Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

University of Babylon

College of Education for Human Sciences

Department of English / MA studies

A Presentation in Discourse
1) Discourse analysis and Linguistics

i. Intonation and Discourse

ii. Cohesion and texture

Presented by:
Amina Ali & Baraa Kareem

Supervised by:
Prof. Dr. Qasim Obayes Al-Azzawi
Table of contents :
1. Introduction
1.1 What is Discourse Analysis?
1.2 Tasks of Discourse analysis
2. What is intonation?
3. Description of Intonation
4. Functions of Intonation
5. Levels of intonation

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 1. Introduction:
In the study of language, some of the most interesting
observations are made, not in terms of the components of
language, but in terms of the way language is used, even how
pauses are used, as in Jerry Seinfeld’s commentary. We were, in
effect, asking how it is that language-users successfully interpret
what other language-users intend to convey. When we carry this
investigation further and ask how we make sense of what we read,
how we can recognize well-constructed texts as opposed to those
that are jumbled or incoherent, how we understand speakers who
communicate more than they say, and how we successfully take
part in that complex activity called conversation, we are
undertaking what is known as discourse analysis.

1.1 What is Discourse analysis?

Discourse analysis is a rapidly growing and evolving field.
The terms “discourse” and “discourse analysis” have different meanings
to scholars in different fields. For many, particularly linguists,
“discourse” has generally been defined as anything “beyond the
sentence.” For others (for example Fasold 1990: 65), the study of
discourse is the study of language use.
Discourse Analysis is “ A continuous stretch of language
larger than a sentence of a constituent a coherent unit such as sermon ,
argument, joke or a narrative” (Crystal, 1992)
Discourse analysis is the study of language in use. It is the
study of the meanings we give language
and the actions we carry out when we use language in specific contexts.
Discourse analysis is also sometimes defined as the study of language
above the level of a sentence, of the ways sentences combine to create

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meaning, coherence, and accomplish purposes. However, even a single
sentence or utterance can be analyzed as a “communication” or as an
“action,” and not just as a sentence structure whose “literal meaning”
flows from the nature of grammar. Grammar can tell us what “I
pronounce you man and wife” literally means, but not when and where it
actually means you are married. Sometimes the term “pragmatics” is
used for the study of language in use (Levinson, 1983), and people
reserve the phrase “discourse analysis” for studying how the sentences
in an oral or written “text” pattern together to create meaning and
coherence and to define different genres (e.g. dialogues, narratives,
reports, descriptions, explanations, and so forth).
The term ‘discourse analysis’ was first used by the sentence
linguist, Zellig Harris in his 1952 article entitled ‘Discourse Analysis’.
According to him, discourse analysis is a method for the analysis of
connected speech or writing, for continuing descriptive linguistics
beyond the limit of a simple sentence at a time (Harris 1952).
Harris had two main interests: the examination of language beyond the
level of the sentence and the relationship between linguistic and non-
linguistic behavior. He examined the first of these in most detail, aiming
to provide a way for describing how language features are distributed
within texts and the ways in which they are combined in particular kinds
and styles of texts.
1.2Tasks of discourse analysis:
Discourse analysis can undertake one or both of two tasks,
one related to utterance-type (general) meaning and one related to
situated meaning. One task is what we can call the utterance type
meaning task. This task involves the study of correlations between
form and function in language at the level of utterance-type
meanings (general meanings). “Form” here means things like
morphemes, words, phrases, or other syntactic structures (e.g. the

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 subject position of a sentence). “Function” means meaning or the
communicative purpose a form carries out.
A second task that discourse analysis can undertake is what we
called above the utterance-token or situated meaning task. When
we actually utter or write a sentence, it has a situated meaning
(Gee, 2010, 2011). Situated meanings arise because particular
language forms take on specific or
situated meanings in different, specific contexts of use.
2. What is intonation?
Phonology, as a branch of linguistics, also has a vital role to
play in discourse. The aspect of phonology that is most significant
in this regard is intonation. The term “discourse‟ in relation to
prosody is often used to refer to the prosody of focus and accent,
given and new, degrees of accessibility etc, thus mainly related to
information structure (e.g. Baumann & Grice, 2006).
One of the linguistic cues to information structure in
discourses, along with pronominalization, word order, and
connectives, is intonation, which is itself structured such that there
is a phonological level at which there are categorical distinctions
and a phonetic level at which the implementation of the categories
can differ.
Intonation (n.) A term used in the study of suprasegmental
phonology,
referring to the distinctive use of patterns of pitch, or melody.
The study of intonation is sometimes called intonology.
Several ways of analysing intonation have been suggested:
In some approaches, the pitch patterns are described as contours
and analysed in terms of levels of pitch as pitch phonemes and
morphemes; in others, the patterns are described as tone units or
tone groups, analysed further as contrasts of nuclear tone, tonicity,

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 etc. The three variables of pitch range, height and direction are
generally distinguished.
The use of tonal features to carry linguistic information at the
sentence level is one of the meanings of the term intonation. Intonation
does not change the meaning of lexical items, but constitutes part of the
meaning of the whole utterance; certain changes in intonation may be
accompanied by changes in the function of the utterance, signaling, for
example, a difference between a statement or a question.
3. Description of Intonation:
Halliday (1970:22) asserts that 'the importance of intonation
is ... that it is a means of saying different things. If you change the
intonation of a sentence you change its meaning'. He suggests that
intonation choices carry two kinds of information:
Firstly is the relative importance of different parts of the message
determines and therefore is conveyed by decisions about when and
where to make major pitch movements.
Secondly is the choice of one pitch contour rather than another relates to
grammatical 'mood (kinds of statement, question, etc.), modality
(assessment of the possibility, probability, validity, relevance, etc. of
what is being said) and key (speaker's attitude of politeness,
assertiveness, indifference, etc.)')
O'Connor and Arnold (1959) suggested that 'the contribution that
intonation makes is to express in addition to and beyond the bare words
and grammatical constructions used, the speaker's attitude to the
situation in which he is placed‘.
They suggested that a speaker uses a low falling intonation with a
statement to indicate that it is definite and complete in the sense that it is
a 'separate item of interest'; but that in addition the intonation conveys a

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'cool, calm, phlegmatic, detached, reserved, dispassionate, dull, possibly
grim or surly attitude on the part of the speaker'
4. The functions of intonation : (WELLS, 2006:11)
a. The attitudinal function:
The most obvious role of intonation is to express our attitudes
and emotions – to show shock or surprise, pleasure or anger, interest
or boredom, seriousness or sarcasm, and many others. We do this by
tone.
b. The grammatical function:
Intonation helps identify grammatical structures in speech, rather as
punctuation does in writing. We use intonation to mark the beginning
and end of grammatical units such as clause and sentence (the
demarcative function). We do this by tonality. We also use intonation
to distinguish clause types, such as question vs. statement, and to
disambiguate various grammatically ambiguous structures (the
syntactic function). We do this mainly by tone.
c. The focusing (also called accentual or informational) function:
intonation helps to show what information in an utterance is new and
what is already known. We use it to bring some parts of the message
into focus, and leave other parts out of focus; to emphasize or
highlight some parts and not others. We do this by tonicity and by the
placement of other accents. This is one of the most important
functions of English intonation, and perhaps the function most
readily taught in the EFL classroom. We combine accentuation with
the choice of tone to present some longer stretches of the message as
constituting the foreground of the picture we paint, while leaving
other stretches as background. These are pragmatic functions.
d. The discourse (or cohesive) function:
Intonation signals how sequences of clauses and sentences go
together in spoken discourse, to contrast or to cohere. It functions
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like the division of written text into sentences and paragraphs. It
enables us to signal whether or not we have come to the end of the
point we are making; whether we want to keep talking or are ready to
give another speaker a turn.
2.1The Levels of intonation:
Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. The
way the voice Rises and Falls when speaking in other words the music of
language. In addition, the voice tends to rise ( ) , fall ( ) , fall-rise ,
rise-fall, or remain flat ( ___ ) depending on the meaning or feeling we
want to convey (surprise, anger, interest, boredom, gratitude, etc).
Intonation therefore indicates the mood of the speaker. As listeners, we
become skilled at detecting fine shades of meaning in other people's speech.
We can say they sounded unhappy, tired, sneering, self-satisfied, and so on.
These attitudes are picked up from very fine variations in pitch and
loudness.
Intonation can change the meaning of what a person says even when the
same words are used.
Examples:

-It was interesting

You are giving information. You are certain and confident about the
information. This is a statement.

-It was interesting?

This intonation could indicate that this is a question even though the
grammar indicates a statement. It could also indicate that you aren’t
sure or that you haven’t finished yet. It is question or incomplete statement.

-It was interesting …

You have more to say. Incomplete statement.

-It was interesting …

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 You have some doubts or reservations or you want to qualify this with more
information. You may also be referring to what has already
been said or will be said.

- It was interesting!
You want to emphasize this. Depending on the context, you may feel
enthusiastic, happy or surprised. Or you may want to contrast or
contradict what someone else has said. Exclamation.

Conclusion

After what have been raised above, the reader concludes

1. what is “discourse”: it is anything beyond the sentence and what

is “discourse analysis : it is the study of language in use, it is the
study of meaning we give to language.
2. What are the two tasks of discourse : utterance-type (general)
meaning and situated meaning.
3. What is Intonation, it is A term used in the study of
suprasegmental phonology, referring to the distinctive use of
patterns of pitch, or melody.
4. Four Functions of intonation ( attitudinal, grammatical, accentual,
discourse)
5. Levels of intonation

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 References:

1. Schiffrin .D, Deborah .T, and Hedi E.(2001) The Handbook of

Discourse Analysis. Maladen: Black well publisher.
2. Crystal, D (1992). Introducing Linguistics. Harmondsworth: Penguin.
3. Crystal, D. (2008) A Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics 6th
Edition. ISBN: 978-1-405-15296-9

4. Yule,G.(2010) The Study of Language 4th edition. New york:

Cambridge university press.
5. Gee P. , Handford M. , (2012) The Routledge Handbook of Discourse
Analysis

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