'Ja' or 'jaaaaa'? Scale interpretation in iconically lengthened response particles

Abstract

The traditional view that language is arbitrary (Hockett, 1960) has become increasingly challenged recently (e.g., Blasi et al., 2016): Iconic mappings between form and meaning are found throughout language, as for example in prosodic modulations of length such as looooong (Fuchs et al., 2019). In German, it is possible to modulate the length of response particles in responses to polar questions containing a gradable adjective, as in jaaaaa for the response particle ja (‘yes’). We provide experimental evidence showing that prosodic modulations allow access to semantic scales and manipulate the degree to which a certain property has to hold for a given individual. Further, we analyze lengthening as a degree modifier similar to very, but with different effects on the level of non-at-issue meaning.