<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This study investigates how discourse particles and intonation contribute to the modification of speech act. In particular, it focuses on the interplay between the speaker’s and the addressee’s commitment toward the proposition in assertions, biased questions, and requests for confirmation. A syntactic analysis is proposed, in which <italic>speaker commitment</italic> and <italic>call on addressee</italic> are represented as two functional projections of the speech act structure. Data from nontonal (Canadian English) and tonal languages (Cantonese and Medumba) are analyzed for cross-linguistic comparison. In Canadian English, the particle “<italic>eh</italic>” and rising intonation are associated with speaker commitment and call on addressee, respectively. In Cantonese, a single particle associates with these. In Medumba, the two positions are occupied by two distinct particles. This neo-performative approach toward speech act structure differs from <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="j_scl-2016-0005_ref_025_w2aab2b8b6b1b7b1ab1ac25Aa">Ross’s 1970</xref> original insight by positing a high functional layer called <italic>grounding</italic>, rather than a higher matrix clause of the familiar type.</p></abstract>

This study investigates how discourse particles and intonation contribute to the modification of speech act. In particular, it focuses on the interplay between the speaker’s and the addressee’s commitment toward the proposition in assertions, biased questions, and requests for confirmation. A syntactic analysis is proposed, in which speaker commitment and call on addressee are represented as two functional projections of the speech act structure. Data from nontonal (Canadian English) and tonal languages (Cantonese and Medumba) are analyzed for cross-linguistic comparison. In Canadian English, the particle “eh” and rising intonation are associated with speaker commitment and call on addressee, respectively. In Cantonese, a single particle associates with these. In Medumba, the two positions are occupied by two distinct particles. This neo-performative approach toward speech act structure differs from Ross’s 1970 original insight by positing a high functional layer called grounding, rather than a higher matrix clause of the familiar type.

Intonation and Particles as Speech Act Modifiers: A Syntactic Analysis

Studies in Chinese Linguistics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

{"article-title":"Intonation and Particles as Speech Act Modifiers: A Syntactic Analysis"}

This study investigates how discourse particles and intonation contribute to the modification of speech act. In particular, it focuses on the interplay between...

Intonation and Particles as Speech Act Modifiers: A Syntactic Analysis

Pubblicato online: 30 dic 2016

Pagine: 109 - 129

Ricevuto: 23 feb 2015

Accettato: 22 giu 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/scl-2016-0005

Parole chiave
syntax, discourse particles, intonation, speech act

© 2016 Johannes Heim et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Intonation and Particles as Speech Act Modifiers: A Syntactic Analysis

Pubblicato online: 30 dic 2016

Pagine: 109 - 129

Ricevuto: 23 feb 2015

Accettato: 22 giu 2016

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/scl-2016-0005

Parole chiavesyntax, discourse particles, intonation, speech act

© 2016 Johannes Heim et al., published by De Gruyter Open

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Parole chiave
syntax, discourse particles, intonation, speech act