In:OKAY across Languages: Toward a comparative approach to its use in talk-in-interaction
Edited by Emma Betz, Arnulf Deppermann, Lorenza Mondada and Marja-Leena Sorjonen
[Studies in Language and Social Interaction 34] 2021
► pp. 131–173
Chapter 5The prosody and phonetics of OKAY in American English
Published online: 17 March 2021
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.34.05cou
https://doi.org/10.1075/slsi.34.05cou
Abstract
This chapter is devoted to a study of the
prosodic and phonetic realization of the particle OKAY as deployed
in American English mundane conversation. Its primary aim is to
explore the question of whether there are recurrent
prosodic-phonetic formats associated with positionally distinct uses
of OKAY. The data come from telephone and face-to-face interactions
between family and friends spanning a period from the 1960s to the
present. Currently there are approximately 200 tokens in the
collection. The older and more recent data sets are considered
separately in order to capture changes that have ensued over the
last fifty to sixty years.
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Data and procedure
- 3.Prosodic and phonetic variables in the delivery of OKAY
- 4.Sequential positions and patterns of delivery
- 4.1OKAY accompanying a first-position action
- 4.2OKAY in the second position of a sequence
- Responsive OKAY in deontically driven sequences
- Responsive OKAY in epistemically driven sequences
- 4.3OKAY in the third position of a sequence
- Third-position OKAY in deontically driven sequences
- Third-position OKAY in epistemically driven sequences
- 4.4OKAY in sequence-medial position
- 4.5OKAY in transitional positions
- Preface to a new topic/sequence
- Closure of prior topic/sequence
- 4.6OKAY in conversational preclosing
- 5.Prosodic-phonetic marking in second- and third-position
OKAY
- Epistemically driven sequences
- Deontically driven sequences
- 6.Summary and provisional conclusions
- 7.Some observations on changes in the use of OKAY over time
- Frequency
- Positional use
- Prosodic design
Notes Appendix
Cited by (4)
Cited by four other publications
Morozova, Natalia, Sabine Stoll & Adrian Bangerter
Schirm, Sam, Budimka Uskokovic & Carmen Taleghani-Nikazm
Couper-Kuhlen, Elizabeth
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