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Falsetto voice and observational logic: Motivated meanings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  04 April 2013

Brian Stross
Brian Stross*
Affiliation:
The University of Texas at Austin, Department of Anthropology, 1 University Station, #C3200, Austin, TX 78712, USAbstross@mail.utexas.edu
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Abstract

Examples of falsetto and higher pitched modal voice are presented in which the meanings are linked iconically and/or indexically to the signs, and therefore nonarbitrarily. Nine such meaning types are identified and discussed as inferences about falsetto derivable from observations that are minimally informed by cultural traditions. Observational knowledge and the logic by which it is utilized are seen as central concepts mediating universals and relativist approaches to the social meanings of voice qualities, including falsetto, and it is proposed that most falsetto use can be placed within the nine functional meaning categories identified. (Voice quality, falsetto, iconicity, indexicality, observational logic, universals, relativity)*

Type
Articles
Information
Language in Society , Volume 42 , Issue 2 , April 2013 , pp. 139 - 162
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013

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