Comparative analysis of minimal responses in English and Lithuanian spoken discourse

ENThe aim of the article is to investigate naturally occurring speech of English and Lithuanian speakers, focusing on the so-called minimal responses (or backchannels), i.e. short responses by the hearer giving feedback to the speaker that the message is being understood or serving as an encouragement to continue speaking. The use of minimal responses has so far received comparatively little attention since they occur only in spoken discourse. In addition, they are hardly meaningful - they carry mostly pragmatic meaning. However, these inserts can be used for a number of different functions in spoken communication. The article aims to investigate their use in two languages - English and Lithuanian - and to find out whether English and Lithuanian speakers differ in their use of minimal responses and whether there are differences in the use of these inserts between male and female speakers.