A Study On The Prosodic Prominence Of Negative Expressions In American Presidential Debates

For the past few years,the study on negative expressions has aroused widespread concern among scholars.However,the study at home and abroad is carried out mainly on the static level and loses sight of the dynamic features of negation in specific contexts,which points to the pragmatic functionality of negation in prosody.Therefore,on the basis of the transcribed material of 2016 U.S.Presidential Debates between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton,the paper conducts a pragmatic study on the prosodic features of negative expressions with the help of an acoustic analysis software,Praat,and explores for the interactive features between the functionality and prosody of negative expressions via pragmatic perspective.It is found that the prosodic features of negative expressions are affected by numerous factors including stylistic features,forms of negative expressions,prominence and functionality of negative expression,etc.First,in terms of pragmatic forms,in the three forms of negative expressions,negative expression of syntax is most frequently seen while negative expressions of semantics and affix are not much involved.Second,the two candidates achieve stress prominence by means of pitch,which is a shared way with regard to prominence of negative expression.In addition,in terms of prosody salience,negative expression is less prominent in Trump's discourse,while is more prominent in Clinton's texts,which indicates the casualty of the former's speech and the rhetoricness of the later.Third,the correlation is found between the functionality and prosody of negative expressions: negation for expressing different viewpoints is invested with stress prominence;negation for expressing objective information,self correction,and discourse continuity are generally given no stress prominence;negative expressions for repetitive explanation and subjective information is less prominent in texts of colloquial style,but distinctly prominent in written texts.Conclusions above can be referred to as for the clarification of prosodic features of negative expressions from a dynamic perspective,and then the in-depth recognition of the pragmatic properties of negative expressions and the relationship between those properties and the cultivation of pragmatic competence.