Pragmatic functions of lengthenings and filled pauses in the adult-directed speech of Hungarian children

Deme, Andrea (2013) Pragmatic functions of lengthenings and filled pauses in the adult-directed speech of Hungarian children. In: New Perspectives on Speech in Action: Proceedings of the 2nd SJUSK Conference on Contemporary Speech Habits. Copenhagen Studies in Language (43). Samfundslitteratur, Frederiksberg, pp. 23-40. ISBN 978-87-593-1957-4

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Abstract

Two most common disfluencies of spontaneous speech, vowel lengthenings (VLE) and non-lexicalized filled pauses (NLFP) were investigated in the adult-directed speech of eight Hungarian children. Though VLE and NLFP might seem to be similar vocalizations, recent investigations have shown that their occurrences might differ remarkably in child speech and may al-so change as a function of age. Based on these findings, in the present study the functional analysis of VLEs and NLFPs was performed. It was hypothesized that in child speech the two phenomena have roles not only in speech planning, but also in discourse management, and that they show functional distribution. The analysis provided evidence that VLE is more common than NLFP. VLE often tends to mark discourse events and may play a role in turn-final floor-holding strategies, while NLFP is mostly connected to speech planning, and occasionally, it may also participate in turn-taking gestures, as well.

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