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Reflections on studying prosody in talk-in-interaction.

E A Schegloff1

  • 1Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles 90095-1551, USA. scheglof@soc.ucla.edu

Language and Speech
|April 4, 2000
PubMed
Summary

This study explores how prosody, or vocal intonation, is used in conversation. It shows how pitch and intonation help manage turns, set conversational tone, and perform actions during talk-in-interaction.

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Area of Science:

  • Linguistics
  • Sociolinguistics
  • Conversation Analysis

Background:

  • Prosody is often studied as a feature within conversation.
  • This research reframes prosody as a fundamental resource for producing conversation.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To analyze how prosodic practices are integral to the interactive production of conversation.
  • To examine specific ways pitch and intonation shape conversational structure and action.

Main Methods:

  • Analysis of three conversational episodes.
  • Focus on pitch peaks for turn completion.
  • Examination of pitch level negotiation in telephone openings.
  • Investigation of prosody's role in action constitution.

Main Results:

  • Pitch peaks signal the projected end of a turn.
  • Participants negotiate conversational tenor through pitch level in openings.
  • Prosody is crucial for constituting the action of an utterance.

Conclusions:

  • Prosody is a dynamic tool for managing conversational flow and action.
  • Further research needs methods to describe the link between prosody and conversational outcomes.

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