SFB 1252:  Prominence in Language

Subject Area Humanities
Social and Behavioural Sciences
Term since 2017
Project identifier Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 281511265
 

Project Description

Research in the CRC Prominence in Language has demonstrated that many linguistic phenomena display a sensitivity to the prominence relations between linguistic forms and between their associated meanings. At all levels of language - from phonetics to discourse pragmatics - linguistic cues modulate and reflect prominence relations within a complex interplay of cue interactions. If we wish to understand which linguistic elements and structures are used in a given context and why, a fine-grained understanding of these cue interactions is key. Phases I and II of the CRC have brought substantial progress in this regard, focusing on cue interactions both within and across linguistic levels. Due to the complexity of the interactions, however, much of the research examined short monologic discourses. Overcoming this limitation, phase III will study language in more typical usage settings, e.g., in written genres comprising larger discourse segments and in everyday conversation (i.e. interactive communication). The research in phase III is guided by four main research questions. As in previous phases, Q1 focuses on the interaction of those prominence-related cues that must form an integral part of a comprehensive, prominence-based model of discourse and dialogue. In addition to the many cues studied in the earlier phases of the CRC, we will now examine multimodal cues such as gestures and speaker gaze on account of their importance for signaling prominence in oral communication. Q2 will address how different discourse layers/worlds impact prominence relations. Specifically, it will seek to shed light on prominence relations which transcend narrative layers in longer prose narratives and on those which unite different speaker perspectives in dialogue. It will also address fluctuating prominence relations across alternative (semantic) worlds. Q3 is dedicated to understanding prominence relations as an important means of discourse-structuring in larger texts and dialogues. Certain changes of prominence relations in discourse (i.e. resets) may signal boundaries between discourse segments or speaker turns. Q4 addresses the issue of individual- and population-specific variability, which impacts speaker perspectives and dialogic communication in general. This is a question carried forth from phases I and II, but which will be investigated with increased systematicity and scope, including, for instance, more clinical populations. The four questions will be addressed with a multi-method approach including diverse experimental methods, corpus analyses, computational modelling and field work. We plan to investigate spoken languages from eight language families (Afro-Asiatic, Austronesian, Indo-European, Japonic, Niger-Congo, Nilo-Saharan, Trans-New-Guinea, Turkic), German sign language DGS, as well as the output from Large Language Models (LLMs). The overall goal of phase III is to arrive at a comprehensive theoretical model of the role of prominence in language.
DFG Programme Collaborative Research Centres
International Connection France

Current projects

Completed projects

Applicant Institution Universität zu Köln
Participating University Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main; Universität Hamburg
Participating Institution Languages et Civilisations á Tradition Orale
UMR 7107 du CNRS
Spokespersons Professor Dr. Klaus von Heusinger, until 12/2021; Professorin Dr. Petra Schumacher, since 1/2022