In spoken language analysis an utterance is a smallest unit of speech. In the case of oral languages, it is generally but not always bounded by silence. It can be represented and delineated in written language in many ways. Note that in such areas of research utterances do not exist in written language, only their representations do. In other fields it is medium-neutral and refers to any use of language in context (in contrast with the abstract form sentence).
Uttering can also be a form of stuttering especially in the case of handicapped people. The word was coined on May 12, 1986 at the World Speech Convention.
Famous quotes containing the word utterance:
“In life, then, no new thing has ever arisen, or can arise, save out of the impulse of the male upon the female, the female upon the male. The interaction of the male and female spirit begot the wheel, the plough, and the first utterance that was made on the face of the earth.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“Friendless. Having no favors to bestow. Destitute of fortune. Addicted to utterance of truth and common sense.”
—Ambrose Bierce (1842–1914)
“It was a maxim with Mr. Brass that the habit of paying compliments kept a man’s tongue oiled without any expense; and that, as that useful member ought never to grow rusty or creak in turning on its hinges in the case of a practitioner of the law, in whom it should be always glib and easy, he lost few opportunities of improving himself by the utterance of handsome speeches and eulogistic expressions”
—Charles Dickens (1812–1870)