Utterance

An utterance is a minimal unit of speech.

Utterances are often seen as the counterparts (in speech) of sentences (in language), but utterances are often defined in such a way that they can correspond to several sentences.


 * "any stretch of speech by one person before which there was silence on his part and after which there was also silence on his part" (Fries 1952:23)

Reference

 * Fries, Charles C. 1952. The structure of English. New York.

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