Section I intonation and its functions

Effective communication depends on such features of speech as variations in the pitch, loudness, tempo and timbre of the voice. These prosodic features are called intonation-the basic unit of speech. Intonation has a number of important communicative functions.

1. The first function of intonation is the delimiting one. It is called so, because intonation delimits utterances and parts of utterances in the speech flow. From the point of view of the listener, connected speech is a chain of semantic blocks. Each of the blocks has some prosodic features organized into a certain prosodic structure. In other words, each of the semantic blocks presents a prosodic, or intonation, unit. As far as such a unit often comprises a group of words, it is usually defined as an intonation group. E.g.:

'Go ^.down 'Regent _/Street | to 'Picadilly _/Circus | and 'then go ^.down ^\Haymarket.

An intonation-group with the highest degree of semantic completeness is perceived as a complete utterance. E.g.:

I 'haven't 'seen him since ^\Friday.

2. The division of an utterance into intonation-groups in English, as in other languages, is connected with the semantic and syntactic relations between the words in it. Sometimes it is only through the placement of intonation boundaries (markers of intonation division) that the actual kind of relationship is revealed in oral speech. E.g.:

Jane, | said her mother, | was fond of knitting. Jane said, | her mother was fond of knitting.

So, it is possible to say that the delimiting function of intonation (prosody) often becomes grammatical (syntactic).

3. Apart from indicating boundaries both between utterances and within them, intonation signals the central point of information, marking more and less important elements within the utterance through contrasts in the degree of prominence. This function of intonation is called accentual. Compare, e.g.:

a) - I want this letter to be sent tomorrow.

- All right, I'll take ^\care of that.

b) - Will anyone send this letter tomorrow?

- ^\I'll take care of that.

4. Another important function of intonation is to show the aim of communi­cation, i.e. to indicate the communicative type (a statement, a question, an imperative, an exclamation) or subtype of an utterance (e.g. a reply or an announcement within a statement; an instruction or an order within an imperative, an alternative question with a complete/incomplete list of choices or a certainty/uncertainty disjunctive question within interrogative utterances). This is the attitudinal, or modal-emotional, function of intonation.

Often, intonation is the only marker of the speaker's communicative intent.

Tra^|falgar ^\Square, (a statement: an announcement or a reply)

Tra^|falgar ^/Square? (a question asking for repetition, expressing disbelief, etc.)

Intonation has an important role in conveying the speaker's attitude to the subject matter and to the speech situation, as well as his relations with the listener and his emotional state at the moment of communication.

a) Did ^|Mozart ^|ever "write an /opera? (neutral, light)

b) Did ^|Mozart ^|ever "write an \opera? (sceptical, doubtful)