Prosodic contextualization of minimal responses to yes/no-questions in aphasic talk-in-interaction: a descriptive single-case study of a Norwegian aphasic speaker.
The article explores aspects of the role of prosody as a contextualization cue in aphasic conversation through auditory and acoustic analysis of an aphasic speaker's use of pitch variation in responses to closed yes/no-requests. The results reveal two prosodic realizations of 'yes' and 'no' contextualizing different kinds of responses: a flat realization with no prolongation and minimal pauses, signalling decisiveness, and a realization with movement in pitch, prolongation and preceding pauses, signalling indecisiveness. The analysis also shows how the aphasic uses a particular realization manipulatively for interactional purposes. The study illustrates the vital role that seemingly unimportant details play in the co-constructive process of creating meaning in interaction. The results indicate an area of competence that seems undisturbed in this speaker.
Lind
Marianne
M
Bredtvet Resource Centre, Oslo. Norway. marianne.lind@statped.no
D001039:Aphasia, Broca / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D010700:Phonetics; D012660:Semantics; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013061:Speech Acoustics; D013065:Speech Intelligibility; D013068:Speech Production Measurement; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D014825:Vocabulary