GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS

The listener is better able to recognize the

grammar and syntax structure of what is
being said by using the information contained
in the intonation. For example such things as
a- The placement of boundaries between
phrases, clauses and sentences.
b- The difference between questions and
statements.
 1 Grammatical function performed by
tone boundaries
Grammatical intonation is used in those sentences which when
written are ambiguous, and whose ambiguities can only be
removed by using differences of intonation. In the following
example the difference caused by the placement of tone-unit
boundaries causes two different interpretations of sentence.
• a- |Those who sold quickly| made a profit|
(a profit was made by those who sold quickly)
• B-|Those who sold| quickly made a profit|
(a profit was quickly made by those who sold)
Ex. She dressed and fed the baby.
( the baby was dressed and fed )
She dressed / and fed the baby.
( She dressed herself and then fed the baby)
• Let us look further at the role of tone-unit
boundaries, and the link between the tone-
unit and units of grammar. There is a strong
tendency for tone-unit boundaries to occur at
boundaries between grammatical units of
higher order than words; it is extremely
common to find a tone-unit boundary at a
sentence boundary, as in:
• I 'wont have any /tea. I 'dont \like it
• In sentences with a more complex structure,
tone-unit boundaries are often found at
phrase and clause boundaries as well, as in:
• In vFrance | where .farms .tend to be vsmaller
| the 'subsidies are 'more im\portant
• It would, for example, sound distinctly odd to
have a tone-unit boundary between an article
and a following noun, or between auxiliary and
main verbs if they are adjacent (although we may,
on occasions, hesitate or pause in such places
within a tone-unit;
• It is interesting to note that some people who do
a lot of arguing and debating, notably politicians
and philosophers, develop the skill of pausing for
breath in such internationally unlikely places
because they are less likely to be interrupted than
if they pause at the end of a sentence).
• Tone-unit boundary placement can, then, indicate
grammatical structure to the listener and we can
find minimal pairs such as the following:
• i) The Con'servatives who vlike the pro-posal I are
\pleased
• ii) The Convservatives I who vlike the pro-posal I
are \pleased
• The intonation makes clear the difference
between (i) "restrictive" and (ii) "non-restrictive"
relative clauses: (i) implies that only some
Conservatives like the proposal, while (ii) implies
that all the Conservatives like it.
 2-Choice of Tone
• Another grammatical function of intonation is the choice of
tone on the tonic syllable. For example rising tone is used with
questions. Simply by changing the tone from falling to raising
the possibility of changing a statement to question is created.
a-|The price is going up|
(Statement with a falling tone)
b-|The price is going up|
(Question with a rising tone)
• But speakers in Britain would be more likely to ask the
question like this:
• (Why do you want to buy it now?) 'Is the /price going -up
• It is by no means true that a rising tone is
always used for questions in English; it is quite
usual, for example, to use a falling tone with
questions beginning with one of the "wh-
question-words" like 'what', 'which', 'when',
etc.
• i) 'Did you 'park the /car
• ii) 'Where did you 'park the \ car
• However, the fall in (ii) is certainly not
obligatory, and a rise is quite often heard in
such a question. A fall is also possible in (i).
 3-Question-tags and Intonation
Still another grammatical function of intonation is related with
the use of question-tags. (e.g. 'isn't it', 'can't he', 'should she',
'won't they', etc.) Difference in falling and rising intonation
can cause difference in meanings.
a- |They are coming tomorrow| aren’t they|
(The falling tone indicates that the speaker is certain that the
information is correct and simply expects the listener to
provide confirmation)
b- |They are coming tomorrow| aren’t they|
(The rising tone indicates a lesser degree of certainty and the
question-tag functions more like a request for information)
• The difference illustrated here could
reasonably be said to be as much attitudinal
as grammatical. Certainly there is overlap
between these two functions.
 The discourse function of intonation
• If we think of linguistic analysis as usually being
linked to the sentence as the maximum unit of
grammar, then the study of discourse attempts to
look at the larger contexts in which sentences
occur. For example, consider the four sentences
in the following:
• A: Have you got any free time this morning?
• B: I might have later on if that meeting's off.
• A: They were talking about putting it later.
• B: You can't be sure.
• Each sentence could be studied in isolation and
be analysed in terms of grammatical
construction, lexical content, and so on. But it is
clear that the sentences form part of some larger
act of conversational interaction between two
speakers; the sentences contain several
references that presuppose shared knowledge
(e.g. 'that meeting' implies that both speakers
know which meeting is being spoken about), and
in some cases the meaning of a sentence can only
be correctly interpreted in the light of knowledge
of what has preceded it in the conversation (e.g.
'You can't be sure').
• If we consider how intonation may be studied
in relation to discourse, we can identify two
main areas: one of them is the use of
intonation to focus the listener's attention on
aspects of the message that are most
important, and the other is concerned with
the regulation of conversational behaviour.
We will look at these in turn.
 THE DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS OF
INTONATION

Intonation can signal to the listener what is to

be taken as “new” information and what is
already “given”. It can indicate when the
speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or
link with material in another tone unit. In
conversation it can convey to the listener what
kind of response is being expected from him.
 1-Attention focusing

In case of attention focusing, tonic stress is

placed on the appropriate syllable of one
particular word in the tone unit. In many
cases it is easy to demonstrate that the tonic
stress is placed on the word that is in some
sense the "most important",

• a-|She went to Scotland|

• b-|He went to the drawing-room|
 2-Information Content
Sometimes the stress is placed on syllables in
terms of “information content”. The more
predictable a words occurrence in a given
sentence, the lower its information content
will be. Tonic stress will be placed on words
with high information content.
a- |I have to take the dog for a walk|
b- |I have to take the dog to the vet|
• The word 'vet' is less predictable (has a higher
information content) than 'walk'.
• Your coat's on fire The wing's breaking up
• The radio's gone wrong Your uncle's died
 Exceptions
In many cases it is still difficult to explain the
tonic placement in terms of “importance” or
“information”. For example in the following
sentences
a- | Your coat is on fire|
b- | The wing is breaking up|
Your uncle's died
• probably the majority of English speakers
would place the tonic stress on the subject
noun, although it is difficult to see how this is
more important than the last lexical word in
each of the sentences. The placement of tonic
stress is still to some extent an unsolved
mystery; it is clear, however, that it is at least
partly determined by the larger context
(linguistic and non-linguistic) in which the
tone-unit occurs.
• We can see at least two other ways in which intonation
can assist in focusing attention. The tone chosen can
indicate whether the tone-unit in which it occurs is
being used to present new information or to refer to
information which is felt to be already possessed by
speaker and hearer. For example, in the following
sentence:
• 'Since the vlast time we .met | 'when we 'had that
'huge vdinner | Ive ,been on a \diet
• the first two tone-units present information which is
relevant to what the speaker is saying, but which is not
something new and unknown to the listener.
 CONCLUSION
The mentioned outlined intonation patterns are certainly not
obligatory. The risk with these approaches is that one might
end up making generalizations that are too broad and will
have little power to predict with accuracy the intonation that
a speaker will use in a particular context. Moreover
generalizations like these are very broad and foreign learners
do not find it easy to learn to use intonation through studying
them. An intonation function is perhaps the most
controversial topic relating to phonetics and so it is not
possible to draw any definite sketch regarding it.
• Working on pronunciation and intonation is
hard work that requires perseverance and
patience. Intonation patterns are especially
difficult to master. A good ear helps a lot, so
train your skills by listening and repeating,
reciting English poems, and singing songs in
English as often as you can.
 Practice
• Statements
• Betty lives in London.
• Victor works at a bank.
• I haven't read this book.
• We went to the theater yesterday.

• Betty lives in \London.

• Victor works at a \bank.
• I haven't read this \book.
• We went to the theater \yesterday.
• Special questions (wh questions)
• What is his name?
• Where does he live?
• When did you call him?
• Why are you late?
• Special questions
• What is his \name?
• Where does he \live?
• When did you \call him?
• Why are you \late?
• General questions
• Do you visit them /often?
• Have you seen my /keys?
• Are you ready to /start?
• Could you give me a /pen, please?

• General questions
• Do you visit them /often?
• Have you seen my /keys?
• Are you ready to /start?
• Could you give me a /pen, please?
• Alternative questions
• Do you want coffee or tea?
• Does he speak English or German?

• Alternative questions
• Do you want /coffee or \tea?
• Does he speak /English or \German?
• Tag questions
• It's a beautiful town, isn't it?
• She knows him, doesn't she?

• Tag questions
• It's a beautiful \town, \isn't it?
• She \knows him, /doesn't she?
• Commands
• Stop it! Sit down.
• Close your books.
• Commands
• \Stop it! Sit \down.
• Close your \books.
• Exclamatory sentences
• What a wonderful present!
• How nice of you!
• Exclamatory sentences
• What a wonderful \present!
• How \nice of you!
• Direct address
• Peter, can you help me?
• Mrs. Smith, this is Mary Brown.

• Direct address
• /Peter, can you /help me?
• Mrs. /Smith, this is Mary \Brown.
• Enumerating
• One, two, three, four, five.
• She bought bread, cheese, oranges, and
apples.
• Enumerating
• /One, /two, /three, /four, \five.
• She bought /bread, /cheese, /oranges, and
\apples.
• Introductory phrases
• If he calls, tell him about the conference,
please.
• According to his words, he was at home.
• Introductory phrases
• If he /calls, tell him about the \conference,
please.
• According to his /words, he was at \home.
• You said three o’clock, didn’t you?

– Rising
– Falling
• They’ve made a mess, haven’t they?

– ? Rising
– ? Falling
• What time shall we meet?
• ? Rising
• :-) Falling

• It’s the first on the left, isn’t it?

– :-) Rising
– ? Falling
• Jamie and Linda are getting married?

– ? Rising
– ? Falling
• You don’t know what I’m talking about, do
you?
• Rising
• ? Falling
• What did you do for lunch?

– ? Rising
– :-) Falling
• Peter’s coming to lunch?

– :-) Rising
– ? Falling