The interaction of syntactic structure and postlexical prosody in Saisiyat of Taiwan.: An article from: Oceanic Linguistics
Book Details
Author(s)Wen-yu Chiang, Fang-mei Chiang
PublisherUniversity of Hawaii Press
ISBN / ASINB001P96HCU
ISBN-13978B001P96HC4
AvailabilityAvailable for download now
MarketplaceUnited States 🇺🇸
Description
This digital document is an article from Oceanic Linguistics, published by University of Hawaii Press on December 1, 2008. The length of the article is 18752 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the author: Postlexical prosodic phenomena in Austronesian languages have received relatively little attention, and consequently their patterns remain unknown. This paper aims to bridge this gap by investigating how syntactic structure interacts with postlexical prosodic phenomena in Saisiyat, an endangered language spoken in Taiwan. Several significant findings are made. First, Saisiyat sentential fundamental frequency ([F.sub.0]) patterns are based largely on its original lexical-level word [F.sub.0] contour. The accent of a content word in sentences usually falls on its ultimate syllable, while trisyllabic or quadrisyllabic content words may sometimes undergo postlexical accentual modifications such as accent spreading, accent fronting, and accent adding. Function words, in contrast, play a role of interpolation as an intermediate site in bridging the [F.sub.0] of their preceding and following syllables. Second, a yes-no question exhibits substantial prosodic modification by influencing its word preceding sentence-final interrogative particle aj, as compared with its counterpart in a declarative sentence. Third, agents in agent-focus sentences and patients in patient-focus sentences demonstrate higher values with respect to [F.sub.0] peak, mean [F.sub.0], and mean intensity. We provide typological explanations for these findings and explore the theoretical implications of postlexical prosodic patterns of Formosan languages in Taiwan.
Citation Details
Title: The interaction of syntactic structure and postlexical prosody in Saisiyat of Taiwan.
Author: Wen-yu Chiang
Publication:Oceanic Linguistics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2008
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Volume: 47 Issue: 2 Page: 328(37)
Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning
From the author: Postlexical prosodic phenomena in Austronesian languages have received relatively little attention, and consequently their patterns remain unknown. This paper aims to bridge this gap by investigating how syntactic structure interacts with postlexical prosodic phenomena in Saisiyat, an endangered language spoken in Taiwan. Several significant findings are made. First, Saisiyat sentential fundamental frequency ([F.sub.0]) patterns are based largely on its original lexical-level word [F.sub.0] contour. The accent of a content word in sentences usually falls on its ultimate syllable, while trisyllabic or quadrisyllabic content words may sometimes undergo postlexical accentual modifications such as accent spreading, accent fronting, and accent adding. Function words, in contrast, play a role of interpolation as an intermediate site in bridging the [F.sub.0] of their preceding and following syllables. Second, a yes-no question exhibits substantial prosodic modification by influencing its word preceding sentence-final interrogative particle aj, as compared with its counterpart in a declarative sentence. Third, agents in agent-focus sentences and patients in patient-focus sentences demonstrate higher values with respect to [F.sub.0] peak, mean [F.sub.0], and mean intensity. We provide typological explanations for these findings and explore the theoretical implications of postlexical prosodic patterns of Formosan languages in Taiwan.
Citation Details
Title: The interaction of syntactic structure and postlexical prosody in Saisiyat of Taiwan.
Author: Wen-yu Chiang
Publication:Oceanic Linguistics (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 1, 2008
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Volume: 47 Issue: 2 Page: 328(37)
Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning
