Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information

This paper confirms that in Bari Italian an intonational distinction is made between polar questions asking about new information (QUERY-YN moves in the HCRC Map Task coding scheme) and those asking about given information (prototypical CHECK moves in the same coding scheme). The former, where the s...

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Main Authors: Martine Grice, Michelina Savino
Format: Article
Language:Catalan
Published: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona 2003-12-01
Series:Catalan Journal of Linguistics
Subjects:
Online Access:https://revistes.uab.cat/catJL/article/view/48
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author Martine Grice
Michelina Savino
author_facet Martine Grice
Michelina Savino
author_sort Martine Grice
collection DOAJ
description This paper confirms that in Bari Italian an intonational distinction is made between polar questions asking about new information (QUERY-YN moves in the HCRC Map Task coding scheme) and those asking about given information (prototypical CHECK moves in the same coding scheme). The former, where the speaker believes that the information is not shared and therefore mutually inactive, employ a rising pitch accent (L+H*). The latter, where the speaker believes that the information is mutually active, are expressed with a falling accent (H*+L or H+L*). The situation is more complicated for moves classified as CHECKS which are asking about information which has been mentioned earlier in the dialogue as opposed to the prototypical CHECKS where the information is given immediately before the current turn. These CHECKS, asking about textually accessible as opposed to given information, as well as those asking about something which can only be inferred from the context, can have either rising or falling pitch accents. The intonational variation is related to the degree of speaker confidence that confirmation being sought in the question will be provided.
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spelling doaj.art-78106516706e4adcb3f06da2c61c7aea2022-12-21T21:25:07ZcatUniversitat Autònoma de BarcelonaCatalan Journal of Linguistics1695-68852014-97192003-12-01210.5565/rev/catjl.4836Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New InformationMartine GriceMichelina SavinoThis paper confirms that in Bari Italian an intonational distinction is made between polar questions asking about new information (QUERY-YN moves in the HCRC Map Task coding scheme) and those asking about given information (prototypical CHECK moves in the same coding scheme). The former, where the speaker believes that the information is not shared and therefore mutually inactive, employ a rising pitch accent (L+H*). The latter, where the speaker believes that the information is mutually active, are expressed with a falling accent (H*+L or H+L*). The situation is more complicated for moves classified as CHECKS which are asking about information which has been mentioned earlier in the dialogue as opposed to the prototypical CHECKS where the information is given immediately before the current turn. These CHECKS, asking about textually accessible as opposed to given information, as well as those asking about something which can only be inferred from the context, can have either rising or falling pitch accents. The intonational variation is related to the degree of speaker confidence that confirmation being sought in the question will be provided.https://revistes.uab.cat/catJL/article/view/48Italian intonationquestion intonationpitch accentedge toneintonation and prag- maticstask oriented dialogue
spellingShingle Martine Grice
Michelina Savino
Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information
Catalan Journal of Linguistics
Italian intonation
question intonation
pitch accent
edge tone
intonation and prag- matics
task oriented dialogue
title Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information
title_full Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information
title_fullStr Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information
title_full_unstemmed Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information
title_short Map Tasks in Italian: Asking Questions about Given, Accessible and New Information
title_sort map tasks in italian asking questions about given accessible and new information
topic Italian intonation
question intonation
pitch accent
edge tone
intonation and prag- matics
task oriented dialogue
url https://revistes.uab.cat/catJL/article/view/48
work_keys_str_mv AT martinegrice maptasksinitalianaskingquestionsaboutgivenaccessibleandnewinformation
AT michelinasavino maptasksinitalianaskingquestionsaboutgivenaccessibleandnewinformation