Chapter 6. The Camel Humps prosodic pattern
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Nadav Matalon
Abstract
This chapter presents an analysis of a common prosodic pattern in spoken Hebrew. The pattern is characterized by a repetition of high rise-fall pitch movements, which visualize as successive “humps” in the pitch curve.1 Based on analysis of naturally occurring conversations, I show that speakers use this pattern to construct open lists of reinforcements for a counter-stance they take. In some cases, the use of the pattern is itself the act of taking a counter-stance, that is, in such cases the disaffiliation between the stance-takers is only prosodically cued. Such cases demonstrate that prosodic list patterns are used not only for the task of enumerating items under one category, but also as a resource for complex interactional activities.
The structure of the chapter is as follows. In Section 1, I introduce the premises underlying this study and describe the data. Section 2 includes a formal analysis of the pattern, followed by a functional analysis in Section 3. Conclusions are drawn in Section 4.
Abstract
This chapter presents an analysis of a common prosodic pattern in spoken Hebrew. The pattern is characterized by a repetition of high rise-fall pitch movements, which visualize as successive “humps” in the pitch curve.1 Based on analysis of naturally occurring conversations, I show that speakers use this pattern to construct open lists of reinforcements for a counter-stance they take. In some cases, the use of the pattern is itself the act of taking a counter-stance, that is, in such cases the disaffiliation between the stance-takers is only prosodically cued. Such cases demonstrate that prosodic list patterns are used not only for the task of enumerating items under one category, but also as a resource for complex interactional activities.
The structure of the chapter is as follows. In Section 1, I introduce the premises underlying this study and describe the data. Section 2 includes a formal analysis of the pattern, followed by a functional analysis in Section 3. Conclusions are drawn in Section 4.
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Building categories in interaction 1
- Chapter 2. Ad hoc categorization in linguistic interaction 9
- Chapter 3. Categories at the interface of cognition and action 35
- Chapter 4. Category-building lists between grammar and interaction 73
- Chapter 5. Are new words predictable? 111
- Chapter 6. The Camel Humps prosodic pattern 155
- Chapter 7. Making the implicit explicit 187
- Chapter 8. Online text mapping 211
- Chapter 9. Exemplification in interaction 239
- Chapter 10. The on-line construction of meaning in Mandarin Chinese 271
- Chapter 11. Et cetera, eccetera, etc. The development of a general extender from Latin to Italian 295
- Chapter 12. Morphopragmatics of rhyming and imitative co-compounds in Russian 317
- Chapter 13. Encoding ad hoc categories in Georgian 355
- Chapter 14. French type-noun constructions based on genre 373
- Chapter 15. In a manner of speaking 415
- Chapter 16. Why it’s hard to construct ad hoc number concepts 439
- Index 463
Chapters in this book
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Chapter 1. Building categories in interaction 1
- Chapter 2. Ad hoc categorization in linguistic interaction 9
- Chapter 3. Categories at the interface of cognition and action 35
- Chapter 4. Category-building lists between grammar and interaction 73
- Chapter 5. Are new words predictable? 111
- Chapter 6. The Camel Humps prosodic pattern 155
- Chapter 7. Making the implicit explicit 187
- Chapter 8. Online text mapping 211
- Chapter 9. Exemplification in interaction 239
- Chapter 10. The on-line construction of meaning in Mandarin Chinese 271
- Chapter 11. Et cetera, eccetera, etc. The development of a general extender from Latin to Italian 295
- Chapter 12. Morphopragmatics of rhyming and imitative co-compounds in Russian 317
- Chapter 13. Encoding ad hoc categories in Georgian 355
- Chapter 14. French type-noun constructions based on genre 373
- Chapter 15. In a manner of speaking 415
- Chapter 16. Why it’s hard to construct ad hoc number concepts 439
- Index 463
