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. 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.
