word. A speaking turn can be defined as a person’s turn to speak in a conversation; this could be anything from a single word to a ten minute speech. Alternatively, an utterance may be classified as a section of speech between two pauses; this is a more pronounced definition of the term. If the latter definition is accepted, a round of speech could contain several utterances.
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