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:

• grammatical

• accentual

• attitudinal

• discourse

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 ┊will you|

ˈClose the  door ┊will you|

a question into an exclamation:

Isn’t she beautiful|

ˈIsn’t she beautiful|

an apology into a request to repeat:

I’m sorry|

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 soon| (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  leave| (=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 anything| (=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 nice 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.