Prosodic salience in Anal Naga: where non-arbitrariness, phaticity and engagement meet

Ozerov, Pavel

Zusammenfassung

The study analyses the form and functions of two closely related non-arbitrary prosodic contours in Anal Naga (ISO 639-3:anm), a Trans-Himalayan (Tibeto-Burman) language of Northeast India. The two contours are (a) a Response-Seeking contour (RS), pronounced as a strongly accented rise-fall on the last syllable of the Intonation Unit and (b) Prosodic Intensification (PI), minimally pronounced as an identical deviant accent and maximally characterised by an abrupt shift into an extra-high pitch level (or a falsetto voice) and/or an extreme rhyme lengthening. RS has phatic, interaction-managing functions and PI triggers content-managing interpretations. Both markers index (in the Peircean sense) the investment of the speaker's extra-effort, thus drawing the interlocutors' attention and triggering an interpretive (PI) or responsive (RS) action. The study analyses RS and PI as conventional/symbolic indexicals (akin to a prosodic pointing) where on the one hand the form is naturally related to the triggered meaning but on the other hand the form of the marker, its distribution and the set of its functions are language-specific conventions. The study presents a brief cross-linguistic comparison of parallel indexical-iconic prosodic contours and demonstrates how despite their non-arbitrary nature, such markers have conventionalised forms, distribution and functions. The study adds to the growing evidence for the role of non-arbitrariness in language and interaction.