What term describes a word or phrase that plays a role in managing the flow and structure of discourse?

• A. Discourse marker
• B. Turn-taking
• C. Register
• D. Conjunction

Answer: (A)

Discourse markers are words or short phrases that guide the listener through the talk, signaling transitions, topic shifts, and stance. They help manage how the discourse unfolds by marking boundaries between ideas, indicating that you’re moving on, returning to a point, or showing how ideas relate. Examples include well, so, anyway, you see, and on the other hand. These markers don’t add new information so much as organize the flow and support coherence, which is why this term best describes a word or phrase that helps manage discourse flow. Turn-taking is about who speaks when; register is about formality; conjunctions link clauses, but they don’t cover the broader flow-management role that discourse markers provide.