Prosody and Pragmatics in Spoken Language Corpora

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10th International Pragmatics Conference
G?teborg, 8-13 July 2007

Panel: Prosody and Pragmatics in Spoken Language Corpora
organised by Dagmar Barth-Weingarten (Universit?t Potsdam), Nicole Dehé (FU Berlin) and Anne Wichmann (University of Central Lancashire)
Last updated by Nicole Dehé: 11 May 2007
Contact email addresses:
Dagmar Barth-Weingarten: dbarth AT rz.uni-potsdam.de
Nicole Dehé: ndehe AT zedat.fu-berlin.de
Anne Wichmann: awichmann AT uclan.ac.uk preliminary panel programme (last updated: 11 May 2007)
Panel description and call for papers:

This panel will focus on the interface between prosody and pragmatics. Particular emphasis will be placed on prosodic phrasing and its relevance for pragmatics. We aim to focus on empirical studies of prosodic features in natural spoken language.

Prosody is an integral part of spoken language in use, and in various research areas such as Conversation Analysis, Interactional Linguistics, the study of semantic change and applications in speech technology, it has been convincingly shown to contribute to meaning not only on the interpersonal but also on the referential and the textual language levels (cf., e.g., Couper-Kuhlen & Selting 1996, 2001; Culpeper et al 2003, Couper-Kuhlen & Ford 2004, Wichmann & Blakemore 2006).
Yet, except for work on focusing strategies, prosody has so far not figured prominently in pragmatic research, even though information structuring, interaction management and the expression of affect and attitude among others lie at the heart of pragmatics and prosody alike.
Corpus linguistics, too, has paid increasing attention to the investigation of large corpora of spoken language, with increasing awareness that the actual sound files should be the basis of investigation (Lancaster/IBM-corpus, ICE-GB, DCPSE). However, while a corpus-based description of (the differences between) spoken and written language has entered grammar writing (e.g., Biber et al 1999), pragmatic aspects of the use of prosody in spoken language corpora still await further exploration. This includes the use of the variable prosodic components pitch, loudness, tempo and voice quality as well as prosodic phrasing.
Embarking on any such project the first difficulty encountered is that of appropriately notating the flow of speech and thus identifying its smaller units. The nature of these units and the applicability of those already described to natural spoken language is still widely discussed (cf. Chafe 1994, Ladd 1996, Mindt 2001). Among the questions to be dealt with are:

* What kinds of prosodic units can be found in natural spoken language (paratone, declination unit, intonation unit, prosodic phrase, etc)?
* What is their relevance for the participants?
* How are they signaled in actual discourse (boundary cues, obligatory features)?
* What is their pragmatic value, e.g. in terms of securing the floor (prosodic projection), signaling actions (prosodic (dis-)integration) and emphatic uses of prosodic phrasing?
* To what extent do they correlate with other units (syntax-prosody, action-prosody interfaces)?
* What is their role in signaling changes in these correlations, as e.g. with grammaticalisation?

Hence, in this panel we would like to particularly encourage contributions on the nature and role of prosodic units from a pragmatic point of view. In addition, papers related to all aspects of prosody in spoken language and its relevance for pragmatics are welcome.

Presentations will be 20 minutes long, followed by a 10-minute question period. The conference language will be English.

Submission of abstracts: The deadline for submission of abstracts has now passed.

Important dates:
Deadline for abstract submission: This deadline has now passed.
Notification of acceptance: This deadline has now passed.
IPrA conference in G?teborg: 8-13 July 2007
Our Workshop: Thursday, 12 July 2007

Panel organisers:
Dagmar Barth-Weingarten (Universit?t Potsdam; email: <dbarth AT uni-potsdam.de>)
Nicole Dehé (Freie Universit?t Berlin; email: <ndehe AT zedat.fu-berlin.de>)
Anne Wichmann (University of Central Lancashire; email: <awichmann AT uclan.ac.uk>)
 
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