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539 Glossary for any unfamiliar terms

From discourse to social contexts | 215

In more formal speech, now can occur to mark the opening of a phase of talk or of

a new topic, or to mark a rhetorical shift of some sort from one important aspect

of a topic to another almost like paragraph changes in written texts:

[beginning of a university lecture in medicine]

Now, can you all hear? Er if it is too loud do let me know. Erm two weeks ago I

had a patient who had difficulty swallowing. I operated on her six years ago

because she had a nasty cancer of the stomach. We’d done quite a big

operation and she’s done remarkably well. But now she came back unable to

swallow. 

Now, we did lots of tests on her and it’s pretty obvious she’d got a

cancer back again. Very near where the previous one was. Right in the middle

there

[points to diagram]. Now, what do you do? She’s quite elderly. Er her life

was becoming a misery.

Closings

Pre-closings and closings can also be facilitated by the use of discourse markers.

These typically involve (all) right, so, anyway, okay, well and, particularly at the

pre-closings of service encounters, fine, lovely, good, great:

[on the telephone]

So, I thought I’d better just ring and check. [other speaker speaks] I see. Right.

Anyway, I’d better go, cos I’m actually ringing from the medical room.

(signals of pre-closing)

[conclusion of a discussion concerning a printing job]

A: And then we actually want overheads, not just colour copies. 

B: Yeah. 

A: Six sets. 

B: Six sets of each. 

A: Fine. 

B: Fine. 

A: Right. I’ll see you tomorrow. 

B: Okay. 

A: Okay. Lovely. 

B: Yeah. 

A: Thanks Jim. 

B: Bye. 

A: Bye.

The = sign indicates an utterance which is cut short

A: Haven’t I missed something? A car went out of control or something?

Wendy went i= I don’t know. My daughter went into the Post Office and

they were all discussing it. A car had gone out of control I think. 

Oh well. 

B: Er anyway I’d better get back. 

A: Anyway see you later. 

B: Bye. 

A: Bye. 

B: Ta ta. 

---

The + sign indicates an interrupted turn which continues at the next + sign

A: Well I’d better go and finish this lunch+ 

B: Okay then. 

A: +cos we’re rather hungry. 

B: Yeah. 

A: And Paul is waiting by the door. 

B: Oh I see. Right. 

A: Okay. 

B: Okay then. See you later. 

A: Bye bye. 

B: Cheers. Bye.