Analysing Conversation: An Introduction to Prosody

✍ Scribed by Beatrice Szczepek Reed

• Publisher: Red Globe Press
• Year: 2010
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 273
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Spoken interaction is impossible without prosody. Intonation, pitch register, tempo, rhythm, pausing, loudness and voice quality all contribute to the spontaneous negotiation process that is everyday talk.

This highly accessible introduction to the prosody and analysis of everyday conversation explains basic concepts and methods of interpretation using a wealth of examples from real-life conversations. Readers are introduced to the many conversational practices prosody plays a part in through sample analyses, all of which are available to listen to as downloadable audio files on the accompanying companion website: www.palgrave.com/analysingconversation

Packed with authentic examples, practical suggestions for analysis, suggestions for further reading and a helpful glossary, this clear and comprehensive guide is essential reading for students and researchers alike.

✦ Table of Contents

Cover
Contents
List of Figures
Acknowledgements
1 Preliminaries
1.1 Analysing natural conversation
1.1.1 Naturally occurring talk-in-interaction
1.1.2 Turn-taking
1.1.3 Sequences and sequence organisation
1.1.4 Recipient design and participant orientation: interactional negotiation
1.1.5 Repair
1.2 Prosody in natural conversation
1.2.1 Prosody and turn-taking
1.2.2 Prosody and sequence organisation
1.2.3 Prosody and interactional negotiation
1.3 The data
1.4 Transcription conventions
1.5 Chapter overview
2 Pitch: Introduction
2.1 Pitch analysis using speech analysis software
3 Pitch: Intonation
3.1 Contrasts in intonation
3.1.1 Stress and pitch accents
3.1.2 Intonation contours and intonation phrases
3.1.3 Summary
3.2 Analysing intonation
3.2.1 Intonation phrases
3.2.2 Pitch accents
3.2.3 Exercises
3.3 Research on intonation in natural conversation
3.3.1 Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (2004): Prosody and sequence organization in English conversation: the case of new beginnings
3.3.2 Beatrice Szczepek Reed (2006, pp. 111–19, 127–30): Marked prosody: declining intonation contours with lengthening and portamento
4 Pitch: Range and Register
4.1 Contrasts in pitch range and register
4.1.1 Pitch range
4.1.2 Pitch register
4.1.3 Summary
4.2 Analysing pitch register
4.2.1 Exercises
4.3 Research on pitch range and pitch register in natural conversation
4.3.1 Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (1996a): The prosody of repetition: on quoting and mimicry
4.3.2 Gabriele Klewitz and Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (1999): Quote–unquote? The role of prosody in the contextualisation of reported speech sequences
5 Time: Sound and Syllable Duration
5.1 Contrasts in sound and syllable duration
5.1.1 Summary
5.2 Analysing sound and syllable duration
5.2.1 Exercises
5.3 Research on syllable duration in natural conversation: Hiroko Tanaka (2004): Prosody for marking transition-relevance places in Japanese conversation: the case of turns unmarked by utterance-final objects
6 Time: Speech Rate
6.1 Contrasts in speech rate
6.1.1 Summary
6.2 Analysing speech rate
6.2.1 Exercises
6.3 Research on speech rate in natural conversation: Susanne Uhmann (1992): Contextualising relevance: on some forms and functions of speech rate changes in everyday conversation
7 Time: Speech Rhythm
7.1 Contrasts in speech rhythm
7.1.1 Measuring speech rhythm aurally
7.1.2 Measuring speech rhythm using rhythm indices
7.1.3 Measuring speech rhythm using speech analysis software
7.1.4 Summary
7.2 Analysing speech rhythm
7.2.1 Exercises
7.3 Research on speech rhythm in natural conversation
7.3.1 Susanne Uhmann (1996): On rhythm in everyday German conversation: beat clashes in assessment utterances
7.3.2 Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen (1993, pp. 115–62): Analysing speech rhythm at turn transitions
8 Time: Pauses
8.1 Contrasts through pauses
8.2 Analysing pauses
8.2.1 Exercises
8.3 Research on pauses in natural conversation
8.3.1 John Local and John Kelly (1986): Projection and ‘silences’: notes on phonetic and conversational structure
8.3.2 Beatrice Szczepek Reed (2009): Prosodic orientation: a practice for sequence organization in broadcast telephone openings
9 Loudness
9.1 Contrasts in loudness
9.2 Analysing loudness
9.2.1 Exercises
9.3 Research on loudness in natural conversation
9.3.1 Peter French and John Local (1986): Prosodic features and the management of interruptions
9.3.2 Peter Auer and Barbara Rönfeldt (2004): Prolixity as adaptation: prosody and turn-taking in German conversation with a fluent aphasic
10 Voice Quality
10.1 Contrasts in voice quality
10.1.1 Creaky voice
10.1.2 Falsetto
10.1.3 Breathy voice
10.2 Analysing voice quality
10.2.1 Exercises
10.3 Research on voice quality in natural conversation
10.3.1 Richard Ogden (2004): Non-modal voice quality and turn-taking in Finnish
10.3.2 Beatrice Szczepek Reed (2006, pp. 52–4): Prosodic matching of voice quality
11 Outlook: Future Issues in Research on Prosody in Conversation
Answers to Exercises
Appendix: Transcription Conventions
Notes
Glossary
Bibliography
Index

✦ Subjects

conversation analysis