French reason-comment ‘how’ questions

2021 ◽  
pp. 248-278
Author(s):  
Lisa Brunetti ◽  
Hiyon Yoo ◽  
Lucia Tovena ◽  
Rachel Albar
Keyword(s):  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Expectation Disconfirmation ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects

This chapter discusses some semantic/pragmatic aspects of French questions starting with comment ‘how’ and having an interpretation of reason (similar to reason ‘why’), and investigates if and how these properties are reflected by prosody. With reason-comment questions, the speaker doubts that the proposition characterizing the event described in the question can be true, and asks the hearer to help her to revise her expectations about it, by giving her some reasons that make the existence of the event conceivable. The speaker’s doubt is often accompanied by additional emotions, such as indignation, exasperation, etc. In order to analysze the prosody of these questions, we conducted a production experiment comparing the reason and the manner reading of comment-questions. Results confirmed that prosodic cues allow us to distinguish between the two interpretations. In utterances with a reason reading, the expression of questioning force is important, even where accompanied by expressions of expectation disconfirmation and surprise.

The interaction between tone and prosodic focus in Mandarin Chinese

2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 331-350
Author(s):  
Ting Wang ◽  
Jun Liu ◽  
Yong-hun Lee ◽  
Yong-cheol Lee
Keyword(s):  
Mandarin Chinese ◽  
Opposite Pattern ◽  
Pitch Range ◽  
Tonal Language ◽  
Phone Number ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Prosodic Focus ◽  
Level Tone ◽  
Contour Tones

Abstract This study characterized focused tones in Mandarin Chinese through a production experiment using phone number strings. The results revealed that, although phonation cues had little effect on any focused tone, prosodic cues exhibited various patterns of distribution. Duration played an important role for each focused tone, but intensity had a relatively less salient role. Among pitch-related parameters, the raising of pitch register was an important cue when a level tone (tone 1) was focused. By contrast, due to the interaction between tone and intonation, absolute slope and pitch range had less effect on tone 1 focus. These cues, however, were prominent when contour tones (tones 2 and 4) were in focus. Unlike other focused tones that raised pitch, tone 3 focus exhibited the opposite pattern, lowering its pitch target. In the aggregation of all focused tones, it was found that only primarily pitch-related parameters were selected as the main variables discriminating one from another. The results of this study, therefore, suggest that the prosodic marking of focus is not uniform, even within a single language, but clearly differs by tone type. Accordingly, prosodic marking of focus should be considered multimodal in a tonal language.

Five-year-olds produce prosodic cues to distinguish compounds from lists in Australian English

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-19
Author(s):  
Ivan YUEN ◽  
Nan XU RATTANASONE ◽  
Elaine SCHMIDT ◽  
Gretel MACDONALD ◽  
Rebecca HOLT ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Ice Cream ◽  
Acoustic Cues ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Word Duration ◽  
English Speaking ◽  
Australian English ◽  
Prosodic Structures ◽  
Developing Knowledge

Abstract Although previous research has indicated that five-year-olds can use acoustic cues to disambiguate compounds (N1 + N2) from lists (N1, N2) (e.g., ‘ice-cream’ vs. ‘ice, cream’) (Yoshida & Katz, 2004, 2006), their productions are not yet fully adult-like (Wells, Peppé & Goulandris, 2004). The goal of this study was to examine this issue in Australian English-speaking children, with a focus on their use of F0, word duration, and pauses. Twenty-four five-year-olds and 20 adults participated in an elicited production experiment. Like adults, children produced distinct F0 patterns for the two structures. They also used longer word durations and more pauses in lists compared to compounds, indicating the presence of a boundary in lists. However, unlike adults, they also inappropriately inserted more pauses within the compound, suggesting the presence of a boundary in compounds as well. The implications for understanding children's developing knowledge of how to map acoustic cues to prosodic structures are discussed.

Prosodic Disambiguation in First and Second Language Production: English and Korean

2021 ◽  
pp. 002383092110420
Author(s):  
Hyunah Baek
Keyword(s):  
Second Language ◽  
Language Production ◽  
First Language ◽  
Native English Speakers ◽  
English Speakers ◽  
Bilingual Speakers ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Phonological Categories ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Phonetic Cues

This study investigates the use of prosodic cues for syntactic ambiguity resolution by first language (L1) and second language (L2) speakers. In a production experiment, sentences with relative clause attachment ambiguity were elicited in three language conditions: native English speakers’ L1 productions as well as Korean-English bilingual speakers’ L1 Korean and L2 English productions. The results show that English uses both boundary marking (pause) and relative word prominence (elevated pitch and intensity) for disambiguation, while Korean mainly relies on boundary marking (pre-boundary lengthening and pause). The bilingual speakers have learned to use the English phonological categories such as pitch accents for disambiguation, but their use of phonetic cues to realize these categories still differed from that of native English speakers. In addition, they did not show a significant use of boundary cues. These results are discussed in relation to the typological differences between the prosody of English and of Korean.

scholarly journals Within and Across-Language Comparison of Vocal Emotions in Mandarin and English

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 2629
Author(s):  
Ting Wang ◽  
Yong-cheol Lee ◽  
Qiuwu Ma
Keyword(s):  
Speech Rate ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Emotional Speech ◽  
Comparison Analysis ◽  
Lexical Tones ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Spectral Cues ◽  
Production Experiment ◽  
Cepstral Peak Prominence ◽  
Vocal Emotion

This study reports experimental results on whether the acoustic realization of vocal emotions differs between Mandarin and English. Prosodic cues, spectral cues and articulatory cues generated by electroglottograph (EGG) of five emotions (anger, fear, happiness, sadness and neutral) were compared within and across Mandarin and English through a production experiment. Results of within-language comparison demonstrated that each vocal emotion had specific acoustic patterns in each language. Moreover, normalized data were used in the across-language comparison analysis. Results indicated that Mandarin and English showed different mechanisms of utilizing pitch for encoding emotions. The differences in pitch variation between neutral and other emotions were significantly larger in English than in Mandarin. However, the variations of speech rate and certain phonation cues (e.g., CPP (Cepstral Peak Prominence) and CQ (Contact quotient)) were significantly greater in Mandarin than in English. The differences in emotional speech between the two languages may be due to the restriction of pitch variation by the presence of lexical tones in Mandarin. This study reveals an interesting finding that occurs when a certain cue (e.g., pitch) is restricted in one language, other cues were strengthened to take on the responsibility of differentiating vocal emotions. Therefore, we posit that the acoustic realizations of emotional speech are multidimensional.

Investigating the Multimodal Nature of Human Communication

2009 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 63-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silke Paulmann ◽  
Sarah Jessen ◽  
Sonja A. Kotz
Keyword(s):  
Visual Information ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Physical Property ◽  
Event Related Potentials ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Human Communication ◽  
Channel Condition ◽  
Prosodic Cues ◽  
Early Processing ◽  
Related Potentials

The multimodal nature of human communication has been well established. Yet few empirical studies have systematically examined the widely held belief that this form of perception is facilitated in comparison to unimodal or bimodal perception. In the current experiment we first explored the processing of unimodally presented facial expressions. Furthermore, auditory (prosodic and/or lexical-semantic) information was presented together with the visual information to investigate the processing of bimodal (facial and prosodic cues) and multimodal (facial, lexic, and prosodic cues) human communication. Participants engaged in an identity identification task, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were being recorded to examine early processing mechanisms as reflected in the P200 and N300 component. While the former component has repeatedly been linked to physical property stimulus processing, the latter has been linked to more evaluative “meaning-related” processing. A direct relationship between P200 and N300 amplitude and the number of information channels present was found. The multimodal-channel condition elicited the smallest amplitude in the P200 and N300 components, followed by an increased amplitude in each component for the bimodal-channel condition. The largest amplitude was observed for the unimodal condition. These data suggest that multimodal information induces clear facilitation in comparison to unimodal or bimodal information. The advantage of multimodal perception as reflected in the P200 and N300 components may thus reflect one of the mechanisms allowing for fast and accurate information processing in human communication.

Interaction Order and Anxiety Disorder: A “Batesonian” Heuristic of Speaking Patterns during Psychotherapy

2012 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 261-272
Author(s):  
Jürgen Streeck
Keyword(s):  
Young Female ◽  
Panic Attacks ◽  
Emotional Experiences ◽  
Social Phobias ◽  
Interactional Theory ◽  
Panic Disorders ◽  
Linguistic Patterns ◽  
Interaction Order ◽  
Interdisciplinary Effort ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects

This paper describes speaking practices enacted by young female in-patients during psychotherapy sessions. The patients are in treatment for anxiety and panic disorders (social phobias). The practices involve prosodic, lexical, and pragmatic aspects of utterance construction. An effect that they share is that the speaker’s embodied presence in her talk and her epistemic commitment to it are reduced as the utterance progresses. The practices are interpreted in light of Bateson’s interactional theory of character formation: as elements of a self-sustaining system Angst (anxiety). The study has grown out of an interdisciplinary effort to explore possible relationships between types of anxiety and the communicative and linguistic patterns by which patients describe panic attacks and other highly emotional experiences.

From the Synergy to the Discrimination - Analysis of Attitudes and Decisions of the Prison Staff Towards Muslim Prisoners in the Context of Multicultural Education

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Urbanek
Keyword(s):  
Multicultural Education ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Ethnically Diverse ◽  
Prison Staff ◽  
Professional Activities ◽  
Personal Attitudes ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects ◽  
Diverse Groups

The aspiration to keep the synergy in relations between majorities and minorities repeatedly emerges as the cause of conflicts in social relations. It is also a subject of the interest of the multicultural education, particularly in countries of Eastern Europe, building contacts with the culturally and ethnically diverse groups to a wider scale. Relations in culturally, religiously and ethnic diverse societies, are becoming more and more related to the personal attitudes and a given policy. These issues acquire in the prison circumstances even greater significance, as given moods and personal attitudes of the prison staff create the pragmatic aspects of the professional activities addressed to the sentenced. Additionally, the key role is played by the quality of the penitentiary policy and the legal culture. The article presents the comparative analysis of the research carried out in 2016 amongst the prison staff in Poland. The subject of the research concerned attitudes that influence the decisive processes. The personal relations have been analyzed in the context of the relation with the sentenced Muslims. The aim of the research was not only to reveal the quality of the decisions concerning the sentenced Muslims, but also the sources of such decisions. The latter, in consequence, may shift, as the research results prove, towards synergy or discrimination. The diversification of the discrimination was one of the intriguing aspects, disclosed at various levels that not always explicitly concerned the discrimination of the minority.

TINGKAT KEAKURATAN DAN KEBERTERIMAAN TERJEMAHAN KALIMAT YANG MENGAKOMODASI TINDAK TUTUR KOMISIF PADA NOVEL INSURGENT (THE ACCURACY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF TRANSLATION ON THE SENTENCES WHICH ACCOMODATE COMMISSIVE SPEECH ACT IN THE INSURGENT NOVEL)

Widyaparwa ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 151-164
Author(s):  
Novita Sumarlin Putri
Keyword(s):  
Focus Group ◽  
Focus Group Discussion ◽  
Speech Act ◽  
Group Discussion ◽  
Document Analysis ◽  
High Accuracy ◽  
Pragmatic Approach ◽  
Componential Analysis ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects

Tindak tutur komisif merupakan salah satu aspek pragmatik yang harus diperhatikan oleh penerjemah ketika menerjemahkan teks. Hal itu dilakukan agar menghasilkan terjemahan yang berkualitas dari aspek keakuratan dan keberterimaan. Berdasarkan alasan tersebut, penelitian ini bertujuan mendiskripsikan tingkat keakuratan dan keberterimaan terjemahan kalimat yang mengakomodasi tindak tutur komisif dengan pendekatan pragmatik. Data yang digunakan ialah tuturan komisif dan hasil penilaian kualitas terjemahan. Data bersumber dari novel Insurgent karya Veronica Roth dan informan. Data dikumpulkan dengan cara analisis dokumen, kuesioner dan Focus Group Discussion. Selanjutnya, data dianalisis dengan cara analisis domain, taksonomi, komponensial, dan tema budaya. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa terjemahan dalam novel Insurgent mempunyai nilai keakuratan dan keberterimaan yang cukup tinggi. Berdasarkan penelitian ini, dapat disimpulkan bahwa tingkat keakuratan dan keberterimaan pada setiap jenis tindak tutur komisif memiliki dampak terhadap kualitas keseluruhan terjemahan kalimat yang mengandung tindak tutur komisif.Commissive speech act is one of the pragmatic aspects to regard by the translator in translating the text. It aims to produce a qualified translation in regarding accuracy and acceptability aspects. According to the aspects, this research aims to describe accuracy and acceptability of translation in sentences which accommodate commissive speech act using pragmatic approach. The data used is commissive speech and qualitative translation value result. The sources of the data are an Insurgent novel by Veronica Roth and informants. The data were collected through document analysis, questionnaire, and Focus Group Discussion then analyzed the domain, taxonomic, componential analysis, and cultural theme. The result shows that translation in the Insurgent novel has high accuracy and acceptability values. This research concludes that the accuracy and acceptability level in each commissive speech act has an impact on quality of whole translated sentences which contain commissive speech act.

The Language of Advertising: Graphic, Grammar and Pragmatic Aspects

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrey Panteleev ◽  
Anastasija Inos
Keyword(s):  
Speech Act ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Russian Language ◽  
Indirect Speech ◽  
Advertising Discourse ◽  
Adverbial Modifiers ◽  
Indirect Speech Act ◽  
Pragmatic Aspects ◽  
The Russian Language ◽  
Modern Russian

This monograph deals with the problem of functioning peculiarities of graphic expressive means and grammar means in the language of modern Russian advertising. This research work treats the advertising discourse as a composite indirect speech act. Active use of adverbial modifiers of manner — deverbatives, elliptical and indefinite personal one-member sentences is characteristic of modern advertising texts. A most distinguishing feature of a modern advertising text is a mixture of Cyrillic and Latin fonts that contributes to the manifestation of an expressive potential of the application. The monograph is aimed at students of Philology, students major in Management and Marketing, masters, postgraduates, staff of higher educational establishments and all those who are interested in the Russian language.

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