PROSODY AND GESTURES

This paper is aimed at analyzing two types of prosodic constructions and the corresponding questures. The first prosodic type is characterized by a substantial fall of frequency. In the terminology of E. A. Bryzgunova, it is the Russian construction IK-2. In sentences with a certain accent placement, such prosody expresses a variety of illocutionary meanings: ‘I explain’, ‘I recommend’, ‘I remind you’: Vam VRACHA nuzhno vyzvatj ‘I recommend that you should send for a doctor’; Tishe, BABUSHKA spit ‘Keep quiet, grandmother is sleeping’;Odenjsja poteplee: VETER pronziteljnyj ‘Put something on: the wind is biting’. In linguistic literature, such sentences are called thetic. When articulated, they are accompanied by a rapid movement of a chin of a speaker towards the hearer, opening the eyes, and raising the eyebrows. The second prosodic type mirrors the process of thinking, dreaming, or recollecting the past events. In the terminology of E. A. Bryzgunova, it is the IK-6 construction. Articulation of the construction is substantially lengthened: Ja dazhe pomnju, tam DORO-OZHKA byla ‘I am recollecting that there was a path’. When pronouncing, the speaker tosses his head back and aside. The prosodic parameters and gestures of the analyzed illocutionary types are exemplified by video fragments retrieved in the Russian National corpus. In the process of analyzing the spoken data, the computer system PRAAT is used. The audio and video recordings are available at: http://iling-ran.ru/yanko/prosodii_zhesty/.