ABSTRACT
In this chapter we are going to discuss more closely two special kinds of phonetic chains, namely utterances and phrases. The term ‘utterance’ has been used in previous chapters but merely in an informal way. We have used this term to denote an element of an idiolect, i.e. an element of the set ∪I. Presently the notion of utterance will be precisely defined. At the same time it will be slightly generalized. Henceforth, by utterance we shall mean a phonetic chain containing at least one proper elementary segment, and, both, beginning and ending with a pause. Of course, utterances, understood in this way, may contain a number of internal pauses. It is also obvious that if u ∈ ∪I, then u is an utterance in the above meaning, but at the same time there may exist utterances which are not elements of the set ∪I. The following two definitions introduce formally the notion of utterance: https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780429466816/c51499bf-8d6f-413a-8894-096dbf3fef0c/content/pg56.tif"/>
