A comparative analysis of the prosody of <i>you know</i> in L2 and L1 English: functional and positional variations

Abstract Pragmatic markers such as you know play a crucial role in managing discourse and interaction in spoken English, with prosody serving as an important cue to their functional and positional variation. However, previous studies have rarely examined the prosodic realizations of such markers in second language (L2) speech, particularly with regard to the combined effects of position and function on prosodic realization. The present study investigates the prosodic realization of you know in the speech of Chinese learners of English and native English speakers, focusing on how prosodic parameters vary across discourse positions and pragmatic functions. Drawing on two spoken corpora, the study combines acoustic analysis with Factor Analysis of Mixed Data (FAMD) to explore the relationship among prosody, position, and function. The results show that both groups exhibit similar position-function mappings, but with distinct prosodic realizations. Native speakers employ systematic prosodic adjustments, including higher intensity and higher pitch, to manage turns in the turn-initial position. In contrast, Chinese L2 learners demonstrate more variable and thus less consistent prosodic realizations and tend to produce you know with broader and stronger prosodic cues. These patterns suggest that Chinese L2 learners rely on different prosodic mapping strategies, reflecting a developing pragmatic-prosodic competence. The findings highlight the importance of incorporating prosody into L2 pragmatic instruction to help learners achieve more natural and context-sensitive spoken interaction.