Investigation of the relationship between turn-taking and prosodic features in spontaneous dialogue

Author(s):  
Tomoko Ohsuga ◽  
Masafumi Nishida ◽  
Yasuo Horiuchi ◽  
Akira Ichikawa
Author(s):  
Takahiro Yokozuka ◽  
Hitoshi Miyamoto ◽  
Masatoshi Kasai ◽  
Yoshihiro Miyake ◽  
Takayuki Nozawa

2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
HEIKE BEHRENS ◽  
ULRIKE GUT

Several descriptions of the transition from single to multiword utterances use prosody as an important diagnostic criterion. For example, in contrast to successive single-word utterances, ‘real’ two-word utterances are supposed to be characterized by a unifying intonation contour and a lack of an intervening pause. Research on the acquisition of prosody, however, revealed that control of the phonetic parameters pitch, loudness, and duration is far from complete at such an early stage. In this study, we examine the interaction between the development of different types of syntactic structures and their prosodic organization. Data from a detailed production record of a monolingual German-learning boy is analysed both auditorily and acoustically with a focus on four different types of two-word utterances produced between 2;0 and 2;3. Two major findings are reported here. First, the different types of two-word utterances undergo individual trajectories of prosodic (re-)organization, in part depending on the time course in which they become productive. This suggests that different types of multiword utterances become prosodically fluent at different points in time. Second, the variability of prosodic features such as pauses and stress pattern is very high at the onset of combinatorial speech. Consequently, fluency or disfluency of individual examples should not be used as a reliable criterion for their syntactic status and we recommend caution when taking prosody as a cue for syntactic development.


2013 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-84
Author(s):  
Lourembam Surjit Singh ◽  
R.K. Brojen Singh

Abstract This piece of work investigates the relation between characters in a play based on turntaking dialogues. As the dialogues are related to each other in the play, numbers of turn-taking are significant of the characters’ relationship and the utterances give indication about the information content of the interaction. In this Manipuri radio play, the sequence of turns taken by the characters convey different amount of information with different functions. Numbers of dialogues oscillate significantly with a period of 2 scenes during the play. The degree of oscillation present in turn-taking dialogues carries significant information functions. The nature of the relationship between the characters involved and the theme of the play may be characterised by calculations on turn-taking dialogues.


2006 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 235-261
Author(s):  
Haeyeon Kim

Abstract. The last decade has seen considerable research on conversation and grammar, influenced by the conversation-analytic research of Sacks et al. (1974). Inspired by that line of research, some Korean linguists have examined conversation by adopting the assumptions and methodology of conversation analysis (CA) into discourse analysis. This study introduces basic assumptions and research topics relating to CA, and explores the possibility of adopting CA methodology into dis-course analysis in Korean linguistics. This paper first provides a brief overview of basic assumptions, methodology, and major research topics of CA and the development of conversation-analytic dis-course studies. Then it provides a brief overview of some major findings and research topics in the interaction-based studies which have dealt with conversational data in Korean linguistics in terms of: (i) turn-taking, turn-constructional units, and turn increments, (ii) interactional functions of certain clausal connectives and sentence-ending suffixes, and (iii) other interaction-based studies on such topics as repair, demonstratives, reported speech, and so on. This research discusses how interaction-based research can provide a new way of viewing language functions; it explores: (i) turn-taking and co-construction; (ii) word-order variability, turn increments, repair, and retroactive elaboration; (iii) a conversation-analytic approach to the clausal connective -nuntey, and (iv) an interactional ap-proach to the verbal affixes -ese and -nikka in conversation, among others. Overall, this paper shows what has been, and needs to be, studied regarding the relationship between conversation, social action, and grammar in conversation in Korean linguistics.


2015 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jesús Romero-Trillo

This article describes the prosodic features of the most frequent pragmatic markers in English conversations that contribute to the management of context in interaction. Often, turn-taking has been analyzed either from a structural perspective, in which the participants are treated as subjects that pursue rules, accommodating to pre-established patterns, or (more recently) from a pragmatic perspective with a focus on the intentionality of the speaker in the use of pragmatic markers. It is my contention in this article that pragmatic markers are ancillary to context within the Dynamic Model of Meaning theory, and that prosody plays an essential role in adaptive management as the fourth element of context.


Author(s):  
Michal Marmorstein ◽  
Nadav Matalon

Abstract Large conversational activities (e.g., storytelling) necessitate a suspension of ordinary turn-taking rules. In the resulting constellation of main speaker and recipient, minimal displays of cooperative recipiency become relevant at particular junctures. We investigate this mechanism by focusing on the Egyptian Arabic particle ʔāh ‘yeah’ when thus used. We observe that tokens of ʔāh are mobilized by main speakers via the opening of prosodic slots at local pragmatic completion points. The prosodic design of the particle at these points is sensitive to prior talk and displays recipients’ alignment at the structural, action-sequential, and relational levels. This is done through variation of three prosodic features, namely, rhythm-based timing, pitch configuration, and prominence. The measure of alignment proposed by ʔāh is implicative for the continuation of the turn. While smooth progression suggests that ʔāh is understood to be sufficiently fitted and aligned, expansions are traceable to a departure from the terms set by prior talk, which can be heard to indicate lesser alignment. We propose to view ʔāh response tokens as a subset of positionally sensitive responses to part-of-activity actions that are crucial for the co-accomplishment of a large activity.


Virittäjä ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 125 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Mari Wiklund ◽  
Salla Kurhila

Koodinvaihdolla tarkoitetaan kielen tai kielimuodon vaihtumista toiseksi samassa puhetilanteessa tai tekstissä. Koodinvaihtoja on tutkittu paljon, mutta niiden prosodisten piirteiden käsittely on jäänyt lähinnä maininnan tasolle. Tämä artikkeli tarkastelee lähemmin koodinvaihtojen prosodiaa. Tavoitteena on koodinvaihtoja sisältävää keskusteluaineistoa analysoimalla valottaa prosodian osuutta koodinvaihtojen merkitysten tulkinnassa. Tutkimuksen aineistona on puolen tunnin puhelinkeskustelu, jossa Suomessa syntynyt mutta pitkään Kanadassa asunut nainen keskustelee Suomessa asuvan siskonpoikansa kanssa. Aineistossa on yhteensä 73 koodinvaihtoesiintymää, joissa keskustelun kieli vaihtuu hetkellisesti suomesta englanniksi. Menetelmällisesti tutkimus nojautuu keskustelunanalyysiin. Tutkimuksen tulokset osoittavat, että useimmiten koodinvaihtoihin liittyy sävelkorkeuden ja intensiteetin nousu. Tyypillisiä koodinvaihtotapauksia, joissa sävelkorkeus ja intensiteetti nousevat, ovat lainasanat ja referointi. Lainasanoissa nousulla ohjataan vastaanottajan huomiota ja haetaan hänen reaktiotaan sanoihin, jotka ovat olennaisia vuoron sisällön tai kertomuksen kannalta mutta joiden tunnistamisessa saattaisi olla ongelmia. Referoinnissa sen sijaan prosodiset muutokset auttavat luomaan ”toisen äänen”. Tällöin sävelkorkeuden ja intensiteetin nousemiseen voi liittyä myös värittynyt äänenlaatu. Molemmissa tapauksissa prosodinen kohosteisuus koodinvaihdossa kutsuu vastaanottajaa terästämään huomiotaan kyseisiin sanoihin tai ilmauksiin. Nousevan sävelkorkeuden lisäksi aineistossa esiintyy myös jonkin verran ympäristöä matalammalta sävelkorkeudelta ja hiljaisemmalla äänellä lausuttuja koodinvaihtoilmauksia. Tällöin koodinvaihdot ovat pikemmin vuorovaikutusta jäsentäviä ilmauksia kuin kertomuksen kannalta olennaisia sisältösanoja ja enemmän puhujalle itselleen kuin vastaanottajalle suunnattua puhetta. Prosodian vaihtelulla voidaan siis säädellä vastaanottajuuden astetta ja merkitä käytössä olevien kielten suhdetta toisiinsa.   Code-switching and prosody: A case study of the speech of an expatriate Finn living in Canada Code-switching occurs when a speaker alternates between two or more languages or language varieties in the same conversation or text. As a phenomenon, code-switching has been investigated fairly extensively, but the prosodic features that characterise many of the switches have not gained much attention in previous studies. This article examines the prosody of code-switching instances in more detail. By analysing naturally occurring conversational data, the article sheds light on the role that prosody plays in the interpretation of code-switching instances. The data consists of a 30-minute telephone conversation in which a lady, who was born in Finland but has lived in Canada for a long time, talks with her nephew, who lives in Finland. The conversation features 73 occurrences of code-switching in which the language of the conversation changes momentarily from Finnish to English. The method of our study is that of Conversation Analysis. The results of the study show that the instances of code-switching are usually produced with raised levels of pitch and intensity. Speakers typically use higher pitch and intensity when uttering loanwords or reported speech. As for loanwords, such prosodic marking invites the recipient to pay attention to the word that carries the rise in order to elicit a reaction to words whose recognition might be problematic. In the case of reported speech, however, prosodic features help to create a “second voice”. In addition to changes of pitch and intensity, the quality of voice can be marked in reported speech. In both these cases the prosodic marking carried by the code-switching invites the recipient to pay attention to the words or expressions in question. In addition to raised pitch and intensity, the data also includes several instances in which the code-switching is marked with lowered levels of pitch and intensity. In these cases, the code-switching typically consists of expressions that structure the interaction rather than constitute important content words as regards the ongoing narration. Furthermore, these instances are also more directed towards the speaker herself than to the recipient. Thus, prosodic changes can be used to regulate the degree of recipiency and to indicate the relationship between the languages being used.  


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