LINGUIST List 22.3023
Tue Jul 26 2011
Diss: Disc Analysis/Phonetics: Zellers: 'Prosodic Detail and Topic ...'
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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
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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 insignalling the topic structure of longer stretches of discourse in StandardSouthern British English (SSBE), from the point of view of both the speakerand the listener. My research makes several unique contributions to theinvestigation of prosody and discourse topic. First, I investigate prosodicsignalling of topic structure taking into account a more complex model ofthis structure than most previous phonetic studies of topic had used, aswell as taking a phonologically-informed view of the phonetic variationaspects. Second, I address a neglect of non-intonational prosodic cues inthe context of discourse structure signalling. Third, I make a firstexperimental attempt to investigate the perception of topic structure cuesby listeners in an on-line processing situation rather than by askingmetalinguistic questions.
A production experiment investigated the ways in which speakers of SSBEvary their prosody in relation to the topic structure of long discourses. Awritten text which was controlled for the topic structure and for segmentalcharacteristics was read aloud, and the recordings were analyzed withregard to the topic structure. The well-known cues of pitch reset (i.e. avery high pitch at the beginning of a new unit) and supradeclination(gradual lowering of pitch across a unit) were found to correlate with theglobal grouping of utterances into topic units. The size of the first(prenuclear) F0 fall was found to vary systematically with the internaltopic structure of the topic groups. A number of non-F0 cues gave furtherevidence for this idea, notably the variation in local speech rate at thebeginnings of utterances, which appeared in different degrees relative tothe topic structure category of the utterance, and which for some speakersappeared to be used instead of the F0 fall cue. Variation in global speechrate and in the distribution of aperiodicity, as well as the distributionof rising versus falling initial pitch accents, were also found to showreliable patterns related to the different topic structure categories. Apost-hoc validation investigated the usefulness of the categories adoptedfor the text and the degree of individual variation in how texts areorganized into topics.
A perception experiment was used to further investigate the degree to whichlisteners make use of information about topic structure during theimmediate or on-line process of listening. Subjects heard a series ofutterances which had had their prosody manipulated to suggest that theycontained a topic change or a topic hold, and then had to respond tofollowing sentences which were either consistent or not with the prosody ofthe utterances they had heard. If the prosody and the semantic content didnot match, listeners were much slower to accept the following utterance asfitting the context. This indicates that listeners are sensitive toinformation about the topic structure of utterances as part of the naturalprocess of listening, and not only when asked to complete metalinguistictasks involving marking groups or identifying topics.
The robust production results in particular suggest that topic structuremarking is integral to the process by which speakers and listenerscommunicate. Although the set of cues investigated is far from exhaustive,both local and global prosodic characteristics of utterances provideinformation that the listener can and apparently does take advantage of.
Page Updated: 26-Jul-2011
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