FUNCTIONS OF
INTONATION
(Chapters 18 & 19)
What would an utterance lose if
intonation were omitted?
Every syllable said on the same level pitch
No pauses
No changes in speed and loudness
Such would be speech produced by the
“mechanical speech device”
Therefore, intonation makes it easier for
the listener to understand the meaning a
speaker is trying to convey
4 main functions of intonation:
Attitudinal function
Accentual function
Grammatical function
Discourse function
Attitudinal function
Intonation enables the speaker to express
emotions and attitudes which adds a
special meaning to spoken language as a
difference from its written counterpart
Accentual function
Intonation helps to produce the effect of
prominence on syllables that should be
perceived as stressed while tonic stress
on a particular syllable marks the word as
the most important in the tone-unit.
Grammatical function
The listener better recognizes grammar
and what is being said by using the
information contained in intonation: e.g.
placement of boundaries between
phrases, clauses and sentences,
difference between questions and
statements, use of grammatical
subordination, etc.
Discourse function
Intonation can signal to the listener what is
to be taken as “new information” within the
act of speaking, when the speaker is
indicating a contrast or link with the
material from previous tone-units and it
can also make the listener feel what kind
of response is expected
Attitudinal and discourse functions
Overlap in certain ways
The other 3 functions can hardly be
disentangled as:
E.g. placement of tonic stress is closely
linked to the presentation of “new”
information;
Question/statement distinction is equally
important in grammar and discourse
Common to accentual, grammatical
and discourse functions:
is indication by means of intonation of the
relationship between a linguistic element
and the context in which it occurs
Attitudinal function
The same sentence can be said in
different ways labelled as “happy”, “angry”,
“grateful”, etc.
Intonation differs from language to
language
Often pointed out that if a foreign learner
does not learn proper intonation he/she
may unintentionally give offence
How to analyse the attitudinal
function?
Try saying one sentence with different
intonation patterns
Ask a group of listeners what attitudes
they think have been expressed
Ask them to choose among a small
number of adjectives or labels
Ask a lot of speakers to say a list of
sentences in different ways according to
labels provided by the analyst
A more useful and realistic
approach:
To study recordings of different speakers´
natural, spontaneous speech and on this
basis make generalisations about attitudes
and intonation
Material chosen should be neutral from the
emotional point of view, i.e. pure questions
or utterances qualified by the use of specific
vocabulary indicating their purpose should
not be considered
Components of intonation:
Sequential
Prosodic
paralinguistic
Sequential component
Components never occur simultaneously
They are: pre-head, head, tonic syllable,
tail
Pauses
Tone-unit boundaries
Prosodic component
-
Characteristics of speech that are constantly
present while the speech is going on:
Width of pitch range
Key
Loudness
Speed
Voice quality
(rhythmicality)
Paralinguistic component
Facial expressions, gestures, body
language
Vocal effects: laughs, sobs, ...
Effects relevant to the act of speaking but
not proper components of speech
Tones conveying meanings:
Fall: finality, definiteness
- Stop talking! I´m absolutely certain! That is
the end of news!
Rise:
- Functions nearer to grammatical than to
attitudinal: e.g. general questions: Can you
help me?; listing: red, brown and black;
“more to follow ...”: I phoned them right a way;
encouraging: It won´t hurt.
Fall-rise:
- uncertainty, doubt: You may be right.
- Requesting: Can I buy it?
Rise-fall:
- surprise, being impressed:
You were first.
Generalisations of the kind are:
Very broad
Foreign learners do not easily acquire intonation
only through studying patterns
Still, wider pitch range = excited or enthusiastic
speaking; slower speed = typical of the speech of
tired or bored person
Useful but difficult to teach or learn if not speaking
or listening to native speakers; still, building up
awareness and sensitivity for ways native
speakers use intonation has been our aim
Accentual function
Derived from the word “accent” = stress
Placement of stress is determined by
intonation
Although stress has been presented as
independent of and placing of stress prior
to the choice of intonation, placement of
the tonic stress within the tone-unit can be
regarded as part of intonation.
Location of the tonic syllable
Of great linguistic importance
The most common position – on the last
lexical word of the tone-unit
But, for contrastive purposes any word can
become the bearer of the tonic syllable
Thus, the placement of the tonic syllable
represents the focus of the information
Examples of contrast / emphasis
I want to know where he´s travelling to
I want to know where he´s travelling from
She was wearing a ´red dress
It was ´very boring
It was very boring
You ´mustn´t ´talk so loudly
You mustn´t talk so loudly
Tonic syllable earlier in the toneunit, not for reasons of empasis
I have plans to leave
I have plans to leave
The rule??
Here´s that book you asked me to bring
I´ve got to take the dog for a walk
I´ve got to take the dog to the vet
Grammatical function
Sentences which when written are ambiguous,
and ambiguity can only be removed by
different intonation: e.g.
Those who sold quickly made a profit
(A profit was made by those who sold quickly)
Those who sold quickly made a profit
(A profit was quickly made by those who sold)
Link between
tone-unit and units of grammar
Tone-unit boundaries usually occur at
boundaries between grammatical units of
higher order than words (at sentence
boundary: e.g. I won´t have any tea I
don´t like it)
At phrase and clause boundaries: e.g.
In France where farms tend to be smaller
the subsidies are more im portant
Restrictive vs. non-restrictive
relative clause
The Conservatives who like the proposal
are pleased (only some of them)
The Conservatives, who like the proposal,
are pleased (all of them)
Grammatical significance of tone on the
tonic syllable : rise with questions, choice
between falling/rising tone can differentiate
statement and question of the same for
(e.g. Why do you want to buy it? The price
is going up)
Falling tone with questions
Wh-questions: where did you park the car
Question tags: They are coming on
Tuesday aren´t they (the example shows
overlapping between attitudinal and
grammatical function)
Discourse function
An attempt to look at larger contexts in
which sentences occur (R., p.198);
sentences form part of a larger act of
conversational interaction between
speakers
They make references to the shared
knowledge
Intonation and discourse
Intonation focuses the listener´s attention
(by placing tonic stress on the appropriate
syllable) on important aspects of the
message
Intonation regulates conversational
behaviour
Falling tone is used to indicate new
information
Rising toneindicates “shared” or “given”
information
(R., p.199)
Intonational subordination
A case when we signal that a particular
tone-unit is of comparatively low
importance and give greater importance to
adjacent tone-units. (R., p.200)
Regulation of conversational
behaviour
It refers to what the speaker is doing in
speaking: questioning, challenging,
advising, encouraging, disapproving, etc.
It signals when one has finished speaking
and whether another person is expected to
speak (regulates turn-taking), a particular
type of response, etc.