Upvote:1
It's detailed in M. 114 which is translated as follows (see page 147, i.e. page 11/31 of the PDF):
(10) SPEAKING FRIVOLOUSLY. Furthermore, he chatters frivolously [utters useless talk]—
he speaks at the wrong time, what is false, what is not connected with the goal [unbeneficial], what is not the teaching [Dharma], what is not the discipline [Vinaya];
at the wrong time, he speaks words not worth treasuring, baseless, undefined [rambling], not connected with the goal.
... and page 148 (i.e. page 12/31 of the PDF):
(14) NOT SPEAKING FRIVOLOUSLY. Having given up frivolous chatter, he refrains from frivolous chatter—
he speaks at the right time, what is true, what is connected with the goal [beneficial], what is the teaching, what is the discipline;
he speaks words worth treasuring, at the right time, well-founded, well-defined [not rambling], connected with the goal
Various copies of the definition of the Kamma Patha (for example here) say,
Both lists occur repeatedly, e.g. in A.X.28, 176; M.9; they are explained in detail in M.114, and in Com. to M.9 (R. Und., p. 14), Atthasālini Tr. I, 126ff.
I copied the "explanation in detail from M 114" above, you might find further commentary in the others of these references.
Upvote:6
In addition found in Sevitabbâsevitabba Sutta there are 32 types of chatter which is called animal chatter which falls under the category of idle / frivolous chatter:
Sourced from: Tiracchana-Katha Unskilful Talk which is an adaptation from Venerable Ledi Sayadaw’s Magganga-Dipani: The Manual of The Constituents of the Noble Path.
Instead of memorizing specific type of talk you can discern what it idle chatter through the fundamentals, i.e.,:
Adopted from: Tiracchana-Katha Unskilful Talk
... or in general context ...
... or more succinctly, chatter in which, unwholesome states increase and wholesome states decrease.
See: Sevitabbâsevitabba Sutta and answer by @ChrisW
Also talk you should engage in:
In addition the Buddha mentions you should talk about the 4 Noble Truths as this lead to:
Adopted from: Tiracchana-Katha Unskilful Talk
... or in general context ...
... or more succinctly, chatter in which, unwholesome states decrease and wholesome states increase.
See: Sevitabbâsevitabba Sutta and answer by @ChrisW
Several suttas contain this list but all of them list only 27. However, as usual, the Commentators obsessed with splitting hairs have stretched it to 32 by splitting the last one into 6.
The name "Detis Katha" is also theirs. The Suttas called the original ones "Tirracchana katha" which literally means ‘animal talk’.
Incidentally this list is not for us to learn and remember. These topics are for avoiding. Several suttas say that we should instead be discussing only the Noble Truth.
Source: Dethis Katha (32 types of unskillful talks) by user Gayan
Furthermore the blog Tiracchana-Katha Unskilful Talk has comprehensive treatment of this topic.
1
Regarding skillful and unskillful chattering regarding the Dhamma there is 8:
Sourced from: Eight Great Noble Thoughts and Papanca [proliferation] and Nippapanca [non-proliferation]