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Prosodic constraints on pragmatic interpretation: a new chapter in linguistic pragmatics

Prosodic constraints on pragmatic interpretation: a new chapter in linguistic pragmatics Abstract This paper introduces the importance of prosodic constraints on interpretation in the understanding of the semantic/pragmatic interface and the linguistic marking and lexicalization of pragmatic meanings. It addresses this issue at word and utterance levels, after defining the notions of non-structural prosody and free lexical prosody. At word level, it shows the existence of a prosodic polysemy which lexicalizes into word lexical meanings that include pragmatic orientation, and that prosodic contours/features introduce prosodic comments, typically about the speaker’s position toward what is at stake but also about the hearer’s expected reaction to this position, forcing their description to be polyphonic. Similarly, at utterance level, it is shown that prosodic comments also occur, and moreover that the scope of such comments is often not the “sentential” meaning. The last section is dedicated to the description of the methodology and techniques used in existing programs to allow the automated discrimination of prosodic forms, and a reliable mapping of prosodic forms with interpretations. Because such a process can succeed only by using large oral data bases and considerably improving semantic/pragmatic descriptions, it is finally argued that the study of prosody is to linguistics and pragmatic linguistics what the microscope was for biology. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Lodz Papers in Pragmatics de Gruyter

Prosodic constraints on pragmatic interpretation: a new chapter in linguistic pragmatics

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Publisher
de Gruyter
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the
ISSN
1895-6106
eISSN
1898-4436
DOI
10.1515/lpp-2016-0006
Publisher site
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Abstract

Abstract This paper introduces the importance of prosodic constraints on interpretation in the understanding of the semantic/pragmatic interface and the linguistic marking and lexicalization of pragmatic meanings. It addresses this issue at word and utterance levels, after defining the notions of non-structural prosody and free lexical prosody. At word level, it shows the existence of a prosodic polysemy which lexicalizes into word lexical meanings that include pragmatic orientation, and that prosodic contours/features introduce prosodic comments, typically about the speaker’s position toward what is at stake but also about the hearer’s expected reaction to this position, forcing their description to be polyphonic. Similarly, at utterance level, it is shown that prosodic comments also occur, and moreover that the scope of such comments is often not the “sentential” meaning. The last section is dedicated to the description of the methodology and techniques used in existing programs to allow the automated discrimination of prosodic forms, and a reliable mapping of prosodic forms with interpretations. Because such a process can succeed only by using large oral data bases and considerably improving semantic/pragmatic descriptions, it is finally argued that the study of prosody is to linguistics and pragmatic linguistics what the microscope was for biology.

Journal

Lodz Papers in Pragmatics – de Gruyter

Published: Jun 1, 2016

References

  • Entre le plus et le moins: l’ambivalence du déterminant plusieurs