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Based on data from a Mid-German dialect area of Dresden, this article presents research on the structure and functions of regionalized intonation. The Dresden data comes from informal conversation-like settings and illustrates a contour that is typical of the Dresden city vernacular: a contour previously named and described as the Dresden Fallbogen. An analysis of the phonetic forms and phonological structures of the contour is provided, and its use and function in conversational interactions is described. Additional methods of investigating the perception and identification of these contours by subjects in an experimental setting are also given. The article concludes with remarks about the possible relevance of this contour as a signal of identity
Lists as embedded structures and the prosody of list construction as an interactional resource
(2003)
Fallbögen im Dresdnerischen
(2003)
This article describes a salient intonation contour of the Dresden urban vernacular which Gericke (1963) called 'Fallbogen' (falling curve). The contour is described both structurally and functionally. The structural analysis describes the phonetic trajectory of the contour and the phonological structure and alignment of the contour with the syllables of the utterance. In the functional analysis, the use of the contour is investigated in its conversational context. The 'Fallbogen' is reconstructed as a contour which is deployed in order to signal and constitute emphasis and heightened emotive involvement in talk-in-interaction; this analysis is validated with recourse to recipients' responses in the utterances following the use of the 'Fallbogen' contour
After reviewing the research on Saxon regionalized intonation and giving an overview of our research project on regionalized intonation in German, a particular salient regionalized intonation contour from the Dresden vernacular is described in detail. In addition to a more widespread contour that is also used in the Berlin vernacular, albeit in different contexts, the so-called 'upward staircase contour' which is formed by a lower plateau, a rise and a higher plateau, the Dresden vernacular also uses very salient regionalized variants of such staircase contours: These variants entail upward staircases with, metaphorically speaking, two steps; i.e. after the lower plateau and the rise up to a higher plateau, the pitch rises up again in order to form a third plateau. Depending upon the alignment of the second rise and the third plateau, with only the final unaccented syllable of the intonation phrase or with the nuclear accented syllable and the following tail, the contour needs to be distinguished, yielding either an 'upward staircase with an additional final rise plateau' or a 'double upward staircase'. These two contours are shown to be used in different conversational contexts and in different functions in the Dresden vernacular. - Data for this study come from natural speech by speakers of the Dresden vernacular. The phonetic and phonological analysis of the contour is based on auditive, acoustic-phonetic and phonological methodology; the functional analysis of the utterances with the salient contours relies on the techniques of conversation analysis
Content: 1. Introduction 2. The notion of speech style: from a dependent variable to contextualization cue 3. Speech styles in conversation from a German Sozialamt 3.1 Extracts from conversation 3.2 Speech style constituting cues 3.3 Choice and alternation of speech styles in conversation 4. Summary and conclusions
A system of descriptive categories for the notation and analysis of intonation in natural conversation is presented and discussed in relation to other systems currently suggested for incorporation in discourse analysis, The categories are based on purely auditive criteria. They differ from e.g. tonetic approaches by relying more on transcribers' and analysts' perception of the form and internal cohesiveness of contours, especially with respect to rhythmicality and/or pitch contour (gestalt). Intonation is conceived of as a relational phenomenon; the role of intonation in conversational utterances can only be analyzed by considering its co-occurrence with other properties of utterances like syntactic, semantic and discourse organizational structures and devices. In general, intonation is viewed as one signalling system contributing to the contextualization of utterances in their conversational context. A broad functional differentiation between different types of intonation categories seems plausible: Local categories like accents might fulfill mainly semantic functions, while global categories like different contour types might fulfill primarily functions with respect to the interactive coordination of activities in conversation.
The role of intonation in the organization of repair and problem handling sequences in conversation
(1988)
Transcripts of repair and/or problem handling sequences from natural conversations are presented and analyzed with special reference to the role of intonation in the interactive organization of these sequences. It is shown that (a) in the initiation of so-called repair or local problem handling sequences, intonation is used as a type-distinctive device, and (b) in the handling of a global problem handling sequence, intonation is systematically used as a means to constitute and control participant cooperation. In general, intonation is analyzed as one contextualization cue cooccurring with specific syntactic, semantic and discourse organizational devices to signal the status of an utterance in conversational context. It is hypothesized that especially in the global problem handling sequence, different categories of intonation, i.e. different accent and contour types, are systematically used to signal and control participants' interactive problem handling in different, indexically relevant ways simultaneously.
Ziel dieses Aufsatzes ist es zu zeigen, daß und weshalb Intonationsmodelle, die die Prämissen des traditionellen systemisch-tonetischen Ansatzes teilen, ungeeignet sind für die Analyse natürlicher Sprachverwendung in konversationeller Interaktion. Insbesondere die Grundeinheit der 'Tpngruppe'/'Toneinheit'/'Intonationsphrase' wie auch die Analyse des 'Tonmusters' bzw. der letzten Tonhöhenbewegung der Einheit im Hinblick auf die Unterscheidung und Differenzierung von Satzarten bzw. Satzmodi sind auf die Analyse kontextfreier Sätze zugeschnitten und kaum auf die Verhältnisse der Sprachverwendung in natürlicher konversationeller Interaktion übertragbar. Eine alternative Analyse der Intonation als interaktiv relevantes Signalisierungssystem ermöglicht bessere und plausiblere Beschreibungen. Nleine alternative Konzeption basiert auf der empirischen Analyse eines Korpus natürlicher Daten aus informellen Alltagsgesprächen. Das Ergebnis dieser Analyse ist, daß Intonation als unabhängiges, autonomes Signalisierungssystem aufgefaßt werden muß. Für die derzeit üblichen Ansätze der phonologischen Intonationsforschung ergibt sich die Forderung nach noch stärkerer als bisher angenommener Modularisierung: Zwar steht die Wahl der Akzentstelle in systematischer Beziehung zu grammatischen Prinzipien und muß mit Bezug auf die Grammatik analysiert werden, aber die Wahl der Tonhöhenbewegung kann nicht mit Bezug auf die Grammatik erklärt werden: die letzte Tonhöhenbewegung unterscheidet nicht grammatisch relevante Satzarten/Satzmodi, sondern interaktiv relevante Aktivitätstypen in der konversationeilen Interaktion, die auch je unterschiedliehe sequentielle Implikationen für die konditioneil relevante Antwort haben.
Gemeinsame Anfänge
(2020)
Dieser Aufsatz ist eine persönlich-biographische Würdigung für Ewald Reuter, mit Fokus auf die Anfänge unserer gemeinsamen Entwicklung zum Sprachwissenschaftler bzw. zur Sprachwissen-schaftlerin im Rahmen des sozio-kulturellen Milieus der Fakultät für Linguistik und Literatur-wissenschaft (LiLi-Fakultät) der Universität Bielefeld in den 1970iger Jahren.