Prosody refers to semantic factors

Lena Baunaz (1) , Cédric Patin (2)

1 UNIGE - Université de Genève = University of Geneva
2 STL - Savoirs, Textes, Langage (STL) - UMR 8163

Based on Baunaz (2011), we distinguish among French wh-words and claim that they are three-way ambiguous: they can involve partitivity, specificity (both are presuppositional) and non-presupposition (where nonpresuppositional means not-specific/not-partitive). In addition to semantic differences, specificity and partitivity are argued to involve different prosody with wh-phrases in-situ. Building on an experimental study, we show that the prosody of wh-words supports this analysis by constraining their interpretation: wh-words are exponents of an accent when they involve specificity-based presupposition, i.e., prosody may mark different discourse status in colloquial French. This accent is not found on partitivity-based presuppositional French wh-words.

Mots clés: wh-words; semantics; prosody; French

Domaines: Linguistique

Lena Baunaz, Cédric Patin. Prosody refers to semantic factors: Evidence from French wh-words. Interface Discours-Prosodie 2009, Sep 2009, France. pp.96-107. ⟨halshs-00725769⟩