Couper-Kuhlen2001

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Couper-Kuhlen2001
BibType ARTICLE
Key Couper-Kuhlen2001
Author(s) Elizabeth Couper-Kuhlen
Title Interactional prosody: High onsets in reason-for-the-call turns
Editor(s)
Tag(s) EMCA, IL, Prosody, Reason-for-a-call, intonation, conversational interaction, radio talk, onset level, contextualization, theory, multi-unit turn construction, spoken paratone)
Publisher
Year 2001
Language
City
Month
Journal Language in Society
Volume 30
Number 1
Pages 29–53
URL Link
DOI 10.1017/S0047404501001026
ISBN
Organization
Institution
School
Type
Edition
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Howpublished
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Abstract

The present study demonstrates how prosody – specifically, onset level – is deployed in situated interaction to cue frames of interpretation for talk. It shows not only that final pitch level in intonational contours is a relevant parameter, but also that, under certain conditions, initial pitch level may provide a situationally specific contextualization cue. In calls to radio phone-in programs, for instance, there is a so-called anchor position where callers can be expected to announce the reason for their calls. Close empirical analysis of data from such a program reveals that it is here that the first turn-constructional unit is routinely formatted with high onset. The studio moderator displays an orientation to this kind of prosodic formatting by withholding further talk until the caller has made a recognizably complete statement of the reason for the call. On occasion, turn-constructional units in anchor position are heard to lack a high onset. When this happens, the moderator responds in a way that shows he is not treating callers' talk as the reason for the call, but rather as a preface to the statement of reason.

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