Vejdu do pokoje svých synů a ptám se šeptem: „Spíš?“ K možnostem výzkumu šeptání v běžné komunikaci
On whispering in everyday communication

Summary/Abstract: This article provides an overview of the existing work in linguistics on whispering and presents the results of new research on whispering in everyday communication. There are three types of linguistic studies on whispering: a) the identification and implementation of communicative aims that involve whispering; b) whispering viewed through the lens of phonetics, including notes on speech impediments; and c) whispering in transcripts of spoken language. In the research on whispering in everyday communication, data was gathered using the method of systematic self-observation. The research subjects provided a total of 56 recordings of communicative situations/events where whispering was involved. The data were organized based on the communicative aim pursued in the given communicative event/situation: non-disturbance, secrecy (including whispering during games), expressions of intimate relationships, and attention-seeking. Examples of accommodation, i.e. communicative situations involving whispering appropriate to a given environment (e.g. a church), and examples connected with speech impediments were treated separately. The results showed that a single communicative situation/event can involve several communicative aims at once (most frequently simultaneous efforts to not disturb others and to be secretive).

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