ABSTRACT
People, when talking to each other, do not merely utter sentence after sentence, no matter how meaningful each individual sentence may be. They instead put sentences together into a coherent, meaningful discourse or text. In order to indicate the connection or cohesion between sentences, they are likely to make use of textual devices or connectors (e.g. and, but, so, therefore, however). Moreover, they tend to ‘lubricate’ their discourse with responders (e.g. right, really, I see) and fillers (e.g. um, ah, you know). In the absence of responders, for example, the speaker may come to think that the hearer may have lost interest in what is being said. The speaker may also take advantage of fillers in order to look for right words or expressions or to think about what to say next. There may also be pauses or hesitations – planned or unplanned – within or between sentences. Language, especially spoken language, without connectors, lubricators (i.e. fillers and responders), pauses and hesitations will be hard to come by and will be very unusual, if not unnatural (unless a well practised text is being read).
