Presenter: Shu-Ping Chuang ( 莊舒萍 ) Rung-Fu Chung ( 鍾榮富 ) Date: May 18 th,2013 Applied English Department of STUST

Presenter: Shu-Ping Chuang ( 莊舒萍 )

Rung-Fu Chung ( 鍾榮富 )

Date: May 18th ,2013

Applied English Department of STUST

OUTLINE Introduction Literature Review Research Methods - Data collection & analysis

Results - Intonation properties and meanings

- Students' Outcomes

Discussion and conclusion - Pragmatics and intonations

- Perceptive knowledge and productive performance

- Implications and suggestions112/04/19Pragmatic functions reflected in intonation variation by Chuang, S.P.

112/04/19INTONATION OF GREETINGS: A PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE by Chuang, S.P.

Introduction Motivation Research Qs

Introduction (1)-Motivation

Aim: to explore the meanings beyond the basic greeting utterances how are you in the basis of various intonation patterns.

Motivation: (1) pedagogical perspective:

do not take pragmatic and intonation knowledge into consideration

(2) academic perspective : sparse researchers concentrated on

the pragmatic meanings behind the intonation properties.


Introduction (2)-Research Questions

(1) What intonation properties can help generalize the pragmatic distinction in greeting expression?

(2) To what extent do the 5-year-college students' perceptive knowledge differ from productive performance about intonations difference?



Literature Review

Intonation & pragmatics Wh-question

Intonation meanings

Literature Review (1)-intonation & pragmatics

Example: Did you finish those PPT

slides? A: Sort of. (narrower pitch

range) B: Sort of. (higher pitch

range) (Adapted from

Hirschberg, 2004, p.234)


Literature Review (2)—intonation


Literature Review (3)— wh-question

Wh-question generally belongs to rising-falling pattern (Celce-Murcia, et al., 2010; Prator & Robinett 1985).

Hirschberg (2004): H*L-L% pattern


Literature Review (4)— Intonation Meanings



Research Methods Data collection

Software & materialsInstrument

Research Methods (3-1)Data Collection

Participants

Numbers 52 (31 students were chosen for recording)

Education 5-year-system college (2nd grade)

Gender 5 males; 47 females

First Language

Mandarin or Southern Min

Learning Experience

At least 1 year pronunciation course in that school 112/04/19INTONATION OF GREETINGS: A PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE by Chuang, S.P.

Utterances 31 (19 films)

14 (9 books)

Research Methods (3-2-1)Software


Film corpus– Good Go

Research Methods (3-2-2) Software


Praat Software: supports spectral, pitch, formant, intensity analysis, excitation patterns, and so forth.

Research Methods (3-2-3) Software


The Script of Praat (Huang, 2005)

It can measure formant, pitch and VOT value.

Research Methods (3-3-1)Instrument: productive

recording


Place: computer lab with headphones and

microphones. Procedure: Read the greeting written on

the board before conducting perceptive task

Samples: Among 31 recordings, 27 were adopted due to voice volume and quality.

Research Methods (3-4-1)Instrument: perceptive

checklist


1. The intonation contours which were used for uttering.

Research Methods (3-4-2)Instrument: perceptive

checklist


2. Audio files: set (1) - unmarked intonations (2) - marked intonations

Results

- RQ1: Intonation Patterns and Meanings

- RQ 2: Students’ Outcomes


RQ1:Intonation Patterns & Meanings



Example (1)

Steve: Knock knock! A: Steve! How are you? Steve: I’m good, real good.

Virginia, nice to see you.

Bridget: Well, hi (high voice),

Steve. (Extracted from Forces of Nature, 23:55- 24:14)


Attitudinal: surprise


Example (2)

Dr. Young: Hello, Ms. West.

How are you today?

Ms. West: Not so good.

Dr. Young: So, what's wrong,

exactly?

Ms. West: I'm exhausted!

(Extracted from Richards & Gordon, 2005, p.81)


Indexical: higher social status


Example (3)

Jim: I can't believe those two girls, Kevin.Kevin: Jim, it's not a big deal.Jim: They toyed with my emotions.Man: Hello. Hello. (to girls)Jim: See. There are other girls. Man: How are you? (to girls)Kevin: You got nothing to

worry about man.Jim: Jessica's here with Vicky.

And Vicky got hot. What's that supposed to mean? Look at her.

Kevin: Yeah, Jim. I see her.Jim: Hey, Kevin, I'll be right back . (Extracted from Apple Pie

2, 11:26- 11:58) 112/04/19INTONATION OF GREETINGS: A PRAGMATIC PERSPECTIVE by Chuang, S.P.

Discourse: accosting

RQ 1:Intonation Patterns & MeaningsSummary


passion, surprise, enthusiasm

Surprise, formality, seriousness, higher social status or politeness

RQ 2: Students' Outcomes (1)

Students' cognition of intonation



Students' perception of intonation patterns


common

uncommon


Students' production of intonation patterns


common

uncommon


Students' perception & production of intonation patterns



Ni Hao Ma (How are you)


Conclusion- Discussion

- Implications &Suggestions for further study


Conclusion (5-1)- Discussion

Pragmatics and intonations


Conclusion (5-2)- DiscussionPerceptive & productive

knowledge Perception ≠ Production Lack of prosody instruction difficult to conjoin what students see,

what students hear, and what students

produce. serious communication

breakdown, and inter-/cross-cultural misunderstanding.


Conclusion (5-3)- Implication 1. Instruction time limitation:

unmarked: young learners; marked: adults writers should write more pragmatic and

intonation patterns for adult learners 2. There are more pragmatic meanings and

intonation patterns in textbooks than expected, but teachers and writers do not mention them.

online resources and films are recommended 3. There is a big gap between students' perceptive

and productive knowledge. offer opportunities for students to speak out.


Conclusion (5-4)- Suggestions

1. Interview English native speakers to check the pragmatics & intonations 2. Intonation functions can be classified from

pitch movement, pause, boundary and length of the utterances.

3. Action research (pragmatics & intonation courses )

whether Ss could interpret or produce the meanings with different intonations



Research Methods (3-6-1)Data Analysis: pragmatics


(a) attitudinal (b) indexical (c) discourse

Research Methods (3-6-2)Data Analysis: intonations


Data Analysis: intonations

Slope



shift / slide (1)


Prator & Robinett (1985)


shift / slide (2)


For simple sentences such as how are you, the focus is mainly on the be-verb (Wells, 2006).

When the interlocutor responds to the question by repeating the same sentence, the tonic normally changes (Wells, 2006).


shift / slide (3)


Greeting back (slide)

Normal greeting (shift)


special situation






Research Methods (3-6-3)Data Analysis: Markedness


Conclusion (1-1)- SummaryRQ1


Do greeting expressions mean differently in different pragmatic contexts? 1. How are you

(1) Attitudinal: politeness, passion, shyness and surprise

(2) Indexical: higher social status, meeting at the first time, friends have not seen for ages, or close relationship

(3) Discourse: normal greetings, saying hi, accosting, asking the progress, and asking for a reply



What intonation properties of intonation patterns can be generalized with pragmatic meanings?1. How are you

(1)Rising tail: enthusiasm (e.g., surprise, passion, accosting or happiness)

(2) Falling tail: formality, seriousness or politeness

(e.g., higher social status) (3) Level: speakers have good relationship .



To what extent do the college students' productive and perceptive knowledge about pragmatic meanings and intonations differ from textbooks and films? 1. How are you

(1) Pragmatics: unmarked = normal greetings marked = ask the

progress ※ the rest are

inconsistent(2) Intonations: unmarked = rising-falling tone ※ the rest are

inconsistent(3) Perception ≠ production

Documents

Presenter: Shu-Ping Chuang ( 莊舒萍 ) Rung-Fu Chung ( 鍾榮富 ) Date: May 18 th,2013 Applied English Department of STUST