(Crystal 1987: 171)> TASK 48Consider Crystal's categorization of the functions of intonation...

Could you reduce the number of categories without excluding any
important functions? How?
Crystal indicates features which most phoneticians would basically agree
on, though they may not all use the same terms and emphasize the same
functions. In fact, different approaches to the description of intonation vary
considerably with respect to what they focus on and which functions they
regard as most important. Such variation of emphasis will to some degree
depend on which languages are studied and how the function of intonation
in discourse is conceived.
50 Explanation
5.2 The nature of discourse
Although we are not usually aware of it in our daily lives, spoken discourse
is an extremely complex phenomenon whereby meaning is negotiated in the
process of interaction. The study of this phenomenon of language m use, of
\anguage as a social process, ranges from dose formal textual analysis to
social psychology. A concept central to the study of spoken discourse is the
speech event, or 'culturally recognized social activity in which language
plays a specific ... role' (Levinson 1983: 279), such as everyday
conversation, sales encounters, university lectures, church services, and
innumerable others.
Hymes (1972) maintains that it is possible to describe every speech event
with reference to a range of factors, which include: setting (time and
space), participant(s) (addresser and addressee), topic (content), channel
(spoken or written), and purpose. These components interrelate in complex
ways in particular speech events.
Let us look at a short extract from a speech event. In addition to the
information we get from the text written down in ordinary, orthographic
form, the transcription also offers us indications of prosodic features, such
as tone unit boundaries, pitch movement, and pauses. Also, we can tell
when people speak at the same time: overlapping utterances are printed one
beneath the other. All this narrows down the options as to how the
interaction might be read. Prosody, one can say, mediates between the
actual linguistic form and the context. Here, then, is the transcript of the
extract, with a table explaining the symbols for these prosodic features.
A we're [looking 'forward to IBONFIRE night| at LEAST) the
(CHILDREN ARE) - - do you IN[DULGE in 'this| -
B oh in • in SUSSEX we DID) - - I've - in [FACT) 1 went to 'one 'last
WEEK] • but it was •
A t but the • |"I don't know 'where we can 'get any (WOOD from |
ajpart from (chopping 'down a ffew TREES) which I [wouldn't
'like to DO) - we jdon't seem to 'have very much twooD|
B jYES| ]THAT'S a POINT| • YES|--|M|-
A well I supjpose if we 'went 'into the PARK) we jmight col'Iect a 'few
STicKS) but it's not 'quite 'like 'having • "LOGS) |is it | - - but I [don't
know 'where 'one would |GET 'this 'from HERE] - - I er if [we were m • at
"HOME) • (back in the MIDLANDS | we would KNOW) if- you [KNOW | [where
we could GO) and GET all 'these things 'from| but
Intonation 51
B |YES| YES|• |M| - |M| • in tsussEx| - in jmy VILLAGE| they -
spent the jwhole of • of • OC'TOBER 'building up the BONFIRE|
A M|
B yes they (probably 'did it in fYOURS|
A jthey had a 'VJLLAGE one DID they)
B |YES|
A !YES|
B | YES | A
YEAH|
B |ALL the 'local 'people! - HELPED with it | j put all their'old
'ARMCHAIRS and things] SON it| A
|M|- MUM| •
B [used to be about ttwenty feet AHIGH | • A |M|
Table of prosodic features \
tone-unit boundary
first prominent syllable of the tone-unit x
falling tone ' rising tone
level tone
A rising-falling tone v falling-rising tone N
' fall-plus-rise (on separate syllables) '
the next syllable is stressed
the next syllable is stressed and also s'eps up in pitch " extra
strong stress
pauses, from brief to long
SMALL CAPS - words containing the tonic syllable
(Crystal and Davy 1975: 17, 29)
52 Explanation
- TASK 49
Consider the transcript above. Make a note of what this excerpt
tells you about the following. Also note down how you know, i.e.
what your evidence is:
- what kind of speech event is taking place?
- what is the topic being talked about?
- what is a likely setting?
- what are the participants' roles and relationships: are they
strangers? colleagues? close friends?
You probably found it quite easy to come up with possible answers: the
words on the page convey the impression of a friendly, if not exactly
bubbling informal conversation. That the participants are acquaintances of