INTERVIEWS: A LOOK INTO NATIVE SPEAKERS’ SPEECH MARKERS, OR DISCOURSE MARKERS?

Abstract

Based on Speech Production and Genre studies, I supply real data and describe  informal interviews with native English speakers collected in the Speak up Magazine, a publication dedicated to Brazilian English speakers. Speech markers,  or also known as discourse markers, which are used to signal different functions in conversation and commonly used by native speakers (NS) comprising the patterning of natural talk were highlighted. I show that in informal interviews in English, NS use, although not always, the discourse markers ‘you know’ and ‘I mean’ to give a continuum in the flow of speech and to maintain a connection with the interlocutor. Finally, I discuss the value of fluency features that do not normally contribute with additional lexical information and present the contributions of this study to the teaching of English as a foreign language, to didactic material production in real contexts, and for social relations.