From pitch to purpose: The prosodic–pragmatic mapping of [I + verb] belief constructions in English and Mandarin

Abstract

Prosody has often been considered a universal cue of prominence across languages. This paper presents the results of a study that aimed to provide congruent data on the question of universality vs. cross-linguistic variability of pragmatic-prosodic mappings (prosodic variation as a cue to pragmatic interpretation) in a specific linguistic construction, namely, [I + verb] belief constructs before an opinion. Specifically, this study presents a perception test implemented to investigate the phenomenon of cross-linguistic pragmatic-prosodic mapping in [I + verb] belief constructs. Since opinions carry inherent notions of speaker belief, these constructions may initially appear superfluous. However, [I + verb] forms may actually fulfill various pragmatic functions depending on prosodic variation. Usage of various pragmatic functions of this construct was analyzed and compared between native Mandarin and English speakers using the most common belief verb, ''think'' ('juede' in Mandarin). Results illustrated that confidence rating of prosodic-syntactic [I + verb] variations were linked to pragmatic implicatures generated via alternative semantics theory. Furthermore, the same confidence rating trends appeared across both Mandarin and English, exhibiting a similar pragmatic-prosodic mapping for [I + verb] across these typologically different languages. This study thereby provides validity of prosody as a cross-linguistic pragmatic tool to express speaker attitude.

Acoustics of persuasion: a systematic review of prosodic features on the communicative attitudes of confidence

“…There is a close relationship between linguistic cues, i.e., "auditory forms" and linguistic function -namely declarative, direct, indirect, and quite indirect (Pell, 2007) -, gestural cues (Yokoyama & Daibo, 2012), and place of emphasis within the sentence or word. The emphasis on the verb, for example, cannot only modify confidence in the message, but also completely modify its meaning (Tomlinson Jr. & Fox Tree, 2011;Zhao et al, 2018).…”

“…Increase in pitch was mentioned by most of the studies analyzed (n=11). However, worsening perception of speaker's persuasion and pitch variation work as a cue to the prominence of the utterance focus (Zhao et al, 2018). From a neurophysiological perspective, the studies (Jiang & Pell, 2015;Pell, 2007) show that melodic (vocal and pitch) variation is perceived by the brain in association with other cues, leading to an inference about the status of the speaker, which would signal the level of confidence and certainty of speech.…”

“…way. (Zhao et al, 2018). An attitude is a controlled and conscious determined behavior consisting of intellectual and moral components.…”

“…It is known that prosody effects are highly dependent on the context (Zhao et al, 2018). They are influenced by the context and interact on the message interpretation level.…”