Prosody, emotions, and... 'whatever'

Weexaminetheroleofprosodyincueingascaleofnegative� meaningsassociatedwiththeuseof� whatever.�Theanalysisof� acorpusofelicitedexamplesshowsthatthemorenegative� thetoken,�themorelikelyitistohaveanadditionalpitch� accent,�extendedduration,�andexpandedpitchrangeonthe� firstsyllable.�Thesefindingsareanalyzedasalinkbetween� pragmaticmeaningandthestrengthoftheprosodicboundary� betweenthefirsttwosyllables�( what#ever).�Theresultsof� perceptionexperimentsshowthattheprosodyofwhatever� itselfisasystematiccueforthedegreeofnegative� connotationassociatedwiththeutteranceinwhich� whatever� occurs.� Potentialapplicationsofthisresultforspoken� dialoguesystemsandsynthesisofemotionalspeechare� discussed.�