PROSODY, DISCOURSE DEIXIS AND ANAPHORA IN ENGLISH

The article * examines the indexical function of prosody in the signaling of discourse deixis and anaphora in English. The choice of contrastive versus weak stress on certain types of indexical expression creates effects which vary as a function of the degree of deicticity of the type of indexical expression that is contrastively accented (or not accented, as the case may be). In all cases of high pitch and strong stress, an element of contrast is implied, which is a feature of demonstrative expressions generally. The article contrasts the conclusions derived in this respect from the analysis of naturally-occurring examples (mainly spoken interactions) with the hypotheses based solely on constructed ones in two formal approaches (those of Kameyama 1999 and Levinson 2000). It argues that taking into consideration real, interactive data shows that, contra what these hypotheses predict, the referential preferences of a contrastive indexical cannot always be established as a function of what its unstressed counterpart would have referred to. An alternative account is put forward, based primarily upon the particular information structure signaled via the prosodic realization of the indexical clause, and highlighting the influence o