M.A. (Afrikaans) / The phenomenon of juncture has been observed and explained by various linguists. Bloch and Trager (1942), for example, refers to juncture as "(p)henomena relating to the way in which sounds are joined together". The study of juncture may therefore be viewed as the study of the phonological phenomena where two structural units of language are joined together. In studying the extensive literature on the subject, it was found that juncture is explained within different theoretical frameworks by different linguistic schools. To design an adequate framework for the description of this phenomenon in Afrikaans, an eclectic approach was followed. This theoretical framework was deemed valid, if the phenomenon of juncture could be predicted by formal rules to cover as wide a range as possible. The structuralists' approach of treating juncture as a phoneme was not utilised, as they focus on grammatical considerations to determine juncture. However, their use of either segmental or supra segmental phonological features was adopted. The Transformational Generative Phonology devised formal procedures for the description of juncture, which were deemed adequate especially for the distinction between morpheme and word boundaries. Rules from the morphological component, and the function of the syllable, developed by the Natural Generative Phonology, were also exploited in the present study. The field of study for the Afrikaans language was viewed as the regular, predictable, change of sound which takes place between two consecutive structural units of meaning, The purpose of the present study was to research the phenomenon of juncture over as wide a terrain as possible and to integrate diverse phenomena into one formal description. In reviewing studies done on this phenomenon for the Afrikaans language, it was found that the description, in some cases, was inadequate. It also came to light that certain terrain had not been covered. Where possible, the adequacy of existing descriptions was acknowledged and utilised. In some cases, adaptions were made, for example with regard to assimilation, gemination, the variation between b/p, d/t, v/f and x/g, and the formation of plurals and diminutives. In other instances, new rules had to be formulated to accurately predict the occurrence of juncture, for example the variation between /t/ - /s/, /d/ - /s/ and /k - /s/ in words of Greek or Roman original.

Originally presented as the author's Thesis (doctoral--Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg, 1990). / Includes bibliographical references (p. 168-176).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Ohio State University, 2006. / Available online via OhioLINK's ETD Center; full text release delayed at author's request until 2007 Mar 24

Orientador: Plínio Almeida Barbosa / Tese (doutorado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Instituto de Estudos da Linguagem / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-19T23:34:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Merlo_Sandra_D.pdf: 6723815 bytes, checksum: b6ff391ab121e4b75d42eef04f5a7d28 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2012 / Resumo: Premissa: esta pesquisa partiu da premissa de que pausas demarcativas estão relacionadas ao planejamento conceitual e hesitações, à formulação linguística. O planejamento conceitual refere-se a um esquema abstrato do texto falado, composto pelas informações que o falante julga relevantes de acordo com sua meta comunicativa. A formulação linguística refere-se à seleção de lemas e sua organização em estruturas sintáticas e fonológicas. Se pausas demarcativas e hesitações estão relacionadas a processos tão cruciais para a produção falada, sua ocorrência não deve ser marginal e sua distribuição não deve ser aleatória ao longo do texto falado. Método: participaram da pesquisa dez sujeitos do sexo masculino, entre 20 e 34 anos, falantes nativos do português brasileiro, com alto grau de escolaridade e sem distúrbios de comunicação. Foram realizados cinco experimentos de fala semi-espontânea com as seguintes variáveis independentes: memória declarativa, memória operacional, macroplanejamento textual, tipos textuais e taxa de elocução. As variáveis dependentes (pausas demarcativas e hesitações) foram examinadas através de três medidas: proporção, duração e ciclos periódicos (p < 0,05). A variabilidade individual na manifestação das variáveis dependentes também foi avaliada. Resultados: em média, 24% do texto falado é composto por pausas e 21% por hesitações. Dois terços das pausas duram entre 0,5 e 1,5 s, enquanto dois terços das hesitações duram até 1 s. Todos os textos falados apresentam ciclos de pausas e de hesitações, sendo que dois terços dos ciclos de pausa apresentam períodos até 5 s, enquanto dois terços dos ciclos de hesitações apresentam períodos até 10 s. As séries temporais de pausas e de hesitações estão correlacionadas, de forma que mudanças nas séries de pausas precedem em 300 ms mudanças nas séries de hesitações. Apenas 15% dos ciclos de pausas e hesitações são sincronizados e a grande maioria está em oposição de fase. Todos os cinco experimentos modificaram a dinâmica temporal das pausas demarcativas: textos que exigem elaboração conceitual, análise de novas informações e decisões mais conscientes sobre o sequenciamento de informações aumentam a proporção, a duração e/ou o período dos ciclos de pausas. Dois dos cinco experimentos modificaram a dinâmica temporal das hesitações: textos novos e pouco familiares aumentam a duração das hesitações em relação a textos previamente conhecidos. A variabilidade individual também interfere na dinâmica das pausas e das hesitações, existindo sujeitos que produzem esses fenômenos em abundância, enquanto outros os produzem com parcimônia. Conclusões: os resultados obtidos confirmam a hipótese de que as pausas demarcativas estão relacionadas ao planejamento conceitual e as hesitações, à formulação linguística. Também confirmam que a ocorrência desses fenômenos é significativa e que apresentam distribuição periódica no texto falado. Adicionalmente, os resultados indicam que pausas e hesitações são fenômenos dinâmicos da língua, que emergem de acordo com as necessidades da tarefa e o estilo do sujeito / Abstract: Background: this investigation assumed that demarcation pauses are related to conceptual planning, while hesitation phenomena are related to language formulation. "Conceptual planning" refers to an abstract scheme of spoken text, constituted by the information that the speaker consider relevant to his/her communication intent. "Language formulation" refers to lemma selection and its organization in syntactic and phonological structures. Considering that pauses and hesitations are related to essential processes to spoken language production, their occurrence may not be insignificant and their distribution may not be random in spoken text. Method: subjects of this research were ten males, from 20 to 34 years old, native speakers of Brazilian Portuguese, highly educated, and free from communication disorders. Five experiments of semispontaneous speech were done; each one addressed one of the following independent variables: declarative memory, working memory, text macroplanning, text types, and speech rate. Dependent variables (pauses and hesitations) were analyzed according the following three measures: proportion, duration, and periodic cycles (p < 0.05). Individual variability was also analyzed. Results: on average, 24% of spoken texts are composed by pauses and 21% by hesitations. Two thirds of pauses last from 0.5 to 1.5 s, while two thirds of hesitations last until 1 s. Pauses and hesitations are periodically distributed in all spoken texts; two thirds of pauses cycles exhibit periods until 5 s, whereas two thirds of hesitation cycles exhibit periods until 10 s. Time series of pauses and hesitations are correlated; changes in time series of pauses occur 300 ms before changes in time series of hesitations, on average. Just 15% of pauses and hesitations cycles are synchronized and the big majority is in phase opposition. All five experiments affect temporal dynamics of pauses: texts that demand conceptual elaboration, analysis of new information, and active decisions about information sequencing increase pauses proportion, durations and/or period of cycles. Two of five experiments affect temporal dynamics of hesitations: less familiar texts increase hesitations' durations compared to more familiar texts. Individual variability also affects temporal dynamics of pauses and hesitations; there are subjects that produce a lot of pauses and hesitations, while others produce them in small quantity. Conclusions: results support the initial assumption that demarcation pauses are related to conceptual planning and hesitations to language formulation. Results also indicate that the occurrence of pauses and hesitations is significant and that they are periodically distributed in spoken texts. Besides, results indicate that pauses and hesitations are dynamic components of spoken language, arising according to tasks needs and to subject style / Doutorado / Linguistica / Doutor em Linguística