A Gestalt morphology of prosody directed by functions: the example of a step by step model developed at ICP

Abstract

This paper proposes a point of view consisting i n showing prosody as an emergent form perceived via Gestalt processing. Contours carry some function values at different levels through the superposition of independent contours. In this view, tonal phonology can be interpreted as a bottom-up sub-processing approach, and global form modelling as supported by a top-down approach. The model can integrate a large scale of functions from the linguistic domain to the expression of emotion. The founding principles of the model are explained and the most significant steps developed at ICP are recalled to illustrate this theoretical background.