utterance
An utterance is a unit of communication produced by a speaker or writer to convey meaning within a particular context. In linguistics, it refers to the actual realized speech or writing, as opposed to an abstract sentence or proposition that may underlie it. An utterance can be a single word, a clause, or a longer stretch of discourse, and its form is shaped by context, mood, and pragmatic intent.
Utterance versus sentence: A sentence is a grammatical structure, whereas an utterance is the concrete performance
Pragmatics and speech acts: Utterances carry illocutionary force, performing acts such as requesting, promising, or ordering.
Discourse and conversation analysis: Utterances are the basic units of talk in conversation. They are analyzed
Computational linguistics and natural language processing: In NLP and speech technologies, utterances serve as input units
Terminology and cross-modality: The concept extends beyond spoken language to sign languages and other communicative modalities,