scholarly journals How phonetic features project more talk

2012 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-280 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Local ◽  
Gareth Walker
Keyword(s):  
Telephone Call ◽  
British English ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Interactional Analysis ◽  
Phonetic Features ◽  
Distinct Features ◽  
Pitch Accents ◽  
Relevant Factors

Investigations into the management of turn-taking have typically focussed on pitch and other prosodic phenomena, particularly pitch-accents. Here, non-pitch phonetic features and their role in turn-taking are described. Through sustained phonetic and interactional analysis of a naturally occurring, 12-minute long telephone call between two adult speakers of British English, sets of talk-projecting and turn-projecting features are identified. Talk-projecting features include the avoidance of durational lengthening, articulatory anticipation, continuation of voicing, the production of talk in maximally close proximity to a preceding point of possible turn-completion, and the reduction of consonants and vowels. Turn-projecting features include the converse of each of the talk-projecting features, and two other distinct features: release of plosives at the point of possible turn-completion, and the production of audible outbreaths. We show that features of articulatory and phonatory quality and duration are relevant factors in the design and treatment of talk as talk- or turn-projective.

Restrictiveness, exclusivity, adversativity, and mirativity

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu-Fang Wang ◽  
Mei-Chi Tsai ◽  
Wayne Schams ◽  
Chi-Ming Yang
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Discourse Marker ◽  
Spoken Discourse ◽  
Interactional Linguistics ◽  
English Only ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Turn Taking

Mandarin Chinese zhishi (similar to English ‘only’), comprised of the adverb zhi and the copula shi, can act as an adverb (ADV) or a discourse marker (DM). This study analyzes the role of zhishi in spoken discourse, based on the methodological and theoretical principles of interactional linguistics and conversation analysis. The corpus used in this study consists of three sets of data: 1) naturally-occurring daily conversations; 2) radio/TV interviews; and 3) TV panel discussions on current political affairs. As a whole, this study reveals that the notions of restrictiveness, exclusivity, and adversativity are closely associated with ADV zhishi and DM zhishi. In addition, the present data show that since zhishi is often used to express a ‘less than expected’ feeling, it can be used to indicate mirativity (i.e. language indicating that an utterance conveys the speaker’s surprise). The data also show that the distribution of zhishi as an adverb or discourse marker depends on turn taking systems and speech situations in spoken discourse. Specifically, the ADV zhishi tends to occur in radio/TV interviews and TV panel news discussions, while the DM zhishi occurs more often in casual conversations.

scholarly journals Rules at Play: Correcting Projectable Violations of Who Plays Next

Human Studies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanna Svensson ◽  
Burak S. Tekin
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Empirical Analysis ◽  
Practical Problem ◽  
Social Practices ◽  
Video Recordings ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
The Social ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Interactional Perspective ◽  
The Empirical Analysis

AbstractThis study examines the situated use of rules and the social practices people deploy to correct projectable rule violations in pétanque playing activities. Drawing on Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis, and using naturally occurring video recordings, this article investigates socially organized occasions of rule use, and more particularly how rules for turn-taking at play are reflexively established in and through interaction. The alternation of players in pétanque is dependent on and consequential for the progressivity of the game and it is a practical problem for the players when a participant projects to break a rule of “who plays next”. The empirical analysis shows that formulating rules is a practice for indicating and correcting incipient violations of who plays next, which retrospectively invoke and establish the situated expectations that constitute the game as that particular game. Focusing on the anticipative corrections of projectable violations of turn-taking rules, this study revisits the concept of rules, as they are played into being, from a social and interactional perspective. We argue and demonstrate that rules are not prescriptions of game conduct, but resources that reflexively render the players’ conducts intelligible as playing the game they are engaging in.

scholarly journals Testing claims of a usage-based phonology with Liverpool English t-to-r

2011 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 523-547 ◽  
Author(s):  
LYNN CLARK ◽  
KEVIN WATSON
Keyword(s):  
Oral History ◽  
Word Frequency ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Cognitive Grammar ◽  
Rule Based ◽  
British English ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Motivating Factor ◽  
Oral History Interviews

The variable phenomenon in which /t/ can be realized as a tap or rhotic approximant in varieties of Northern British English (commonly referred to as t-to-r, Wells 1982: 370) has received some attention in English linguistics as debates have appeared over how best to model its phonology (e.g. Carr 1991; Docherty et al. 1997; Broadbent 2008). The occurrence of t-to-r seems to be constrained by the preceding and following phonological environment in a largely systematic way and so it is often accounted for within a rule-based model of grammar. Problematically, however, the rule does not apply blindly across the board to all words which fit the specified phonological pattern. Instead, t-to-r shows evidence of being lexically restricted, and this fact has recently encouraged a usage-based interpretation. Until now, there has been relatively little attempt to test the usage-based thesis directly with fully quantified data gleaned from naturally occurring conversation. This article investigates the extent to which certain usage-based predictions can account for variation attested in t-to-r in Liverpool English. Using oral history interviews with Liverpool English speakers born in the early 1900s, we examine the usage-based predictions first proposed by Broadbent (2008) that t-to-r is more likely in (a) high-frequency words and (b) high-frequency phrases. There is some support for the importance of lexical frequency as a motivating factor in the use of t-to-r, but our data do not fully support either of these claims wholesale. We suggest that t-to-r is not constrained simply by word frequency or phrase frequency alone, but by a combination of both. Finally, we explore the possibility of employing notions from Cognitive Grammar such as schema strength (e.g. Taylor 2002; Bybee 1995: 430) in our interpretation of these data.

scholarly journals A taboo topic? How General Practitioners talk about overweight and obesity in New Zealand

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 150 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lesley Gray ◽  
Maria Stubbe ◽  
Lindsay Macdonald ◽  
Rachel Tester ◽  
Jo Hilder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New Zealand ◽  
Weight Management ◽  
General Practitioners ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Secondary Analysis ◽  
Overweight And Obesity ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Interactional Analysis ◽  
General Practices

ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Obesity is overtaking tobacco smoking in New Zealand as the leading potentially modifiable risk to health. International obesity guidelines recommend that health professionals opportunistically encourage weight management with their patients. However, research shows consistently low rates of weight management discussion, suggesting that health professionals may not be realising their full potential to address obesity. AIM To identify communication strategies used by General Practitioners (GPs) to open the topic of weight and weight management in routine consultations. METHODS A secondary analysis was conducted of 36 video-recorded consultations in general practices, selected for relevance from a database of 205 consultations. Content and interactional analysis was conducted in the context of the entire consultation. RESULTS The topic of weight was initiated more often by GPs than patients and was raised mostly once or twice in a consultation and occasionally as many as six times. GPs employed opportunistic strategies twice as often as they used structured strategies. DISCUSSION This study of naturally occurring consultations confirmed GPs do engage in opportunistic discussions about weight. However, such discussions are challenging and interactionally delicate. Highlighting the clinical relevance of weight appears to be effective. The high frequency of patient contact with GPs provides opportunity to reach and work with people at risk of chronic conditions associated with excess weight. Further research is required to identify suitable training and brief intervention tools for use in routine consultations that may be beneficial for both GPs and patients.

Turn Taking in E-Mail Discussions

2011 ◽  
pp. 755-772 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Common Method ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Priority System ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Current Speaker ◽  
E Mail

This chapter investigates turn taking in naturally occurring e-mail discussions. In e-mail discussions, participants can self select to contribute at any time, turns cannot be interrupted, and adjacency cannot be guaranteed. However, participants engage in recognisable discussions and “speaker” change occurs. Patterns of turn taking can be observed in the data, and there are many parallels with spoken conversation. In e-mail discussions, the current participant may select a new participant, and those selected usually respond; participants may self select (the most common method of turn taking); and the current participant may choose to continue, either by writing an extended turn or by sending separate consecutive messages. Response is not obligatory unless a respondent has been specified. There is no priority system through which a change of participant takes priority. Because there is less pressure toward current speaker selects last, the system encourages multiple participants to engage in the discussion.

Efficacy of a Biopesticide for Control of Aflatoxins in Corn

2010 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-499 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOE W. DORNER
Keyword(s):  
Aspergillus Flavus ◽  
Aflatoxin Contamination ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Application Rates ◽  
Close Proximity ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Toxigenic Strains ◽  
And Control ◽  
Mean Concentration

A 2-year study was carried out to determine the efficacy of a biopesticide in reducing aflatoxin contamination in corn. The biopesticide, afla-guard, delivers a nontoxigenic strain of Aspergillus flavus to the field where it competes with naturally occurring toxigenic strains of the fungus. Afla-guard was applied to entire fields in two areas of Texas at either 11.2 or 22.4 kg/ha. Specific nontreated fields in close proximity to treated fields were designated as controls. Samples of corn were collected at harvest and analyzed for aflatoxins and density of toxigenic and nontoxigenic isolates of A. flavus. Aflatoxin concentrations were generally quite low in 2007, but the mean concentration in treated samples (0.5 ppb) was reduced by 85% compared with controls (3.4 ppb). In 2008, samples from treated and control fields averaged 1.5 and 12.4 ppb, respectively, an 88% reduction. There were no significant differences between the two afla-guard application rates. In conjunction with the reductions in aflatoxin contamination, treatments produced significant reductions in the incidence of toxigenic isolates of A. flavus in corn.

Gesture reuse as distributed embodied cognition

Gesture ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-30
Author(s):  
Johanne S. Philipsen ◽  
Sarah Bro Trasmundi
Keyword(s):  
Embodied Cognition ◽  
Distributed Cognition ◽  
Analytic Approach ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Growing Body ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Intimate Link

Abstract In this paper, we investigate the intimate link between hands and minds – or rather: How the hands are a means for exploring thoughts in collaboration with others. Specifically, this study investigates a series of locally occurring instances of gestural reuse in naturally occurring psychotherapeutic interaction. The repetition of gestural sequences and formats in interaction has been researched as serving pragmatic functions of building cohesion (McNeill & Levy, 1993) and managing different aspects of turn-taking (Koschmann & LeBaron, 2002). Taking a micro-analytic approach to the study of gesture, we show how reusing other participants’ gestures in the context of psychotherapy serves additional functions: As affordances for shared, embodied cognition. The study contributes to the growing body of research on gesture as a co-participated, co-operative (Goodwin, 2013, 2018) and embodied phenomenon that criss-cross the boundaries of inside-the-skull, individual-centered and socially distributed cognition.

Silence gestures revisited

Gesture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 246-268
Author(s):  
Søren Beck Nielsen
Keyword(s):  
Conversation Analysis ◽  
Speech Production ◽  
Dynamics Analysis ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Search Processes ◽  
Turn Taking ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Word Search

Abstract This paper revives an interest in a gestural phenomenon: silence gestures, that is, cases where speakers suspend talk and produce a gesture in momentary silence. Earlier research noted this phenomenon, but largely left interactional details unaddressed. Consequently, we have known of the phenomenon for a long time, but known very little about how interactants use it. This study applies conversation analysis to elucidate silence gestures as they appear during naturally occurring Danish interaction. Two classes are considered: i) silence gestures that occur during word search processes and ii) ‘no-problem’ silence gestures. Analysis of the first class offers more nuances to previous assumptions about its affiliation with process difficulties and turn-taking dynamics. Analysis of the second class disconfirms the belief that silence gestures foremost relate to speech difficulties. It reveals that speakers actively postpone or suspend speech production to achieve a turn-intra pauses, which enables them to momentarily foreground the gestural act.

A lexicalist approach towards the automatic determination for the syntactic functions of prepositional phrases

2000 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
ALEX CHENGYU FANG
Keyword(s):  
Test Data ◽  
Probabilistic Approach ◽  
Detailed Account ◽  
Automatic Determination ◽  
British English ◽  
Prepositional Phrases ◽  
Naturally Occurring ◽  
Frequency Of Use ◽  
Linguistic Behaviour

Prepositional Phrases (PP) perform a variety of syntactic functions in a conventional sentence, and cause severe problems to computer systems that automatically analyse the sentential syntax. A major issue in this area has been the automatic determination of the syntactic functions of PPs. Most work published so far makes use of the probabilistic approach, and attach PPs to either the antecedent noun or verb phrase. Due to the natural limitation of the probabilistic approach, it is important to evaluate the linguistic behaviour of prepositional phrases and propose qualitative solutions to the problem. In this article, I first provide a detailed account of statistics regarding the frequency of use for (i) types of prepositions, (ii) syntactic categories as realisations of prepositional complements, and (iii) the syntactic functions of prepositional phrases. Statistics reported here all derive from a representative corpus of contemporary British English. I then describe a set of rules that has been implemented in order to label PPs automatically for their syntactic functions. I finally report on the coverage of these rules empirically observed in an experiment which involved a set of naturally occurring PPs as test data.

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