TIPA. Travaux interdisciplinaires sur la parole et le langage (Dec 2013)
La prosodie des marqueurs de thématisation
Abstract
1. Introduction This paper discusses the prosodic properties of sentence-initial PPs in French which are introduced by so-called ’thematic markers’ (TMs), such as en ce qui concerne (’as for’) or du point de vue de (’with regard to’). These prepositions are called thematic markers because they introduce the theme of the proposition (Halliday, 1967). The function of the TM construction (TMC) is to indicate the aboutness-topic (Lambrecht, 2000) or the topic Chinese Style (Chafe 1976). In (1) and (2) the TMC « limit[s] the applicability of the main predication to a certain restricted domain [...] The topic sets a spatial, temporal, or individual framework within which the main predication holds » (Chafe 1976 : 50). In addition, in (2), pour ce qui est de introduces the aboutness-topic : the proposition adds information about Dieudonné. (1) Mais quand on peut il faut impérativement regarder BBC News. En ce moment, au niveau de l’info, ils sont vraiment au top. (Corpus Yahoo Answers, De Smet) (2) Pour ce qui est de Dieudonné, je ne le défendrai pas. (Corpus Yahoo Answers, De Smet) 2. Methodology and hypothesis For the prosodic analysis, we adopt the description of Mertens (2008) according to whom the basic prosodic unit in French is the intonation group (IG) which designates a sequence of one or more syllables in which the last full syllable carries final stress (Mertens 2008: 94). Besides the unstressed syllables (syllabes non accentuées, NA) and the final stress (accent final, AF), the IG can also contain a syllable with an (optional) initial stress (accent initial, AI). The internal structure of an IG goes as follows (the optional parts are indicated between brackets) : GI = [[NA] AI] [NA] AF According to Mertens (2008: 93), the final stressed syllable of each IG leads to a prosodic boundary. The strength of such a prosodic boundary is proportional to the relative pitch level within the final stressed syllable : the higher the relative pitch level, the stronger the prosodic boundary. In the figure below, the pitch level of the stressed syllable (in bold) in (a) is raised low (/LL), because there is just a small pitch rise in comparison with the previous unstressed syllables. The pitch level of the final stressed syllable in (b) is high because there is a major melodic interval. Minor melodic intervals are defined as intervals of 3 semi-tones, major intervals are 4 semi-tones or more. a) the final contour /LL b) the final contour HH The intonation contours which can appear at the end of an IG are very varied. Mertens (2008) considers the contours LL, \LL, /LL, L/L and L\L as minor prosodic boundaries, and the contours L-, LH, HL, \HH, /HH, H/H and H\H as major boundaries. The author hypothesizes that in certain syntactic constructions such as left dislocations, (pseudo-)clefts and certain adjuncts, the articulation between the left detached element (the dislocated element, the focus of the cleft, the adjunct) and the main clause is followed by a major prosodic boundary. We hypothesize therefore that TMCs end on a major prosodic boundary. In this paper, we compare the prosodic properties of TMCs with those of sentence-initial spatio-temporal PPs. Finally, we provide syntactic and semantic observations which explain their different prosodic properties. 3. Results It appears from our corpus - compiled of parts of Rhapsodie (http://www.projet-rhapsodie.fr/), C_Prom (https : //sites.google.com/site/corpusprom/) and ESLO (http : //www.univ-orleans.fr/eslo/) - that 73% of the TMCs are followed by a major prosodic boundary (3). 27 % are followed by a minor boundary (4). (3) (Pour ce qui est)HH (de notre représentation)BB (de l’intonation)HH (en fait)HH (on reprend)/BB (le terme)BB (de profil mélodique)HH (Corpus C_Prom, cnf-fr) (4) (En ce qui concerne)HB (l’hydraulique)BB (je vois par exemple)HH (euh en Charente)BH (Corpus ESLO, 12)As for sentence-initial spatio-temporal PPs, only 40 % end on a major prosodic boundary and 60 % are followed by a major boundary (5). (5) (En ville de Berne)BB (on ne tolérera)BB (dorénavant plus)HH (les mendiants)/BB (dans le passage)BB (sous la place de la gare)/HH (et aux abords des accès à ce passage)HH (Corpus C_PROM, jpa-ch) 4. Discussion Despite the similarities between sentence-initial PPs and TMCs (initial position, both set up a spatial, temporal or individual framework within which the main predication holds), there are two important differences which explain that a strong prosodic boundary at the end of a TMC is more frequent than at the end of sentence-initial spatio-temporal PP. On the sentence-semantic level, sentence-initial spatio-temporal PPs always specify the application range of the main clause, but not all TMCs affect the truth values of the proposition. Some can be omitted without the signification of the clause changing. On the syntactic level, sentence-initial spatio-temporal PPs can always appear in the scope of a cleft or can be moved towards the end of the utterance without the proposition becomes ungrammatical. TMCs which affect the truth values of the proposition can also appear in the scope of the cleft or can be moved to the end of the proposition. TMCs which do not affect the truth values of the proposition do not allow these syntactic tests. Possibility of clefting, movement and specification of the main clause are used as tests (e.a. Blanche-Benveniste 1990) to show whether a constituent is linked to the verb phrase. This paper shows that sentence-initial spatial-temporal PPs are linked to the verb phrase, but that this is not the case for all TMCs. These syntactic and semantic observations explain the frequency of the prosodic boundary at the end of a TMC. 5. References Blanche-Benveniste, Cl et al. (1990) Le français parlé : Études grammaticales, Paris : CNRS. Chafe, W. (1976) Givenness, contrastiveness, definiteness, subjects, topics and point of view, in Charles N. Lie (ed). Subject and topic. New York : Academic Press. Halliday, M. (1967) Notes on transitivity and theme in English, Part 2, Journal of Linguistics 3 (1), 199-244. Lambrecht, K. (2000) Information Structure and Sentence form: topic, focus and the mental representations discourse referents. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press. Mertens, P. (2008) Syntaxe, prosodie et structure informationnelle : une approche prédictive pour l’analyse de l’intonation dans le discours. Travaux de Linguistique : 56, 1, p. 87-124.
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