What Are Discourse Markers

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According to Chaudron and Richards (1986), discourse markers “occur as lexical equivalents or complements of more elusive gestural or intonational cues that subtly guide and modulate the participants’ understanding” (p. 1). According to Winston (2016), discourse markers often occur “at the opening and/or closing of topics, or subtopics” and they “indicate [that] a shift or change is about to occur” (p. 2). Transitions are one example of discourse markers that inform the audience that the speaker is moving to a new topic. Transitions include words such as well, then, so, and next and can also be phrases and gestures. As I viewed the 8th Grade Social Studies with Prosody file, I noticed that the teacher transitions to several new topics …show more content…
Discourse features in English are categorized by auditory patterns and visual patterns. (Winston, 2017, p.5 - 8). Auditory patterns include tone and intonation;volume, articulation, and stress patterns; and pace.Winston (2017) indicates that visual patterns include movement of the head; raising and lowering of eyebrows; gazing and blinking of eyes; opening of the eyes;movement of mouth; movement of shoulders; movement of torso; and use of hands. Humans have many habits; some of these habits are associated with verbal communication. For instance, my pastor often does what we call a “Bob Hope” pose during his sermons. He holds his left arm across his chest, touching the crook of his right arm, which is bent perpendicular to the left arm. His right hand cups his face. Bob Hope often stood this way during stand-up comedy routines. When my pastor takes this stance, the congregation knows that he is about to tell a …show more content…
For example, the teacher pauses from 02:21.460 - 02:22.330 before he asks, “Any questions about those groups?” He pauses again from 05:24.960 - 05:25. 580 before he asks, “Any other questions?” Next, the teacher utilizes the eye gaze to indicate a transition. According to Winston (2017), “Eye gaze . . . often marks utterance boundaries (p. The pattern of this visual discourse feature is very interesting because not only does the teacher consistently use eye gaze to cue his transition, but there is a pattern associated with his eye gaze. He alternates between gazing at the blackboard and then at the students in the class. He constantly switches between the blackboard and the class until 08:55.600 - 8:56.430 where he changes the pattern by gazing at the blackboard twice in a row. Then he returns to the pattern by gazing at the class when he makes the next transition at 010:06. 262 - 10:07.182. Hand movement is the third discourse feature that I identified that co-occurred with the teacher’s transitions. Winston (2017) states that hand movement is often used to indicate “the relative importance or

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