"Spurts" (rafales), A Method for Identifping the Different Episodes in Speech - A Contribution to the Analysis and Interpretation of Empirical Open-Ended Interviews. This article describes research with a method for the analysis of open-ended interviews. The identification of a series of often-repeated terms during a short period ("spurts" or "rafales", in French) allows us to reveal "packets of meaning" which constitute episodes of speech. By following these spurts of terms, it seems possible to identify thematic breaks (the end of a series of spurts) and the frontiers where the themes of conversation unravel while a new theme (or speech episode) develops (a new series of spurts). The algorithm for identifying spurts has been integrated into the TROPES semantic analysis software and we attempt to show the contribution it can make in the analysis of open-ended interviews. This article uses and compares the lexicometric approach (spurts based on graphic patterns) and the semantic approach (spurts based on equivalence classes of terms with similar meanings).