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7.2. The Functional Aspect of English Intonation
Our further point will be the description of intonation on the functional level. Intonation is a powerful means of human intercommunication. One of the aims of communication is the exchange of information between people. The meaning of an English utterance derives not only from the grammatical structure, the lexical composition and the sound pattern. It also derives from variations of intonation or its prosodic parameters. We can see that intonation makes it easier for a listener to understand what a speaker is trying to convey. The ways in which intonation does this are very complex, and there exist various points of view on the number and aims of intonation functions in a language.
P.Roach, for example, singles out the following intonation functions:
Let’s have a closer look at them. First of all intonation serves to mark boundaries between phrases, clauses or sentences to indicate the grammatical subordination and to show the difference between questions, statements, commands, etc., so this function is called grammatical. The placement of the intonation-group boundary is important for differentiating the meaning of some ambiguous sentences, as in the example:
Those who sold ┊ˌquickly ˌmade a profit|
ˈThose who ˈsold quickly ┊ˌmade a profit|
The intonation-group boundary can occur not only between words, but other grammatical units such as phrases and clauses, thus showing what is subordinate to what, as in the example:
The boys ┊ who weren’t punished ┊ were happy|
The boys who weren’t punished ┊ were happy| (only some boys)
Some skilful speakers use this ability of intonation as a special rhetorical device to attract the listeners’ attention or to hold the floor a bit longer.
The choice of nuclear tones also has grammatical significance, as it makes clear whether the person is telling something, asking or commanding. Basic tones are generally associated with certain communicative types of sentences. The falling tone is most common in statements, special questions, commands and exclamations. The rising tone is characteristic of non-final parts of statements, general questions, requests and warnings. The grammatical function here seems to overlap with the pragmatic function and depends on the speaker’s pragmatic aim. The choice of the nuclear tone can turn the command into a polite request:
ˈClose the ̖door ┊ˎwill you|
ˈClose the ˎdoor ┊͵will you|
a question into an exclamation:
Isn’t she ͵beautiful|
ˈIsn’t she ‵beautiful|
an apology into a request to repeat:
I’m ˎsorry|
I’m ͵sorry|
a statement into a question (mostly in colloquial speech):
You ‵did it|
You ͵did it|
As we’ve said already intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence, the placing of nucleus on a particular syllable marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the intonation group. It highlights the focus of information in the utterance indicating that it’s new (it’s called rheme) while the rest of the given information is called theme as it’s either known to the listener or can be easily understood from the context. Thus intonation can structure the information content of an intonation group or a phrase. This function is called accentual.
The location of the nucleus is of considerable linguistic importance. The most common position for it is on the last lexical word. In this case sentence stress is normal. But there are cases when a speaker may shift the nucleus to an earlier part of the intonation group for contrastive or emphatic purposes. In this position the stress is logical.
I’m ˈgoing to ˈleave ˎsoon| (normal)
I’m ˈgoing to ̖leave soon| (contrastive, meaning I’m going not to stay)
I ‵am going to leave soon| (emphatic)
The position of the nucleus can also differentiate the actual meaning of the sentences, as in the example:
I have ˈplans to ˎleave| (=I’m planning to leave)
I have ̖plans to leave| (=I have some plans that I have to leave)
By putting the stress on one particular word, the speaker shows that he is treating the word as the carrier of new information, and that the information of the other words is not new and can be easily understood from the situation.
The next function of intonation is the attitudinal one. Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes and this adds a kind of special meaning to spoken language. The ability of intonation to express attitudes is associated with tones and pitch range features accompanied by voice quality and tempo and loudness changes. Some phoneticians make a distinction between the attitude towards what the speaker is saying and his/her emotional state.
Then there are also culture-specific norms of demonstrating emotions and attitudes. This makes it difficult for a foreign learner to interpret what he/she has heard and to use an appropriate intonation pattern in a certain situation. For example, Russian falling tone when used in English parting remarks may seem offensive or even insulting to native speakers of English, who usually use rising tone in saying good-bye. On the other hand English emotional High Falls or a wide pitch range may sound unnatural and pretentious to Russian speakers.
This function of intonation is closely connected with paralinguistics which includes facial expressions, gestures and body movements.
In the last few years the attention of phoneticians has been focused on a larger context in which sentences occur – that is discourse, in the structuring of which intonation plays a significant role. Generally intonation helps to focus the listeners’ attention on aspects of the message that are most important and to regulate the conversational behaviour of the participants.
As we’ve said already the placing of the nucleus on a certain syllable of one particular word signals that the information conveyed by it is most important and new. It’s clear that the placement of the nuclear tone is at least partly determined by the larger context. The chosen other parameters of the intonation group can also indicate whether they are used to present new information or refer to that which is already possessed by the listener, is common knowledge or part of the cultural background. Foreign learners of English, having in general less common ground or shared knowledge with the native speaker, might also have some difficulty in deciphering the message.
Another area of intonational discourse function is the regulation of conversational behaviour. Speakers use various intonation components to indicate to others that they have finished speaking, that another person is expected to speak, that a particular type of response is required, etc.
Some phoneticians also distinguish a semantic function of intonation (other terms are distinctive or phonological). Some parameters of the intonation pattern are capable of differentiating the actual meaning of a phrase or utterance of the same grammatical structure and the same lexical composition:
I don’t like to read ˎanything| (=вообще не люблю читать)
I don’t like to read anything| (=не люблю читать все подряд)
Intonation can also be in contradiction with the syntactic structure and lexical content of the utterance, thus neutralizing them:
- Do you know what I’m here for? - ͵No (=question)
- I’ve broken your vase. - →How ˎnice of you (=sarcasm, reprimand)
One more important function of intonation, singled out by some phoneticians, is a stylistic one, as intonation is used to characterize a particular style or a variety of oral speech. As it’s rather a wide topic it will be discussed in a separate units later.
To sum it up we can say that all the functions of intonation overlap and can be viewed as different aspects of discourse function.
Tasks and questions:
Read on the topic “English Intonation, Its Structure and Functions” and answer the questions:
↘Helen’s ˡeyes were ˡnot very ˎgood||
My ↘mother-in-law is ˡcoming to‵morrow||
→What are you going to ˎdo||
→Would you like ͵me to drive||
I can’t ‵stand it anymore||
This ↘book is ˡnot ˡreally ̬mine||
The national character of the English has been very differently described, most of commentators agree of a one quality, which they describe as fatuous self-satisfaction, serene sense of superiority or insular pride. English patriotism is based on the deep sense of security. Englishmen as individuals may have been insecure, threatened with the loss of a job, unsure of themselves or unhappy in many ways. But as a nation they have been for centuries secure, serene in their national successes. They have not lived in a state of hatred of their neighbours as Frenchmen and Germans have often lived. This national sense of security hardly threatened by the Armada or by Napoleon or by the First World War has been greatly weakened by the Second World War and by the invention of the atomic bomb.
He ‵read the book||
- Lovely ‵weather| - ͵Yes|
She is ͵ill||
The sell ͵shoes ͵gloves ͵bags||
The sell ͵shoes ͵gloves ˎbags||
- Let’s go there together. – I’m ˎsorry|
- Let’s go there together. – I’m ͵sorry|
I’m ↘not ˡgoing to inˡvite ˎanybody||
I’m ↘not ˡgoing to inˡvite ˎany͵body||
My sister ┊who is forty now ┊is going to get married||
My sister who is forty now ┊is going to get married||
- Do you ever go to the night clubs? - ̬Sometimes|
→How ˎdare you speak like that||
The job has to be done quickly.
I’ll phone him as soon as I can.
You can read the article tomorrow.
Why have you said this?
Did you enjoy the party?
I’m tired.
The door is open.
This thing was mine.
Thank you very much.
Why not phone him.
Recommended literature:
VIII. THE RHYTHMIC STRUCTURE OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
English intonation can’t be described without reference to speech rhythm. Prosodic components (pitch, loudness, tempo) and speech rhythm work interdependently and some linguists even consider rhythm to be one of the components of intonation.
In general rhythm involves some event happening at regular intervals of time. Properties of speech rhythm are common with and conditioned by our biological rhythms, such as heartbeat and breathing. Speech rhythm is traditionally defined as recurrence of stressed syllables at more or less equal intervals of time in speech.
English as well as Russian, German, Arabic and other languages is considered to be a stress-timed language. It means that stressed syllables tend to occur at relatively regular intervals irrespectively of the number of unstressed syllables separating them. Though the amount of time given on each syllable varies, the total time of uttering each rhythmical unit is practically unchanged. To the Russian learners English seems to sound very rhythmical while Russian rhythm is more smooth and flexible. It is due to the fact that English is an analytical language with a lot of monosyllabic words, which are unstressed. French, Spanish, Japanese and some other languages have syllable-timed rhythm: in these languages all syllables, whether stressed or unstressed, tend to occur at regular time-intervals and the time between stressed syllables will be shorter or longer depending on the number of unstressed syllables separating them.
The basic rhythmic unit in both groups of languages is a speech segment which contains a stressed syllable and a number of unstressed ones. The most frequent type of an English rhythmic group includes 2-4 syllables, one of which is stressed. The division into rhythmic groups greatly depends on the language group. In most Germanic languages (English, German, Danish, etc.) the enclitic tendency prevails: in a stress group unstressed syllables are grouped with a preceding stressed syllable, so the rhythmic group starts with a stressed syllable and includes all following unstressed syllables up to (but not including) the following stressed syllable:
ˈTake me to the ┊ˈ seaside re┊ˈsort|
In slow formal speech the semantic tendency may prevail: the unstressed syllables are drawn to the stressed syllable of the same word or the lexical unit according to their semantic connection:
ˈTake me┊ to the ˈ seaside ┊reˈsort|
In Roman languages (French, Italian, Spanish, etc.) the proclitic tendency is more obvious: unstressed syllables are grouped with a following stressed syllable.
In speech the rhythmic effect is obtained by all the prosodic parameters (pitch, loudness and tempo). The beginning of the rhythmic unit is usually marked by maximal pitch level and loudness and relatively slow rate, while the end is accompanied by a relative drop of pitch and loudness and the increase of the rate; but each time these parameters come on a different level, on a larger scale and in a new variety of interrelationship.
The more organized the speech is, the more rhythmical it appears. Poetry is the most extreme example of this. Prose read aloud or delivered in the form of a public speech or a lecture is more rhythmical than colloquial speech. On the other hand rhythm is also individual. Absolutely regular rhythmic speech produces the effect of monotony, so people usually vary the degree of rhythmicality of their speech: sometimes they speak very rhythmically (this is typical of some styles of public speaking or in reading poetry) while at other times they may speak arrhythmically (without any rhythm) if they are nervous or hesitant.
So we can see that rhythm is an important speech phenomenon which has a functional value. First of all rhythm serves to organize elements in speech: it unites smaller units (intonation groups, phrases) into larger ones and at the same time it separates large units into smaller ones. This function is called integrative and delimitative. Rhythmically organized speech is easily perceived and has a definite effect on a person. Thus rhythm performs its aesthetic function. On the linguistic level the pragmatic value of speech rhythm is realized in its volitional function. Rhythm is also capable of expressing different degrees of emotional effect on the listener.
Tasks and questions:
Read on the topic “The Rhythmic Structure Of The English Language” and answer the questions:
What’s your idea of a really good holiday?
Try some of this fruit pie.
Perhaps she wants to go somewhere this evening.
It became the largest seaside resort.
An old lady came up to a train conductor.