Prosody as a genre-distinguishing feature in Ahtna: A quantitative approach

Date

2011

Contributor

Advisor

Department

Instructor

Depositor

Speaker

Researcher

Consultant

Interviewer

Narrator

Transcriber

Annotator

Journal Title

Journal ISSN

Volume Title

Publisher

John Benjamins Publishing Company

Volume

Number/Issue

Starting Page

Ending Page

Alternative Title

Abstract

This article is a quantitative examination of the function of prosody in distinguishing between the genres of oral performance and expository discourse in Ahtna, an Athabascan language of south-central Alaska. Within the framework of the intonation unit (e.g., Chafe 1987) I examine features of prosody related to both timing (intonation unit length and duration, pause duration and distribution, and syllable pacing) and pitch (pitch reset, boundary tones, and intonational phrasing). I show to a statistically significant degree that most of the prosodic burden of distinguishing genre is carried by a particular intonation contour that is associated with Ahtna oral performance and causes several measurable distinctions between genres.

Description

Keywords

Linguistics

Citation

Berez, Andrea L. 2011. Prosody as a genre-distinguishing feature in Ahtna: A quantitative approach. Functions of Language 18(2): 210-236.

Extent

28

Format

Geographic Location

Time Period

Related To

Related To (URI)

Table of Contents

Rights

Rights Holder

Local Contexts

Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.