Expressive Meaning Across Linguistic Levels and Frameworks

The study of the language-emotion interface has so far mainly concentrated on the conceptual dimension of emotions as expressed via language. This volume is the first to exclusively focus on the exploration of the formal linguistic expressions of emotions at different linguistic complexity levels—and it does so by integrating work from different linguistic frameworks: generative syntax, functional and usage-based linguistics, formal semantics/pragmatics, and experimental phonology. This collection is both a timely and an original contribution to the growing field of research on the interaction between linguistic expressions and the so-called ‘expressive dimension’ of language. The contributions to this volume are thus of interest to researchers and graduate students who would like to learn more about state-of-the-art approaches to the language-emotion interface.

Colocação pronominal no Português do Brasil: a contribuição de estudos de percepção auditiva

Este artigo objetiva trazer evidências – da análise comparativa de investigações sobre a ordem dos clíticos pronominais baseadas na Sociolinguística Variacionista e na Fonologia Experimental (VIEIRA, 2002; CORRÊA, 2009; 2012) – da contribuição de estudos que conjugam a descrição de dados de produção e percepção linguísticas, auxiliada pela ressíntese da fala. Associando metodologias, as pesquisas mostram que é possível definir (i) a direção fonológica dos pronomes átonos, à direita (como sílabas pretônicas) ou à esquerda (como sílabas postônicas); (ii) os parâmetros acústicos responsáveis por essa direção; e, consequentemente, precisar, em termos sociofonéticos, as características associadas a certas estruturas e variedades.********************************************************************The position of pronominal clitics in Brazilian Portuguese:the contribution of language perception investigationAbstract: This paper aims to bring evidence – from the comparative analysis of investigations about the order of pronominal clitics based on Variationist Sociolinguistics and Experimental Phonology (VIEIRA, 2002; CORRÊA, 2009; 2012) – of the contribution of studies that combine description of linguistic production and perception, aided by speech resynthesis. Associating methodologies, the researches show that it is possible to define (i) the phonological direction of the unstressed pronouns, to the right (like pretonic syllables) or to the left (like posttonic syllables); (ii) the acoustic parameters responsible for this direction; and, consequently, to specify, in sociophonetic terms, the characteristics which can be associated with certain structures and varieties.Keywords: Perception; Cliticization; Sociophonetics

Discrete anatomical coordinates for speech production and synthesis

The sounds of all languages are described by a finite set of symbols, which are extracted from the continuum of sounds produced by the vocal organ. How the discrete phonemic identity is encoded in the continuous movements producing speech remains an open question for the experimental phonology. In this work, this question is assessed by using Hall-effect transducers and magnets -mounted on the tongue, lips and jaw- to track the kinematics of the oral tract during the vocalization ofvowel-consonant-vowelstructures. Using athreshold strategy, the time traces of the transducers were converted into discrete motor coordinates unambiguously associated with the vocalized phonemes. Furthermore, the signals of the transducers combined with the discretization strategy were used to drive a low-dimensional vocal model capable of synthesizing intelligible speech. The current work not only addressed a relevant inquiry of the biology of language, but also shows the performance of the experimental technique to monitor the displacement of the main articulators of the vocal tract while speaking. This novel electronic device represents an economic and portable option to the standard system used to study the vocal tract movements.

THE EXPERIMENTAL PHONOLOGY

O presente artigo mostra que o uso de métodos experimentais permite formular hipóteses sobre a categoria fonológica e seu primitivo, bem como sobre a maneira como o falante controla seus articuladores. O objetivo é demonstrar que problemas e hipóteses fonológicos podem ser formulados e testados através do método experimental. Hipóteses falsificáveis são parte do interminável progresso do esforço científico, do qual o estudo da linguagem e a fonologia são partes inegáveis.

Unveiling phonological universals: A linguist who asks “why” is (inter alia) an experimental psychologist

Evans & Levinson (E&L) are right to hold theories of language accountable for language diversity, but typological data alone cannot determine the structure of mental phonological grammars. Grammatical universals are nonetheless testable by formal and experimental methods, and the growing research in experimental phonology demonstrates the viability of a comparative experimental evaluation of the Universal Grammar (UG) hypothesis.