Prosody and Humor
Narrated scenes: A comparison
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Narrated scenes: A comparison Narrated scenes are another type of performance. Generally, the omniscient nar- rator, Carrie Bradshaw, tells the implied spectator about the situation in which she and her friends find themselves. These monologues can have several functions: furthering the action, giving some background on what has happened or is going to happen, sketching the motivation of the characters’ actions and, thus, giving some further psychological point of view or making a humoristic remark on the situation, the character and his or her actions. We have chosen three samples to illustrate the role of prosody in humor in narrated scenes in SATC. In episode 1, Carrie is writing an article on women having sex like men. In the example one below (see Table 4), she describes an experiment, in which she herself tries to have sex like a man. In the first part, Carrie narrates her relationship with Kurt, an old boyfriend, how her view of him has changed. She suggests that she is going to try something with him. As we will learn immediately, the “something” is “to have sex like a man, without feelings”. This small narrative is a good example of synthesis interspersed with ironic remarks that characterizes most of Carrie’s narrations. At the time she introduces her “experiment” (see Table 4 below), the audience does not know this experiment yet, although they can infer it easily from the context. The incongruity between her prior utterances and her intended ex- periment can be considered playful. The pause in this context marks an incongru- ity and acts as an emphasis of the words uttered after the pause. Prosodically speaking, the average pitch falls well within the 200–230 Hz, the standard range in Carrie’s speech as previously shown. It also follows the pattern Table 4. Carrie talking about Kurt in episode 1 tải về 1.21 Mb. Chia sẻ với bạn bè của bạn:
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