Prosodic Orientation in English Conversation


Book Description

The first study, based on instances of everyday talk, to analyze prosodic orientation, a conversational strategy by which speakers design their speaking voice according to the vocal patterns used by their conversational partners. The book explores forms and functions of prosodic orientation, and offers a new perspective on prosody in conversation.




Prosodic Patterns in English Conversation


Book Description

Language is more than words: it includes the prosodic features and patterns that we use, subconsciously, to frame meanings and achieve our goals in our interaction with others. Here, Nigel G. Ward explains how we do this, going beyond intonation to show how pitch, timing, intensity and voicing properties combine to form meaningful temporal configurations: prosodic constructions. Bringing together new findings and hitherto-scattered observations from phonetic and pragmatic studies, this book describes over twenty common prosodic patterns in English conversation. Using examples from real conversations, it illustrates how prosodic constructions serve essential functions such as inviting, showing approval, taking turns, organizing ideas, reaching agreement, and evoking action. Prosody helps us establish rapport and nurture relationships, but subtle differences in prosody across languages and subcultures can be damagingly misunderstood. The findings presented here will enable both native speakers of English and learners to listen more sensitively and communicate more effectively.




Pragmatics and Prosody in English Language Teaching


Book Description

This volume explores the elusive subject of English prosody—the stress, rhythm and intonation of the language—, and its relevance for English language teaching. Its sharp focus will be especially welcomed by teachers of English to non-native speakers, but also by scholars and researchers interested in Applied Linguistics. The book examines key issues in the development of prosody and delves into the role of intonation in the construction of meaning. The contributions tackle difficult areas of intonation for language learners, providing a theoretical analysis of each stumbling block as well as a practical explanation for teachers and teacher trainers. The numerous issues dealt with in the book include stress and rhythm; tone units and information structure; intonation and pragmatic meaning; tonicity and markedness, etc... The authors have deployed speech analysis software to illustrate their examples as well as to encourage readers to carry out their own computerized prosodic analyses.




Analysing Conversation


Book Description

Spoken interaction is impossible without prosody. Intonation, pitch register, tempo, rhythm, pausing, loudness and voice quality all contribute to the spontaneous negotiation process that is everyday talk. This highly accessible introduction to the prosody and analysis of everyday conversation explains basic concepts and methods of interpretation using a wealth of examples from real-life conversations. Readers are introduced to the many conversational practices prosody plays a part in through sample analyses, all of which are available to listen to as downloadable audio files on the accompanying companion website: www.palgrave.com/analysingconversation Packed with authentic examples, practical suggestions for analysis, suggestions for further reading and a helpful glossary, this clear and comprehensive guide is essential reading for students and researchers alike.




Where Prosody Meets Pragmatics


Book Description

This volume demonstrates the synergies that can result from interdisciplinary collaboration. Responding to the growing interest in the interface between prosody and pragmatics, it presents a collection of papers which use different approaches and data to explore a wide range of interrelated issues in both fields. The volume contains a state-of-the-art introduction by the editors, and individual chapters organised in three sections. In the first section, chapters by Sasha Calhoun, Joe Blythe, Merle Horne and Phoenix Lam examine prosodic cues to referential and discourse/textual meaning. The second section is devoted to the role played by prosody in the negotiation of speaker change in conversational interaction, with papers by Dagmar Barth-Weingarten, Jill House, Emina Kurtic/Guy J. Brown/Bill Wells and Beatrice Szczepek Reed. In the final section, chapters by Leendert Plug, Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen and Anne-Catherine Simon/Liesbeth Degand focus on various aspects of interpersonal meaning and how they are conveyed. Languages discussed are English, Dutch, German, Swedish, French and Murriny Patha, and the frameworks used include Conversation Analysis, Gricean pragmatics, Interactional Linguistics, Intonational Phonology, Phonology for Conversation and Relevance Theory.




Prosody in Interaction


Book Description

Prosody is constitutive for spoken interaction. In more than 25 years, its study has grown into a full-fledged and very productive field with a sound catalogue of research methods and principles. This volume presents the state of the art, illustrates current research trends and uncovers potential directions for future research. It will therefore be of major interest to everyone studying spoken interaction. The collection brings together an impressive range of internationally renowned scholars from different, yet closely related and compatible research traditions which have made a significant contribution to the field. They cover issues such as the units of language, the contextualization of actions and activities, conversational modalities and genres, the display of affect and emotion, the multimodality of interaction, language acquisition and aphasia. All contributions are based on empirical, audio- and/or video-recorded data of natural talk-in-interaction, including languages such as English, German and Japanese. The methodologies employed come from Ethnomethodology, Conversation Analysis and Interactional Linguistics.




Prosody and Humor


Book Description

This is the first-ever book-length collection of articles on the subject of prosody and humor. The chapters are written by the recognized leaders in the field and present the cutting edge of the research in this new interdisciplinary field of study. The book covers a broad range of languages, using several theoretical approaches, ranging from cognitive semantic theories, to discourse analysis, and anthropology. All the contributions are anchored in instrumental empirical data analysis. The topics covered range from humor in conversation, to sitcom scripts, from riddles to intonation jokes, from irony in a laboratory setting to irony occurring in conversation, from friends’ conversations in France, to business meetings in rural Brazil. The unifying theme is the search for markers of the humorous or ironical intentions of the speakers or of the genre of interaction. Originally published in Pragmatics & Cognition 19:2 (2011) and 19:3 (2011).




Prosody and Embodiment in Interactional Grammar


Book Description

Studies in Interactional Linguistics have provided impressive evidence of the systematic use of vocal, verbal, and visual resources in social interaction. While members of the field have discussed what role these resources play in a grammar of social interaction, they have focused primarily on lexico-syntactic structures. The contributions to the present volume, however, focus on prosody and embodiment, exploring the role prosody plays in interactional meaning-making and how visual-spatial resources such as gesture and gaze relate to the use of verbal and vocal resources. This volume includes contributions on Danish, English, French, German, and Swedish interaction, with a primary focus on Interactional Linguistics and additional work from multimodal corpora. This volume will be of theoretical and methodological interest to readers with a background in Linguistics, Conversation Analysis, and multimodal corpora.




The Handbook of English Pronunciation


Book Description

The Handbook of English Pronunciation presents a comprehensive exploration of English pronunciation with essential topics for applied linguistics researchers and teachers, including language acquisition, varieties of English, historical perspectives, accent’s changing role, and connections to discourse, technology, and pedagogy. Provides thorough descriptions of all elements of English pronunciation Features contributions from a global list of authors, reflecting the finest scholarship available Explores a careful balance of issues and topics important to both researchers and teachers Provides a historical understanding of the importance of pronunciation and examines some of the major ways English is pronounced today throughout the world Considers practical concerns about how research and practice interact in teaching pronunciation in the classroom




The Handbook of Conversation Analysis


Book Description

Presenting a comprehensive, state-of-the-art overview of theoretical and descriptive research in the field, The Handbook of Conversation Analysis brings together contributions by leading international experts to provide an invaluable information resource and reference for scholars of social interaction across the areas of conversation analysis, discourse analysis, linguistic anthropology, interpersonal communication, discursive psychology and sociolinguistics. Ideal as an introduction to the field for upper level undergraduates and as an in-depth review of the latest developments for graduate level students and established scholars Five sections outline the history and theory, methods, fundamental concepts, and core contexts in the study of conversation, as well as topics central to conversation analysis Written by international conversation analysis experts, the book covers a wide range of topics and disciplines, from reviewing underlying structures of conversation, to describing conversation analysis' relationship to anthropology, communication, linguistics, psychology, and sociology