Showing structure

Abstract

Umanduhare generally considered to be indicative of dysfluency and uncertainty in speech production. However, analysis of the academic seminar indicates that the distribution ofumanduhis not random. In specific well-defined environmentsumis used to indicate the underlying structure of the talk. Although Swerts (1998) has already suggested that fillers such asumanduhcould be treated as discourse markers in Dutch, the notion that such tokens are functioning as discourse markers has not been developed in detail. This paper analyses the role played byumin a series of computer science seminars. Using traditional conversation analysis techniques, the paper focuses on the way in whichumindicates structure in the academic seminar by maintaining coherence across bits of talk. It thus argues that in specific well-defined environmentsumfunctions as a discourse marker. This paper therefore addresses such issues as the role and function ofumin seminar talk, the environments in which it occurs, and its use in indicating the structure of the talk to the listening audience.