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Intonation of fictive vs. actual direct speech in a Brazilian Portuguese corpus

  • Luiz Fernando Matos Rocha and Pablo Arantes
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The Conversation Frame
This chapter is in the book The Conversation Frame

Abstract

We deal with prosodic features in constituents structured by the conversation frame, that is, involving fictive interaction (Pascual 2002, 2014). We investigate how prosodic aspects contribute to the recognition of a fictive reading as a non-genuine instance of direct speech in a Brazilian Portuguese spontaneous speech corpus. The construction in question is “(eu) falei + clause” (‘I said’ + clause), which can be interpreted either fictively or factively (Rocha 2006, 2013, 2014). We used PRAAT to analyze recorded examples of this construction. Our results show that instances with a factive reading have greater fundamental frequency (F0) mean, standard deviation, and range than fictive ones. Factive contours are shifted towards higher values by roughly 2 semitones compared to the fictive ones.

Abstract

We deal with prosodic features in constituents structured by the conversation frame, that is, involving fictive interaction (Pascual 2002, 2014). We investigate how prosodic aspects contribute to the recognition of a fictive reading as a non-genuine instance of direct speech in a Brazilian Portuguese spontaneous speech corpus. The construction in question is “(eu) falei + clause” (‘I said’ + clause), which can be interpreted either fictively or factively (Rocha 2006, 2013, 2014). We used PRAAT to analyze recorded examples of this construction. Our results show that instances with a factive reading have greater fundamental frequency (F0) mean, standard deviation, and range than fictive ones. Factive contours are shifted towards higher values by roughly 2 semitones compared to the fictive ones.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors ix
  4. Acknowledgements xi
  5. Part I. Introduction
  6. Fictive interaction and the conversation frame 3
  7. Fictive interaction and the nature of linguistic meaning 23
  8. Part II. Fictive interaction as cognitive reality
  9. Generic integration templates for fictive communication 45
  10. Real, imaginary, or fictive? 63
  11. Silent abstractions versus “ Look at me ” drawings 87
  12. Part III. Fictive interaction as discourse structure
  13. Persuading and arguing with the reader 113
  14. Invocation or apostrophe? 131
  15. On discourse-motivated “sorries” 151
  16. Part IV. Fictive interaction as linguistic construction
  17. What about? 171
  18. Fictive questions in conditionals? 193
  19. Intonation of fictive vs. actual direct speech in a Brazilian Portuguese corpus 215
  20. Polish nominal construction involving fictive interaction 235
  21. Evidential fictive interaction (in Ungarinyin and Russian) 255
  22. Recursive inflection and grammaticalized fictive interaction in the southwestern Amazon 277
  23. Part V. Fictive interaction as communicative strategy
  24. “Say hello to this ad” 303
  25. The use of interactive structures as communicative strategy in Dutch and Portuguese aphasic speakers 323
  26. Echolalia as communicative strategy 343
  27. About the contributors 363
  28. Author index 369
  29. Language index 375
  30. Subject index 377
https://doi.org/10.1075/hcp.55.11roc

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. List of contributors ix
  4. Acknowledgements xi
  5. Part I. Introduction
  6. Fictive interaction and the conversation frame 3
  7. Fictive interaction and the nature of linguistic meaning 23
  8. Part II. Fictive interaction as cognitive reality
  9. Generic integration templates for fictive communication 45
  10. Real, imaginary, or fictive? 63
  11. Silent abstractions versus “ Look at me ” drawings 87
  12. Part III. Fictive interaction as discourse structure
  13. Persuading and arguing with the reader 113
  14. Invocation or apostrophe? 131
  15. On discourse-motivated “sorries” 151
  16. Part IV. Fictive interaction as linguistic construction
  17. What about? 171
  18. Fictive questions in conditionals? 193
  19. Intonation of fictive vs. actual direct speech in a Brazilian Portuguese corpus 215
  20. Polish nominal construction involving fictive interaction 235
  21. Evidential fictive interaction (in Ungarinyin and Russian) 255
  22. Recursive inflection and grammaticalized fictive interaction in the southwestern Amazon 277
  23. Part V. Fictive interaction as communicative strategy
  24. “Say hello to this ad” 303
  25. The use of interactive structures as communicative strategy in Dutch and Portuguese aphasic speakers 323
  26. Echolalia as communicative strategy 343
  27. About the contributors 363
  28. Author index 369
  29. Language index 375
  30. Subject index 377
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