Prosody and discourse

The objective of the session is to present recent research findings on the role of prosodic features, such as intonation, voice quality, rhythm, tempo and duration, in the construction of discourse. Studies in the relationship of prosody and pragmatic meanings reveal that the use of prosodic variables is very often conditioned by various aspects of the context of interaction and genre characteristics. For instance, it has been observed that the choice of a given pattern of intonation depends on power relations that hold between interlocutors. Also, recent studies have shown that intonation, rhythm and timing take an active part in maintaining conversation, especially in the management of turn-taking. Moreover, prosodic correlates are frequently employed in the expression of interpersonal meaning, emotion and attitude, such as (im)politeness, irony, etc.

However, though the pragmatic function of prosody has been the subject of growing interest in the recent literature on phonetics/pragmatics interface, there are few systematic studies devoted to the role of prosody in discourse and the exact nature of this interaction is still poorly understood. The present session aims to bring together researchers working on the topics relating to the interaction of prosody and pragmatic meaning and to provide a forum of discussion in order to share insights and inspire new research in this area. Implications for teaching and translation are also of interest.

We seek papers addressing prosodic aspects of discourse meaning from the perspective of

* discourse analysis;
* conversation analysis;
* pragmatics;
* rhetoric;
* (im)politeness theories;
* critical linguistics;
* cross-cultural studies;
* applied linguistics (language teaching and interpreting);