The Use of Clicks as Discourse Markers in Spanish

Session Submission Type: Paper

Summary

Using a corpus of 764 clicks by 20 Spanish speakers, we analyze clicks as discourse markers with five functions. Since clicks are void of semantic meaning, their contribution depends on their placement and their contextual features. Significant findings indicate how click functions relate to elements in the click environment.

Abstract

Click sounds, generally classified as ingressive stops or affricates, are often included in linguistics and phonetics texts, with a focus on their articulation in African languages (e.g. Ladefoged 2005; Ladefoged & Maddieson 1996). Ladefoged (2005), for example, includes details about the 20 different clicks used in Nama, covering a range of articulatory positions and voicing options. References in these publications to clicks in non-African languages tend to be brief, highlighting their marginal and non-lexical functions such as the tsk tsk sound in English for expressing disapproval or for edging on horses. While some researchers have begun to investigate the different functions of clicks in English, making it clear that they are more widespread than most people might assume, Spanish clicks have received less attention.

In our study, we analyze 764 clicks in Spanish and their contiguous environment in order to explore details about their placement, their functions and the context in which they occur. Our data consist of existing video interviews of 20 Spanish speakers from Spain. The literature in English identifies sequencing functions, such as signaling incipient speakership or a topic change, and those associated with a meta-commentary role, providing information about the delivery of the message (e.g. word search) or the message itself (e.g. the speaker’s attitude about something). The research questions that we investigate are:
1) What are the positions, functions and environmental factors of clicks in our data? With what frequency do they occur?
2) Are there any significant associations between function and click environment?
Our findings indicate some statistically significant differences with regard to the relationship between click function and environmental factors.

Ladefoged, Peter & Ian Maddieson. 1996. The Sounds of the World’s Languages. Malden,
MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Ladefoged, Peter. 2005. Vowels and Consonants: An Introduction to the Sounds of
Languages. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.

Strand

• Analysis of Discourse and Interaction (DIS)

Presenters

• Derrin Pinto, University of St. Thomas

• Donny Vigil, University of St. Thomas