LINGUIST List 21.3193 Fri Aug 06 2010 Diss: Disc Analysis: Lin: 'The Prosody of Formulaic Language' Editor for this issue: Mfon Udoinyang <mfonlinguistlist.org> To post to LINGUIST, use our convenient web form at http://linguistlist.org/LL/posttolinguist.cfm. Directory         1.    Phoebe Lin, The Prosody of Formulaic Language Message 1: The Prosody of Formulaic Language Date: 05-Aug-2010 From: Phoebe Lin <aexmslnottingham.ac.uk> Subject: The Prosody of Formulaic Language E-mail this message to a friend Institution: University of Nottingham Program: School of English Studies Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2010 Author: Phoebe M. S. Lin Dissertation Title: The Prosody of Formulaic Language Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis Dissertation Director: Svenja Adolphs Dissertation Abstract: This thesis presents three original studies which explored the hypothesis that formulaic language can be identified based on prosodic cues. These three studies examined the hypothesis from different angles and, at the same time, reflect a progression in the depth of our understanding of how the phonological method can be realised in the formulaic language identification process. Study One examined whether formulaic language can be identified by tracking intonation unit boundaries. The results showed that 55 percent and 40 percent of the formulaic sequences in the spontaneous speech of proficient learners and native speakers respectively are completely delineated by intonation unit boundaries. Based on these results, it is clear that the success rate is not high enough for researchers to rely on tracking intonation unit boundaries alone to identify formulaic language. However, a trend was observed that the level of alignment with intonation units increases with the scores which the native speaker judges provided to indicate how confident they were about the formulaicity of the word sequences they had chosen. Taken together, these results suggest that although the tracking of intonation unit boundaries alone is not sufficient to identify formulaic language in the spontaneous speech of native speakers and proficient learners, it may give some indication about the level of formulaicity of word sequences. Study Two considered whether formulaic language can be identified by prosodic cues concerning tempo and stress placement. As a first step towards this direction, the study aimed to establish empirically whether formulaic language demonstrates unique temporal and stress patterns. Samples of formulaic sequences taken from an academic lecture extract collected in the Nottingham Multi-Modal Corpus (NMMC) were analyzed in terms of their temporal and stress patterns. Among other observations, formulaic language was not found to have a higher articulation rate than the speaker's mean articulation rate, and words within formulaic sequences are distinctly less likely to receive stress. Study Three adopted an alternative interpretation of the phonological method in the identification of formulaic language. It asked whether allowing judges to listen to the prosody of formulaic sequences will reduce the subjectivity in their formulaicity judgement and increase the level of agreement between judges. Results of this study provided an affirmative answer to this question and, at the same time, revealed the mechanism by which the listening to the audio recording improves the use of collective native speaker judgement as a formulaic language identification method. These results showed that while the search for prosodic cues unique to formulaic language should continue, an alternative way to realise the phonological method is really to replace the textual speech transcripts with the multimodal transcripts in the process of formulaic language identification by collective native speaker judgement. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 06-Aug-2010       About LINGUIST    |   Contact Us       While the LINGUIST List makes every effort to ensure the linguistic relevance of sites listed on its pages, it cannot vouch for their contents.