Universität Bielefeld - Sonderforschungsbereich 360
Empirical and Semiotic Foundations for Prosodic Analysis
Dafydd Gibbon
Abstract
Prosody is currently one of the most broadly researched areas of linguistics, with
innumerable studies on prosodic patterns, their physical correlates, and their functions
in discourse. Specific areas are rather well understood, but the overall picture is still
somewhat unclear, though perhaps no more so than in other areas of language. In this
paper an attempt is made to present a cogent theoretical view of the semiotic foundations
of prosody and to relate this view to modern methods of prosodic analysis and
description. The background to the study is a considerable body of experimental and
formal research into prosodic systems, their forms and functions, which point to a
growing consensus on methods, models, and even on results. It is shown how of domain
specification, notational conventions, and prosodic labelling technology are combined in
current prosodic research, with the aim of making these methods more widely understood
and available.
Anke Weinberger, 1994-05-03