Examining Pauses in Writing: Theory, Methods and Empirical Data

Abstract

This chapter will address both theoretical and methodological issues in pause analysis. First, the theoretical assumptions concerning how pause analysis can contribute towards our understanding of written language production are discussed. Subsequently, some measures, methods and tools for automatic pause analysis are presented and some empirical analyses are given. Most of the analyses and tools presented will be based on the concept of a “micro-context”. A micro-context is defined here as the context around a certain transition between two keystrokes. By categorising micro-contexts in terms of categories such as “within word”, “between words”, “between letter and punctuation mark”, pause frequencies and durations in certain types of micro-contexts can easily be analysed automatically and we can quickly gain an impression of how writers use their pauses. Finally, the complexity of pause definitions and operationalisations of the same are addressed. In typing, each letter is produced as a discrete unit and each transition between two keystrokes is a possible candidate for a pause because there will always be a short inactivity between keystrokes. However, obviously not every transition should be defined as a pause. Intuitively, a pause is a transition time between two keystrokes, which is longer than what can be expected for the time needed to merely find the next key. To make a pause writers have to “interrupt” their typing considerably longer than the “normal” transition time between two keystrokes. The problem is how to define a good pause criterion, taking into account the different typing speeds of individual writers.

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