The chapter claims that speaker’s utterance when formulating intention is shaped not only by recipient design but also by salience effect. While fitting words into actual situational contexts the speaker is driven not only by the intent that the hearer recognizes what is meant as intended by the speaker, but also by individual salience that affects production subconsciously. The interplay of these social (recipient design) and individual factors (salience) shapes speaker utterance. Recipient design usually results in inductive sequences while salience effect triggers a deductive sequence.

This chapter takes a closer look at speaker production in ELF by introducing a dialogic approach to the analysis of a newly-established category that was called “Odd Structures”. OSs put forth contradictory or frame-breaking information. In violating particular patterns, they potentially put mutual understanding and successful communication between interlocutors at risk. However, the important thing is that OSs do not necessarily lead to non-understanding or misunderstandings between ELF interlocutors. They can be unnoticed, unreacted, or reacted as if no oddness has occurred. It is argued and demonstrated that a dialogic turn-by-turn, action–reaction approach to discourse segments will give us a better understanding of how these structures are created and deployed.