Does uncertainty effect the case of exhaustive interpretation?

Authors

  • Charlotte Wollermann Institute for German Language, Mannheim, Germany Author
  • Bernhard Schröder Institute for German Language, Mannheim, Germany Author

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2008/02/0059/000118

Keywords:

exhaustive interpretation, focus detection, uncertainty, intonation, question-answering congruity

Abstract

We present an experimental study investigating the role of intonation as a prosodic indicator of uncertainty as well as question-answering congruity for the exhaustive interpretation of answers. We vary intonation for expressing intended (un)certainty and also the type of question. Interpretation is tested by using pictures illustrating (non-)exhaustivity in order to avoid that the subjects' linguistic awareness is focussed on the tested question.

 

References

Groenendijk, J. and Stokhof, M. 1984. Studies on the Semantics of Questions and the Pragmatics of Answers. Doctoral dissertation, University of Amsterdam.

Rooth, M. 1992. A theory of focus interpretation. Natural Language Semantics, 1(1), 75-116.

Smith, V. and Clark, H. H. 1993. On the course of answering questions. Journal of Memory and Language, 32(1), 25-38.

Swerts, M., Krahmer, E., Barkhuysen, P. and van de Laar, L. 2003. Audiovisual cues to uncertainty. Proceedings of the ISCA Tutorial and Research Workshop on Error Handling in Spoken Dialogue Systems, Château-d'Oex, Switzerland.

van Rooij, R. and Schulz, K. 2006. Pragmatic meaning and non-monotonic reasoning: The case of exhaustive interpretation. Linguistics and Philosophy, 29(2), 205-250.

Ward, G. and Hirschberg, J. 1985. Implicating uncertainty: The pragmatics of fall-rise intonation. Language, 61(4), 747-776.

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Published

01-01-2008

How to Cite

Does uncertainty effect the case of exhaustive interpretation?. (2008). Linguistic Proceedings Series, 2(1), 233-236. https://doi.org/10.36505/ExLing-2008/02/0059/000118

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