Topic 13 - Shared knowledge and absurdist drama (Session A) > Analysing Rita > Task C > Non-fluency markers

Analysing Rita

Task C – Interruptions and indications of non-fluency

Non-fluency markers:

There are two non-fluency markers, the non-lexical word ‘erm’ and the long dash ‘—‘ coming between words, which indicates a pause. Thus we have both a voiced and an unvoiced marker of hesitation. They only occur in Frank’s speech. He uses ‘erm’ four times and the pause marker occurs 11 times. These both suggest hesitancy in Frank’s speech, and as this is the beginning of the play these non-fluency markers can be interpreted in two main ways. They might indicate a characteristic hesitant speech style for Frank, which we might associate stereotypically with academic, or they could indicate that he is embarrassed by Rita’s behaviour. Or perhaps they could indicate both these things at the same time. Later in the text Frank’s speech does not consistently display these non-fluency markers, and so an actor playing Frank in a performance of the play is likely to interpret them here as markers of embarrassment, which he could then act out in other ways (e.g. facial expression, gesture and movement).

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