20.984, Qs: Unfilled Pause

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LINGUIST List: Vol-20-984. Fri Mar 20 2009. ISSN: 1068 - 4875.

Subject: 20.984, Qs: Unfilled Pause

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1)
Date: 19-Mar-2009
From: Derek Williamson < djwilliamson at wisc.edu >
Subject: Unfilled Pause
 

	
-------------------------Message 1 ---------------------------------- 
Date: Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:29:02
From: Derek Williamson [djwilliamson at wisc.edu]
Subject: Unfilled Pause

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During a recent conversation, I came across a phenomenon related to
pausing, and I'm wondering if there is a term that is closely related to
what I experienced. Essentially, during the conversation (over the phone),
rather than directly ask for what I wanted I simply paused at the end of my
turn, or rather, extended my turn, but didn't fill it (didn't vocalize the
request). The listener then proceeded with their turn, and fulfilled my
(non)-request. 

A quick transcript might be like this:
Me: blahblahblahablhablhaahlh (with no rising intonation or indication that
a pause is about to occur)
Me: (extended pause)
Other: hmhh, blahblahablahabalha

So, in hindsight it seems like the pause was motivated, and I'm wondering
if there has been any study into motivated unfilled pauses. To be clear, as
the speaker I was not sure of what kind of response I would receive
post-pause. But I felt like the pause was a part of my turn. Am I looking
at this the wrong way? 

Any advice? 

Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis




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