The interaction of discourse markers and prosody in rhetorical questions in German
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10140804 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Nicole Dehé (0000-0002-2952-8592, University of Konstanz, corresponding author), Daniela Wochner (University of Konstanz), Marieke Einfeldt (University of Konstanz) |
| Year | 2022 |
| Volume | 60 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 103-127 |
| Publication date | 2022-07-13 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of Linguistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-2267 • E-ISSN: 1469-7742 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022226722000299 |
| OpenAlex | W4285391970 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 22 |
Recent research has shown that rhetorical questions (RQs) have certain prosodic characteristics in terms of voice quality, tempo, and intonation, which distinguish them from genuine, information-seeking questions (ISQs). This paper focuses on the interaction between prosodic cues to rhetorical meaning on the one hand, and lexical and morpho-syntactic means, on the other, in German. The production experiment reported on here addresses three research questions, in short: (i) do speakers prefer a specific syntactic construction for an RQ, (ii) do they make use of specific lexical and morpho-syntactic means to signal rhetorical meaning, and (iii) what is the interaction between those means and prosodic cues. The answers are: (i) yes ( wh- questions), (ii) yes (especially discourse markers (DiPs)), and (iii) we find an additive effect enforcing the rhetorical message. When lexical (or morpho-syntactic) cues to rhetorical meaning are used, we do not observe a reduction in or lack of prosodic means at the same time. For example, when a DiP is present, an RQ will still have a typical nuclear accent and edge tone, i.e., cues are used in an additive, rather than an exclusive way. There are, however, RQs that are marked only in the prosody, without any lexical or morpho-syntactic cues present
German · Intonation (linguistics · Linguistics · Meaning (existential · Pitch accent · Prosody · Rhetorical question · Stress (linguistics · Syntax · Linguistic research and analysis · Philosophy · Phonetics and Phonology Research · Psychology · Speech and dialogue systems
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The Prosody of Rhetorical and Information-Seeking Questions in German
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| Unique citing works | 4 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2022 - 2026 (5) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 4 |