本文旨從語用和語音方面，來探討中文「敘述性」言談(narrative discourse)對話中，說話者自然產生的節拍手勢。在語用方面，主要是觀察說話者使用節拍手勢表達前後景(Grounding)和新/舊訊息(Information state)的關係。研究結果發現，說話者較常使用節拍手勢來傳達前景(foreground)的新訊息，以提示聽話者注意。此外，說話者在敘述的過程中，常使用節拍手勢來預示前後景訊息的轉換。在語音方面，主要探討說話者使用節拍手勢時，其所對應的語句之音調高低及說話能量強度的關係。研究發現，語句的音高和強度無法預測這類手勢的產生；但是，當傳達前景的新訊息時，這類手勢的出現常伴隨著較強的語氣。此外，研究結果也顯示，說話者使用節拍手勢通常是有規律性的。

This thesis investigates gestural beats in Chinese narrative discourse at both pragmatic and acoustic levels. The relationship among grounding, information state and beat gestures is examined at the pragmatic level, and at the acoustic level, the relationship among pitch, intensity, and gestural beats is analyzed. Moreover, whether there is a rhythmic pattern for beat gestures is further studied. The subjects were four undergraduates who were asked to view an animated color cartoon episode and then to immediately recount the events in it to a listener. The subjects were audio-video taped. They were not informed of the particular interest of the study. 291 beats were transcribed and analyzed. The audio data was analyzed on Praat and a Kay’s Model 4100. The continuous beats were further analyzed to investigate the rhythmic patterns and were annotated in Anvil, a video annotation tool. Gestural beats, narrative data, and the annotations were statistically analyzed and five phenomena for beat gestures were explored. First, gestural beats can appear in both foregrounded and backgrounded clauses. Second, the occurrence of beat gestures signals shifts between levels of the narrative structure. Third, speakers usually incline to utter new information in foregrounded clauses in Chinese narrative discourse with accompanying beats. Fourth, neither intensity nor pitch changes can predict and correlate with the occurrence of gestural beats in the relationship between beats and two acoustic factors. However, when grounding and the information state of the associated referents are considered, beats are produced for new information in foregrounded clauses with greater intensity. Finally, there is a rhythmic pattern in the production of continuous beats and the regularity of the patterns correlates with the clause boundary. A close relationship is revealed between speech and gestures in this thesis. The findings provide some linguistic details that may help explore the performance of gestural beats and speech in Chinese narrative discourse.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS iv
TABLE OF CONTENTS vi
FIGURES viii
TABLES ix
CHINESE ABSTRACT xi
ENGLISH ABSTRACT xii


CHPATER
1. INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Introduction 1
1.2 Other Types of Gesture 10
1.3 Motivation and Purpose 15
1.4 Database 17
1.5 Organization of the Thesis 21

2. LITERATURE REVIEW 23
2.1 Pragmatic Level 23
2.1.1 Grounding 23
2.1.2 Information State 28
2.2 Acoustic Level 32

3. GESTURAL BEATS, GROUNDING AND INFORMATION STATE 36
3.1 Is There any Relationship Between Gestural Beats
and Grounding? 36
3.2 Are Gestural Beats and Information State Related? 46
3.3 Summary 49

4. GESTURAL BEATS AND ACOUSTIC PATTERNS 51
4.1 Pitch, Intensity and Gestural Beats 51
4.2 Gestural Beats and Rhythmic Patterns 60
4.3 Summary 85

5. CONCLUSION: INFORMATION BETWEEN PRAGMATIC AND
ACOUSTIC PATTERNING OF BEAT GESTURES 87
5.1 Interaction between Pragmatic Level and Acoustic
Level for Gestural Beats 87
5.2 Summary and Implications of the Thesis 92
5.3 Suggestions for Further Research 96

APPENDIXES 98
A. Events in the Main Story Line of the Cartoon
Episode The Beach Party in Sequential Order 98
B. Abbreviations of Linguistic Terms 111
C. Transcription Conventions 112

REFERENCES 114

FIGURES

Figure 1. Narrative Structure and Gesture 27
Figure 2. Parallel Example of Pitch Directions and
Movements of Gestural Beats 53
Figure 3. Non-Parallel Example of Pitch Directions and
Movements of Gestural Beats 54
Figure 4. The Occurrence of Gestural Beats with Greater
Intensity 57
Figure 5. The Occurrence of Gestural beats with Lower
Intensity 58

TABLES

Table 1. Frequency Distribution of Various Types of
Gestures in English Narratives 15
Table 2. Frequency Distribution of Gestural Types in
Chinese Conversation 16
Table 3. Frequency Distribution of Gestural Types in
Chinese Narratives 19
Table 4. Frequency Distribution of Syntactic Categories
and Pauses for Gestural Beats 19
Table 5. Frequency Distribution of Three Movements for
Gestural Beats 20
Table 6. Frequency Distribution of Grounding in Chinese
Narratives across Four Gestures 40
Table 7. Frequency Distribution of Signaling Shifts across
Four Gestural Types 45
Table 8. Frequency Distribution of Information State in
Gestural Beats 47
Table 9. Frequency Distribution of Information State vs.
Grounding in Gestural Beats 48
Table 10.Cross-table Analysis of Information State and
Grounding in Gestural Beats 49
Table 11.Frequency Distribution of Pitch Directions in
Beat Gestures 55
Table 12.Frequency Distribution of Intensity in Beat
Gestures 59
Table 13.Frequency Distribution of Continuous Beats in
Four Categories 61
Table 14.Frequency Distribution of Continuous Gestural
Beats 62

Table 15.Frequency Distribution of Continuous Gestural
Beats in Three Categories 62
Table 16.Frequency Distribution of Regularity for
Continuous Gestural Beats in Rhythmic Groups 77
Table 17.IU Boundary and Regularity of Rhythmic Patterns
for 2 and 3 Continuous Beats 78
Table 18.Clause Boundary and Regularity of Rhythmic
Patterns for 2 and 3 Continuous Beats 80
Table 19.Clause Boundary and Regularity of Rhythmic
Patterns for 4 and 5 Continuous Beats 82
Table 20.Frequency Distribution of Regularity for
Continuous Gestural Beats in Rhythmic Groups with
3 Movement Sequences 84
Table 21.Frequency Distribution of Intensity and Grounding
in Beat Gestures 88
Table 22.Frequency Distribution of Intensity and
Information State in Beat Gestures 89
Table 23.Frequency Distribution of Grounding and Regularity
of Rhythmic Patterns in Gestural Beats 91

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