LINGUIST List 22.3023 Tue Jul 26 2011 Diss: Disc Analysis/Phonetics: Zellers: 'Prosodic Detail and Topic ...' 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.     Margaret Zellers , Prosodic Detail and Topic Structure in Discourse Message 1: Prosodic Detail and Topic Structure in Discourse Date: 25-Jul-2011 From: Margaret Zellers <mkz21cam.ac.uk> Subject: Prosodic Detail and Topic Structure in Discourse E-mail this message to a friend Institution: Cambridge University Program: Research Centre for English and Applied Linguistics Dissertation Status: Completed Degree Date: 2011 Author: Margaret Zellers Dissertation Title: Prosodic Detail and Topic Structure in Discourse Linguistic Field(s): Discourse Analysis                             Phonetics Subject Language(s): English (eng) Dissertation Director: Brechtje Post Dissertation Abstract: The research presented in this thesis addresses the role of prosody in signalling the topic structure of longer stretches of discourse in Standard Southern British English (SSBE), from the point of view of both the speaker and the listener. My research makes several unique contributions to the investigation of prosody and discourse topic. First, I investigate prosodic signalling of topic structure taking into account a more complex model of this structure than most previous phonetic studies of topic had used, as well as taking a phonologically-informed view of the phonetic variation aspects. Second, I address a neglect of non-intonational prosodic cues in the context of discourse structure signalling. Third, I make a first experimental attempt to investigate the perception of topic structure cues by listeners in an on-line processing situation rather than by asking metalinguistic questions. A production experiment investigated the ways in which speakers of SSBE vary their prosody in relation to the topic structure of long discourses. A written text which was controlled for the topic structure and for segmental characteristics was read aloud, and the recordings were analyzed with regard to the topic structure. The well-known cues of pitch reset (i.e. a very high pitch at the beginning of a new unit) and supradeclination (gradual lowering of pitch across a unit) were found to correlate with the global grouping of utterances into topic units. The size of the first (prenuclear) F0 fall was found to vary systematically with the internal topic structure of the topic groups. A number of non-F0 cues gave further evidence for this idea, notably the variation in local speech rate at the beginnings of utterances, which appeared in different degrees relative to the topic structure category of the utterance, and which for some speakers appeared to be used instead of the F0 fall cue. Variation in global speech rate and in the distribution of aperiodicity, as well as the distribution of rising versus falling initial pitch accents, were also found to show reliable patterns related to the different topic structure categories. A post-hoc validation investigated the usefulness of the categories adopted for the text and the degree of individual variation in how texts are organized into topics. A perception experiment was used to further investigate the degree to which listeners make use of information about topic structure during the immediate or on-line process of listening. Subjects heard a series of utterances which had had their prosody manipulated to suggest that they contained a topic change or a topic hold, and then had to respond to following sentences which were either consistent or not with the prosody of the utterances they had heard. If the prosody and the semantic content did not match, listeners were much slower to accept the following utterance as fitting the context. This indicates that listeners are sensitive to information about the topic structure of utterances as part of the natural process of listening, and not only when asked to complete metalinguistic tasks involving marking groups or identifying topics. The robust production results in particular suggest that topic structure marking is integral to the process by which speakers and listeners communicate. Although the set of cues investigated is far from exhaustive, both local and global prosodic characteristics of utterances provide information that the listener can and apparently does take advantage of. Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue Page Updated: 26-Jul-2011       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.