TY - CHAP
T1 - What a difference the prosody makes
T2 - The role of prosody in the study of discourse particles
AU - Lam, Phoenix W.Y.
N1 - Funding Information:
I would like to thank the editors of the volume and the anonymous reviewer for their valuable comments on an earlier version of this paper. Any errors that remain are mine. The bulk of the work described in this paper was carried out at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University and was substantially supported by grants from the Research Grants Council of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (Project No. B-Q714). I am deeply indebted to Prof. Winnie Cheng and Prof. Martin Warren for their generous permission to let me use the Hong Kong Corpus of Spoken English prior to its completion and publication. Figures in Table 5.1 are used with kind permission of Cambridge University Press.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2009 by Emerald Group Publishing Limited. All rights reserved.
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - This paper discusses the role of prosody in the study of discourse particles by examining the prosodic pattern of well. Intonational features which are investigated in detail include prosodic phrasing and tone unit position, prominence pattern, nuclear tone and association with pauses. Through an in-depth systematic prosodic analysis of well, the present study aims to provide a comprehensive account of the prosodic profile of the particle. The study takes a corpus-informed approach by closely investigating a large number of naturally occurring examples from an intercultural corpus of spoken English annotated according to Brazil's discourse intonation framework (Brazil, 1985, 1997). Results show that the particle well exhibits a high degree of prosodic autonomy by frequently occurring either as a separate tone unit or as the pre-head in a shared tone unit. Its intonational independence is further supported by its likelihood to associate with pauses. As a tonic syllable, well mostly carries falling tone. Some correlations between prosodic features and pragmatic functions of well are also found. Research in the prosody of discourse particles is still in its infancy and a large quantity of prosodic examples are still difficult to come by. In this respect, findings from the present study provide valuable quantitative information as regards the prosodic features of well in one variety of world English which can be readily compared with prior and future results. This in turn may deepen our understanding of the prosodic properties of discourse particles.
AB - This paper discusses the role of prosody in the study of discourse particles by examining the prosodic pattern of well. Intonational features which are investigated in detail include prosodic phrasing and tone unit position, prominence pattern, nuclear tone and association with pauses. Through an in-depth systematic prosodic analysis of well, the present study aims to provide a comprehensive account of the prosodic profile of the particle. The study takes a corpus-informed approach by closely investigating a large number of naturally occurring examples from an intercultural corpus of spoken English annotated according to Brazil's discourse intonation framework (Brazil, 1985, 1997). Results show that the particle well exhibits a high degree of prosodic autonomy by frequently occurring either as a separate tone unit or as the pre-head in a shared tone unit. Its intonational independence is further supported by its likelihood to associate with pauses. As a tonic syllable, well mostly carries falling tone. Some correlations between prosodic features and pragmatic functions of well are also found. Research in the prosody of discourse particles is still in its infancy and a large quantity of prosodic examples are still difficult to come by. In this respect, findings from the present study provide valuable quantitative information as regards the prosodic features of well in one variety of world English which can be readily compared with prior and future results. This in turn may deepen our understanding of the prosodic properties of discourse particles.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85056820161&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85056820161
T3 - Studies in Pragmatics
SP - 107
EP - 126
BT - Where Prosody Meets Pragmatics
A2 - Dehe, Nicole
A2 - Barth-Weingarten, Dagmar
A2 - Wichmann, Anne
PB - Brill Rodopi
ER -