Testing for modal concord with rising intonation

old_uid13393
titleTesting for modal concord with rising intonation
start_date2014/02/07
schedule10h-13h
onlineno
summarySpeakers can use rising intonation in their responses to questions to indicate uncertainty (A: What's John's favorite color? B: Blue?), but current analyses of rising intonation predict the wrong interpretation when such responses contain an epistemic adverb like "maybe" (... B: Maybe blue?). I provide a new analysis of rising intonation, one which assigns it semantic content, that allows for the available interpretations. I am currently running surveys to test the predictions of my analysis, which, while emphasizing the flexibility in interpretations of rising intonation, do not provide strong support for my analysis.
responsiblesStrickland