Short information units: a corpus-based prosodic study on the lexeme “assim” in brazilian portuguese

Tommaso Raso; Saulo Santos

doi:10.20396/joss.v8i2.14994

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2019), Prosódia e fonética acústica no Brasil

Vol. 8 No. 2 (2019)

Short information units: a corpus-based prosodic study on the lexeme “assim” in brazilian portuguese

Prosódia e fonética acústica no Brasil

https://doi.org/10.20396/joss.v8i2.14994

Published 2020-08-26

Tommaso Raso⁺⁻
Saulo Santos⁺⁻

Tommaso Raso

Federal University of Minas Gerais

Saulo Santos

Federal University of Minas Gerais

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Keywords

Information structure
Short information units
Prosody
Corpus

How to Cite

1.

Raso T, Santos S. Short information units: a corpus-based prosodic study on the lexeme “assim” in brazilian portuguese. J. of Speech Sci. [Internet]. 2020 Aug. 26 [cited 2024 Apr. 19];8(2):03-35. Available from: https://econtents.bc.unicamp.br/inpec/index.php/joss/article/view/14994

Abstract

Our main goal is to show that short information units (one phonological word immediately preceded and followed by a prosodic boundary, at least one of which with non-terminal value) can be classified only on the basis of their formal prosodic characteristics. That is to say that lexicon and syntax may vary with respect to the informational function, while what formally marks the informational function is the regularity of the prosodic profile of the lexical item. We also maintain that an information unit corresponds to an intonation unit (except in one specific circumstance). We use just one lexeme for the analysis, the Brazilian Portuguese ASSIM, and extract all the occurrences where this lexeme is found in a dedicated prosodic unit in the C-ORAL-BRASIL corpus. According to our analysis, this lexeme can fulfill at least five different information units, i.e. it can fulfill at least five different linguistic functions, recognizable by their prosodic regularities.

https://doi.org/10.20396/joss.v8i2.14994

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