[Lingtyp] High pitch in direct quotative speech

[Jesse P. Gates]

Dear Clemens,

The standup comedian Jim Gaffigan uses falsetto for echoic utterances
(which fall under direct quotative speech) for comedic effect. He uses a
falsetto voice to create the viewer's voice and speak their thoughts or
responses to his performance; essentially, he will act as a viewer of his
performance while performing. While we can't say that this is a normal part
of the English language, it is interesting that everyone in the audience
eventually picks up on what he is doing without this being explained. Thus,
he uses prosody in a novel way for English to subordinate these clauses
pragmatically. It is sarcastic and humorous, but it is worth including in
your study since there must be some similarities in the cognitive effects
that register in the listener's mind when this falsetto voice is used.
--
Best regards,

*Jesse P. Gates, PhD*
*Project Director*
Stau Language Grammar and Documentation Project
National Endowment for the Humanities (DLI-DEL Grant FN-298625-24)
*Lecturer in Linguistics*
Sichuan University, College of Foreign Languages 四川大学外语学院
*https://scu-cn.academia.edu/JesseGates
<https://scu-cn.academia.edu/JesseGates>*

On Thu, Feb 6, 2025 at 10:51 PM Clemens Mayer via Lingtyp <
lingtyp at listserv.linguistlist.org> wrote:

> Hi folks,
>
> I'm a PhD candidate at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, working with
> Woleaian (Oceanic-Micronesian). I've found a particular prosodical
> phenomenon wherein direct quotative speech is always paired with high
> falsetto pitch. This occurs regardless of speaker's and quoted person's
> gender, and occurs across speech genres.
> I was wondering whether any of you have seen this (type of) prosodic cue
> as part of quotative speech. Of course happy to provide more detailed data
> on request.
>
> Thanks!
>
> - Clemens
>
> ----
> Clemens (Clé) Kūhaʻo Mayer
> *he/they; hij/hen; ʻo ia*
> *University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Dept. of Linguistics*
> PhD Candidate
> Austronesian Circle Organizer
> Online Learning Coordinator
> cjmayer.github.io
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