중국어 부사 ‘就是’의 화용 기능과 운율 실현의 상관관계 고찰

Abstract

This study empirically investigates the correlation between the pragmatic functions of jiushi and its prosodic realizations. Four major pragmatic categories of jiushi were identified—emphatic (F1), confirmative (F2), explanatory (F3), and conclusive (F4)—and the prosodic features of pitch (F₀), duration, and slope were analyzed for jiu and shi respectively. The analysis of duration revealed that the lengthening of shi in the explanatory (F3) and conclusive (F4) types reflects prosodic reinforcement of the discourse functions of explanation and conclusion at sentence boundaries. This finding provides important evidence for the prosodic–pragmatic interface in Mandarin Chinese. From the perspective of duration, jiu was found to be prosodically stable, while shi was pragmatically variable. The pitch analysis demonstrated that the pitch contour of jiushi represents not merely a phonetic change in F₀ but a prosodic manifestation corresponding to the type of speech act and discourse function. Pragmatic factors such as intentional focus, hearer orientation, and discourse role were directly reflected in the shape of the pitch contour, confirming that the tonal pattern of the adverb jiushi plays a crucial role in constructing pragmatic meaning. Finally, the slope analysis showed that pitch slope serves not simply as an indicator of F₀ inclination but as a prosodic index representing the degree of speaker intention and interactional attitude in discourse.