NOTES ON THE ROLE OF PROSODY IN CONVERSATIONAL DISCOURSE: EVIDENCE FROM ENGLISH AND SERBIAN TALK IN INTERACTION

Authors

  • Ксениjа Богетић University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology

Keywords:

prosody, conversation, turn-taking, talk-in-interaction

Abstract

This paper examines the role of prosody in Serbian and English conversational discourse. The underlying assumption is that the investiga-tion of conversational prosody can yield deeper understanding of both prosody and conversational structure, but that it demands a different approach that is not based on sentence-level grammar. The corpus used consists of three recorded conversations in English and three in Serbian, transcribed using the conventions of DuBois et al. (1992, 2006). The results point to several systematic tendencies in the role of prosody in turn taking, as well as in the realization of interruptions and simultaneous speech. In this respect, notable similarities between English and Serbian are found. In a more general sense, it is argued that it has become necessary for speech prosody research to step beyond sentence-level models and take a more interactionally oriented approach.

Author Biography

Ксениjа Богетић, University of Belgrade, Faculty of Philology

Рођена 1984. године у Београду. Дипломирала на Катедри за енглески jезик и књижевност на Филолошком факултету у Београду. Првенствено се интересује за социолингвистику, анализу дискурса и jезик у интеракциjи. Тренутно jе студент докторских студиjа на Филолошком факултету у Београду.

References

Бано 1999: M. Banno, Towards a discourse model of prosodic structure : a prosodic and syntactic analysis of declination in Japanese. Thesis (M.A.)University of California, Santa Barbara.
Болингер 1989: D. Bolinger, Intonation and Its Uses: Melody in Grammar and discourse. Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Чејф 1994: W. Chafe, Discourse, consciousness, and time: the flow and displacement of conscious experience in speaking and writing, Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Чејф 1998: W. Chafe, Language and the flow of thought. У: Michael Tomasello (ред.) The new psychology of language, Erlbaum, 93-111.
Коутс 2004: J. Coates, Women, Men and Language, Harlow: Pearson Longman.
Купер-Кулен и Селтинг: E. Couper-Kuhlen and M. Selting, Prosody in conversation: Interactional studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kратенден 1997: A. Cruttenden, Intonation, New York: Cambridge University Press.
Kристал 1969: D. Crystal, Prosodic systems and intonation in English, London: Cambridge University Press.
Драгин 2005: Г. Драгин, Прозодијске особине говора спикера – новинара – РТВ Нови Сад, Зборник Матице српске за филологију и лингвистику, 48, 1-2, 277-282.
Драмонд 1989: K. Drummond, A backward glance at interruptions. Western Journal of Speech Communication, 53, 150-66.
ДуБоа 2006: J. Du Bois, Comparison of transcription symbols, http://www. linguistics.ucsb.edu/projects/transcription/A04comparison.pdf, 25. 8. 2010.
ДуБоа и др. 1992: J. Du Bois, S. Schuetze-Coburn, S. Cumming and D. Paolino, Outline of discourse transcription. У: J. A. Edwards J. A. i M. D. Lampert M. D. (red.) Talking data: Transcription and coding indiscourse research, Hillsdale: Lawrence Erlbaum, 45-89.
Фекете 2000: E. Фекете, Неке појаве систем(ат)ског нарушавања акценатске норме. Јужнословенски филолог, 56, 1297-1329.
Фуро 2001: H. Furo, Turn-taking in English and Japanese: Projectability in grammar, intonation and semantics, New York: Routledge.
Халидеј 1967: M. A. K. Halliday, Intonation and grammar in British English, Paris: Mouton.
Хачби и Вуфит 2008: I. Hutchby and R. Wooffitt, Conversation analysis: Studies from the first generation, Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. Kлат 1975: M. Klatt, Vowel lengthening is syntactically determined in connected discourse, Journal of Phonetics, 3, 129-140.
Koхонен 2004: S. Kohonen, Turn-taking in conversation: overlaps and interruptions in intercultural talk, Cahiers, 10, 15-30.
Лехи сте и Ивић 1986: P. Lehiste and P. Ivić, Word and sentence prosody of Serbo-Croatian, Cambridge: MIT Press.
Mурата 1994: K. Murata, Intrusive or cooperative? A cross-cultural study of interruption. Journal of Pragmatics, 21, 385-400.
Петровић 1996: Д. Петровић, Фонетика – српски језик на крају века. У: М. Радовановић (ред.) Српски језик на крају века, Београд: Институт за српски језик САНУ.
Секс и др. 1974: H. Sacks, E. Schegloff and G. Jefferson, A simplest systematics for the organization of turn-taking for conversation, Language, 50, 696-735.
Шеглоф 1998: E. Schegloff, Reflections on studying prosody in talk in interaction, Language and speech, 41, 235-263.
Шеглоф 2000: E. Schegloff, Overlapping talk and the organization of turn-taking for conversation, Language in Society, 29, 1-63.
Шеглоф 2002: E. Schegloff, Accounts of conduct: Interruption, overlap and turn-taking. У: J.H.Turner (ред.) Handbook of Sociological Theory, New York: Kluwer, 287-321.
Taнен 1990: D. Tannen, You just don’t understand: Women and men in conversation, New York: Morrow.
Taнен 2005: D. Tannen, Conversational style: Analyzing talk among friends, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Teн Хав 2007: P. Ten Have, Doing conversation analysis, London: SAGE. Tрејџер 1964: G. Trager, The intonation system of American English. У: D. Bolinger (ред.) Intonation. Selected readings, London: Penguin Books, 83-86.
Венер стром 2001: A. Wennerstrom, The Music of Everyday Speech : Prosody and Discourse Analysis, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Зимерман и Вест 1975: D. Zimmerman and C. West, Sex roles, interruptions and silences in conversations. У: B. Thorne, B. and N. Henley (ред.), Language and Sex: Difference and Dominance, Rowley: Newbury House, 105-129.

Downloads

Published

10-26-2010

How to Cite

Богетић, К. (2010). NOTES ON THE ROLE OF PROSODY IN CONVERSATIONAL DISCOURSE: EVIDENCE FROM ENGLISH AND SERBIAN TALK IN INTERACTION. Nasleđe, 7(16), 205–220. Retrieved from http://35.189.211.7/index.php/nasledje/article/view/311