Scribd
Upload
51 views3 pages

Intonation Is A Language Universal

Intonation is a universal aspect of language that involves changes in prosodic parameters like pitch, but functions differently across languages. There are two main approaches to studying intonation in Great Britain - contour analysis and grammatical analysis. Contour analysis views the tone group as the smallest meaningful unit of intonation, while grammatical analysis sees the clause as the main intonation unit and views intonation as relating to grammatical categories. Different scholars propose various theories and definitions of intonation and its components and functions.

Uploaded by

Інна Меленчук
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
51 views3 pages

Intonation Is A Language Universal

Intonation is a universal aspect of language that involves changes in prosodic parameters like pitch, but functions differently across languages. There are two main approaches to studying intonation in Great Britain - contour analysis and grammatical analysis. Contour analysis views the tone group as the smallest meaningful unit of intonation, while grammatical analysis sees the clause as the main intonation unit and views intonation as relating to grammatical categories. Different scholars propose various theories and definitions of intonation and its components and functions.

Uploaded by

Інна Меленчук
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Intonation is a language universal.

There are no languages which are spoken


without any change of prosodic parameters but intonation functions in various
languages in a different way.

There are two main approaches to the problem of intonation in Great Britain.
One is known as acontour analysis and the other may be called grammatical.

The first is represented by a large group of phoneticians: H. Sweet, D. Jones,


G. Palmer, L. Armstrong, I. Ward, R. Kingdon, J. O'Connor, A. Gimson and
others. It is traditional and widely used. According to this approach the smallest
unit to which linguistic meaning can be  attached is a tone-group (sense-group).
Their theory is based on the assumption that intonation consists of basic
functional "blocks". They pay much attention to these "blocks" but not to the
way they are connected. Intonation is treated by them as a layer that is
superimposed on the lexico-grammatical structure. In fact the aim of
communication determines the intonation structure, not vice versa.

The grammatical approach to the study of intonation was worked out by M.


Halliday. The main unit of intonation is a clause. Intonation is a complex of
three systemic variables: tonality, tonicity and tone, which are connected with
grammatical categories. Tonality marks the beginning and the end of a tone-
group. Tonicity marks the focal point of each tone-group. Tone is the third unit
in Halliday's system. Tones can be primary and secondary. They convey the
attitude of the speaker. Hallyday's theory is based on the syntactical function of
intonation.

The founder of the American school of intonation K. Pike in his book «The
Intonation of American English» considers «pitch phonemes» and «contours»
to be the main units of intonation. He describes different contours and their
meanings, but the word «meaning» stands apart from communicative function
of intonation.

There is wide agreement among Russian linguists that on perception level


intonation is a complex, a whole, formed by significant variations of pitch,
loudness and tempo closely related. Some Russian linguists regard speech
timbre as the fourth component of intonation. Neither its material form nor its
linguistic function has been thoroughly described. Though speech timbre
definitely conveys certain shades of attitudinal or emotional meaning there is
no good reason to consider it alongside with the three prosodic components of
intonation, i.e. pitch, loudness and tempo.

M. Sokolova and others write that the term prosody embraces the three
prosodic components and substitutes the term intonation. It is widely used in
linguistic literature, it causes no misunderstanding and, consequently, it is more
adequate. They feel strongly that this term would be more suitable for their
book too, but, unfortunately, it has not been accepted in the teaching process
yet.

Many foreign scholars (A. Gimson, R. Kingdon) restrict the formal definition of
intonation to pitch movement alone, though occasionally allowing in variations
of loudness as well. According to D. Crystal, the most important prosodic
effects are those conveyed by the linguistic use of pitch movement, or melody.
It is clearly not possible to restrict the term intonation by the pitch parameters
only because generally all the three prosodic parameters function as a whole
though in many cases the priority of the pitch parameter is quite evident.

There is no general agreement about either the number or the headings of the
functions of intonation which can be illustrated by the difference in the
approach to the subject by some prominent Russian phoneticians. T.M.
Nikolayeva names three functions of intonation: delimitating, integrating and
semantic. L.K. Tseplitis suggests the semantic, syntactic and stylistic functions
the former being the primary and the two latter being the secondary functions.
N.V. Cheremisina singles out the following main functions of intonation:
communicative, distinctive (or phonological), delimitating, expressive,
appellative, aesthetic, integrating. Other Russian and foreign phoneticians also
display some difference in heading the linguistic functions of intonation.

D. Crystal distinguishes the following functions of intonation.

• Emotional function's most obvious role is to express attitudinal meaning


-sarcasm, surprise, reserve, impatience, delight, shock, anger, interest, and
thousands of other semantic nuances.

• Grammatical function helps to identify grammatical structure in speech,


performing a role similar to punctuation. Units such as clause and sentence
often depend on intonation for their spoken identity, and several specific
contrasts, such as question/statement, make systematic use of it.

• Informational function helps draw attention to what meaning is given and


what is new in an utterance. The word carrying the most prominent tone in a
contour signals the part of an utterance that the speaker is treating as new
information.

• Textual function helps larger units of meaning than the sentence to contrast
and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped
through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the
progress of the action.

• Psychological function helps us to organize speech into units that are easier to
perceive and memorize. Most people would find a sequence of numbers, for
example, difficult to recall. The task is made easier by using intonation to chunk
the sequence into two units.

• Indexical function, along with other prosodic features, is an important marker


of personal or social identity. Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports
commentators, army sergeants, and several other occupations are readily
identified through their distinctive prosody.

You might also like