Intonation und Bedeutung: die nuklear steigend-fallende Kontur in einer deutschen und einer italienischen Varietät

The rise-fall intonation contour (L*H L%) characterises some regional varieties from southwestern Germany and northern Italy and represents a feature which makes the speakers of these varieties recognisable as such even to non-linguists. In this article we examine conversations from the Alemannic region and the Italian spoken in Bergamo in order to ascertain when this contour is used in conversation. The sequential embedding and the type of conversational activity in which the contour is used are determined using authentic data from spoken language. A study of this kind is a contribution to comparative intonation research with particular reference to the role of intonation for the meaning of utterances in interaction.