Spoken Discourse Features of Headers and Tails

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Introduction! !

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Analysis!! ! ! ! ! Headers! ! ! Meaning/Use! ! Form! ! Phonology! Tails!! ! ! ! Meaning/Use! Form! ! ! Phonology! !

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Learner Problems and! Teaching Suggestions Conclusion! ! Bibliography! ! ! ! ! ! !

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Mei Ling Choo Simons Delmonte! 1 Background Essay - Helping higher level learners understand and use headers and tails in spoken discourse

Introduction
The reason for teaching headers and tails, which refer to the position of clause elements in spoken discourse, is twofold. They are widely used in conversation with distinct functions but are often not dealt with in conventional course books or traditional grammars. Based on extensive research into the CANCODE spoken corpus, they are among the ten criteria for a spoken grammar identified by McCarthy, M. and Carter, R. (2001; p.64) as deserving “proper attention, since they play key textual and interpersonal roles in conversation”. Learners who become adept at using these features would be able to engage in discourse with any number of English speakers. Scope I will examine all forms of headers and tails in spoken discourse apart from question tag forms, clefting and pseudo-clefting which belong to their own separate categories.

Mei Ling Choo Simons Delmonte! 2 Background Essay - Helping higher level learners understand and use headers and tails in spoken discourse

Analysis
Headers and Tails
Definitions The term header in this essay is synonymous with left-displacement or left-dislocation. Similarly a tail is what some grammars refer to as right-displacement or right-dislocation.

Headers
Meaning/Use, Form and Phonology
To paraphrase Brazil, D. (1995), spoken discourse is a process where speech elements are uttered in purposefully driven increments towards a