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The pitch contour of the French discourse marker donc: A corpus-based study using generalized additive mixed modeling

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2023

Delin Deng Open the ORCID record for Delin Deng [Opens in a new window] ,
Fenqi Wang Open the ORCID record for Fenqi Wang [Opens in a new window]  and
Ratree Wayland Open the ORCID record for Ratree Wayland [Opens in a new window]
Delin Deng*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Fenqi Wang*
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Ratree Wayland
Affiliation:
Department of Linguistics, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
*
Corresponding authors: Delin Deng; Email: ddeng@ufl.edu, Fenqi Wang; Email: fenqi@ufl.edu
Corresponding authors: Delin Deng; Email: ddeng@ufl.edu, Fenqi Wang; Email: fenqi@ufl.edu
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Abstract

In this article, we explored the pitch contour patterns of the French discourse marker donc in realizing different pragmatic functions from native and non-native oral corpora in French. Statistical analyses using generalized additive mixed modeling revealed that even though Mandarin Chinese L1 speakers learning French also used the pitch cue to realize pragmatic functions, their prosodic pattern is different from the native pattern. Their L1 Chinese seemed to influence their usage of the pitch cue significantly. In addition, women were shown to be better than men in using the pitch cue in conveying pragmatic functions with a closer pattern to the native pattern. Overall, our study sheds new light on the relationship between speakers’ L1 and L2 regarding the interaction between pragmatic and prosodic features. It also provides new reflections on the acquisition of socio-pragmatic competence.

Résumé

Résumé

Dans cet article, nous avons exploré le schème du courbe mélodique du marqueur discursif français donc en réalisant différentes fonctions pragmatiques à partir de corpus oraux natifs et non-natifs en Français. Les analyses statistiques utilisant la modélisation généralisée additive mixte ont révélé que même si les locuteurs du chinois mandarin L1 apprenant Français utilisent également l’indice acoustique pour réaliser des fonctions pragmatiques, le schème prosodique est différent du celui des locuteurs natifs. Leur L1 semblait influencer leur emploi du courbe mélodique de manière significative. En outre, il a été prouvé que les femmes étaient meilleures que les hommes dans l’utilisation du courbe mélodique pour réaliser des fonctions pragmatiques avec un schème plus proche du schème natif. Dans l’ensemble, notre étude a offert de nouvelles données sur la relation entre les L1 et L2 en ce qui concerne l’interaction entre les caractéristiques pragmatiques et prosodiques. Il a également fourni de nouvelles réflexions sur l’acquisition de compétences socio-pragmatiques.

Keywords

discourse markerpitch contourpragmatic functionsFrenchnon-native speechmarqueur discursifcourbe mélodiquefonctions pragmatiquesFrançaisdiscours non-natif
Type
Article
Information
Journal of French Language Studies , Volume 33 , Issue 3 , November 2023 , pp. 324 - 356
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

Note: Delin Deng and Fenqi Wang have contributed equally to this paper.

References

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