Cover not available
Part of
Exploring Intensification: Synchronic, diachronic and cross-linguistic perspectives
Edited by Maria Napoli and Miriam Ravetto
[Studies in Language Companion Series 189] 2017
► pp. 193–206

Chapter 9
Stress and tones as intensifying operators in German

| Università di Pisa

Unlike the classic, most widely studied phenomena, prosody has been insufficiently investigated as form of linguistic intensification. This paper attempts to look upon some prosodic features as independent means of intensification in German. Accents, tones and contour choice may open up the possibility of distinguishing between intensified and unintensified predicates, however this differentiation cannot be described within a gradually increasing system, but it is only measurable within a bipolar, two-dimensional scale.

Keywords: prosodic intensification, accents, tones, contour choice, information structure, conversation structure, speakers’ attitudes
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Intensifying from the prosodic point of view
  • 3.Accents and information structure
    • 3.1Pitch movements and informativity
  • 4.Accents, tones and conversation structure
    • 4.1Downstep
    • 4.2Tonal prefixation
    • 4.3Final boundary tones
  • 5.Contour choice and speakers’ attitudes
    • 5.1Late peaks
    • 5.2Early peaks
    • 5.30%-plateau contours
  • 6.Concluding remarks
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 30 September 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/slcs.189.10cos
References
Auer, Peter & Selting, Margret
2001 Der Beitrag der Prosodie zur Gesprächsorganisation. In Text‑ und Gesprächslinguistik. Ein internationales Handbuch zeitgenössischer Forschung, Klaus Brinker, Gerd Antos, Gustav W. Heinemann & Svend F. Sager (eds), 1122–1131. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
Blühdorn, Hardarik
2013 Intonation im Deutschen – nur eine Frage des schönen Klangs? Pandaemonium, Saõ Paulo 16(22): 242–278. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2012 Negation im Deutschen – Syntax, Informationsstruktur, Semantik. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Bolinger, Dwight
1972 Degree Words. Paris: The Hague. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Büring, Daniel
2006 Intonation und Informationsstruktur. In Text – Verstehen. Grammatik und darüber hinaus, Hardarik Blühdorn, Eva Breindl & Ulrich H. Waßner (eds), 144–163. Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Duden
2009 Die Grammatik der deutschen Gegenwartssprache. Mannheim: Dudenverlag.Google Scholar
Fries, Norbert
2009 Die Kodierung von Emotionen in Texten. JLT – Journal of Literary Theorie 3(1): 19–71.Google Scholar
Kohler, Klaus J.
1995 Einführung in die Phonetik des Deutschen. Berlin: Erich Schmitdt.Google Scholar
Niebuhr, Oliver
2007 Language, Content & Cognition. Berlin: De Gruyter.Google Scholar
van Os, Charles
1989 Aspekte der Intensivierung im Deutschen. Tübingen: Narr.Google Scholar
Peters, Jörg
2014 Intonation. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.Google Scholar
Pierrehumbert, Janet Breckenridge
1987 The Phonology and Phonetics of English Intonation. Bloomington IN: Indiana University Linguistics Club.Google Scholar
Rabanus, Stefan
2001 Intonatorische Verfahren im Deutschen und im Italienischen. Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Uhmann, Susanne
1991 Fokusphonologie. Tübingen: Niemeyer.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 1 other publications

Van Olmen, Daniel
2024. Adjectival intensification in West Germanic. Studies in Language 48:2 ► pp. 436 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.