Functions of intonation

We looked at the attitudinal function of intonation. We now turn to the accentual, grammatical and discourse functions.

The accentual function of intonation

The term accentual is derived from "accent", a word used by some writers to refer to what in this course is called "stress". When writers say that intonation has accentual function they imply that the placement of stress is something that is determined by intonation. It is possible to argue against this view: word stress is presented as something quite independent of intonation, and subsequently (p. 140) it was said that "intonation is carried entirely by the stressed syllables of a tone-unit". This means that the presentation so far has implied that the placing of stress is independent of and prior to the choice of intonation. However, one particular aspect of stress could be regarded as part of intonation: this is the placement of the tonic stress within the tone- unit. It would be reasonable to suggest that while word stress is independent of intonation, the placement of tonic stress is a function (the accentual function) of intonation. Some older pronunciation handbooks refer to this function as "sentence stress", which is not an appropriate name: the sentence is a unit of grammar, while the location of tonic stress is a matter which concerns the tone unit, a unit of phonology.

The location of the tonic syllable is of considerable linguistic importance. The most common position for this is on the last lexical word (e.g. noun, adjective, verb, adverb as distinct from the function words) of the tone-unit. For contras- tive purposes, however, any word may become the bearer of the tonic syllable. It is frequently said that the placement of the tonic syllable indicates the focus of the information. In the following pairs of examples, (i) represents normal placement and (ii) contrastive:

i) I .want to .know ,where hes travelling to

(The word 'to' at the end of the sentence, being a preposition and not a lexical word, is not stressed.)

ii) (I 'dont want to 'know 'where hes 'travelling vfrom)

I .want to .know .where hes .travelling o

i) She was 'wearing a 'red dress

ii) (She 'wasnt 'wearing a vgreen -dress) I She was .wearing a ed -dress

Similarly, for the purpose of emphasis we may place the tonic stress in other positions; in these examples, (i) is non-emphatic and (ii) is emphatic:

i) It was 'very oring

ii) It was very -boring

i) You 'mustnt 'talk so loudly

ii) You mustnt -talk so -loudly

However, it would be wrong to say that the only cases of departure from putting tonic stress on the last lexical word were cases of contrast or emphasis. There are quite a few situations where it is normal for the tonic syllable to come earlier in the tone-unit. A well- known example is the sentence T have plans to leave'; this is ambiguous:

i) I have 'plans to leave

(i.e. I am planning to leave)

ii) I have plans to -leave

(i.e. I have some plans/diagrams/drawings that I have to leave)

Version (ii) could not be described as contrastive or emphatic. There are many examples similar to (ii); perhaps the best rule to give is that the tonic syllable will tend to occur on the last lexical word in the tone-unit, but may be placed earlier in the tone-unit if there is a word there with greater importance to what is being said. This can quite often happen as a result of the last part of the tone-unit being already "given" (i.e. something which has already been mentioned or is completely predictable); for example:

i) 'Heres that book you -asked me to -bring

(The fact that you asked me to bring it is not new)

ii) Ive 'got to 'take the dog for a -walk

('For a walk' is by far the most probable thing to follow 'I've got to take the dog'; if the sentence ended with 'to the vet' the tonic syllable would probably be 'vet')

Placement of tonic stress is, therefore, important and is closely linked to intonation. A question that remains, however, is whether one can and should treat this matter as separate from the other functions described below.