Hilda: “The Replacement” (Ep 12, Season 2)

Task: Mark tonicity, tonality, and tone. Write a short note on each area, accounting for the
choice.

Context

Hilda is an adventurous girl who lives in Trolberg, a Norse town with magical creatures around
it. She lives with Alfur, an Elf. Elves are quite bureaucratic, and feel secure writing everything
down, filling forms, etc. Elves are also invisible to people, unless they sign a contract, that’s
why only Hilda can see them. As Alfur’s reports are unbelievable to the Elven government, he is
being replaced by another clerk.

0:10

Alfur: |1 it's ‘been another >long, |2 >eye-opening, |3 somewhat \harrowing day, |4 and I
en’joyed it °very \much. |

Tonality: The first IPs are parallel structures, an enumeration of adjectives. The last one is a
clause.
Tonicity: 1, 2 and 4 are in Broad Focus. 3 is NF: ‘somewhat’ is a word of wide denotation and is
not stressed. ‘Day’ can be considered old information or redundant.
Tone: Level tones in this case can be equivalent to tertiary stresses.
Transactional: The p tone on ‘harrowing’ indicates that Alfur projects that this is new
information. The same happens on the following clause.
Interactional: -

1:06

A: |’This is \very odd (OI)|

Tonality: This is an independent clause so it’s chunked at the beginning of the IP and at the
end.
Tonicity: This IP is in NF. The word ‘odd’ detonates the presence of OI, to be more precise, this
is physical evidence OI.
Transactional: The p tone on ‘very’ indicates that Alfur projects that this is New2 info. There is
no common ground.
Interactional: -

Hilda: |’Who are /you?|

Tonality: This is a question

Tonicity: This IP is in BF
Transactional: The r tone on ‘you’ indicates that Hilda is asking a question to check and
assumption she made; the assumption being that this new creature is not Alfur.
Interactional: The r tone indicates that Hilda is the dominant speaker in this case, since this
situation is happening in her own house.

Alfur: |1 \Yes, |2 ‘who Vare you?|

Tonality:
Tonicity: IP 1 is in BF, but IP 2 is in NF since ‘you’ is OI. Moreover, if the nucleus were to fall on
‘you’, Alfur would be asking the same as Hilda, but in this case he wants to focus on a different
part of the question.
Transactional: The r tone on ‘are’ indicates that, once again, this is a question to check a
previous assumption both Hilda and Alfur made.
Interactional: -

Alvin: |1 \Ah, |2 \Alfur! |3 You’re a\wake. |4 A \pleasure to meet you. |5 I’m \Alvin. |6 Your
re\placement|

Tonality: 1 is an interjection. 2 is a vocative at the beginning. 3, 4 and 5 are clauses.

Tonicity: 1, 2, 3, 5 and 6 are in BF. There is no presence of OI. 4 is in NF. “to meet you” is IOI
since we know that they have never met before.
Transactional: The p tone indicates that Alvin projects that this is New2 info. There is no
common ground.
Interactional: Alvin is showing divergence.

2:06

Alf: |1My re/placement? |2 ‘I am ‘not being re\placed.|

Tonality: 1 is a question and 2 is a different clause

Tonicity: All of the IPs are in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: Alfur is using a r tone in order to check what Alvin said before.
Interactional: -

Alv: |1˄Oh, |2 you’ve Vbeen replaced.|

Tonality: 1 is an interjection and the rest is a clause (statement).

Tonicity: 1 is in BF. There is no presence of OI. 2 is in NF since “replaced” is VOI.
Transactional: The r tone on “been” indicates that this information belongs on the common
ground. One can see that Alfur has been replaced.
Interactional: -

2:40

Alv: |1 You’ll ‘see I °already took the \liberty |2 of ‘packing your /belongings.|

Tonality: Long grammatical units

Tonicity: All of the IPs are in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: Alvin uses 2 types of tone: the p tone on ‘liberty’ indicates that he projects this
as new2 info. The r tone is used to show that this information is shared, it belongs to the
common ground since we can all see the bags and suitcases.
Interactional: With the use of a r+ tone, Alvin is showing dominance over the situation.
Alf: |1 And ‘moving /in |2 your ‘own \ones, |3 I Vsee.|

Tonality: 1 and 2 are long grammatical units. 3 is a different clause.

Tonicity: All of the IPs are in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: Alfur uses 2 types of tone: the p tone on ‘ones’ indicates that he projects this as
new2 info. The r tone is used to show that this information is shared, it belongs to the common
ground since Alfur can see that his stuff are all packed up.
Interactional: -

Alv: |1 Did you ‘know you had an /animal in here?|

Tonality: This is a question

Tonicity: This IP is in BF, but since “in here” is a FCSAT (ELLIR) the nucleus falls on the
antecedent LI.
Transactional: Alvin’s question has a rising tone (r tone) since he wants to check if his
assumption about Alfur having an animal is correct.
Interactional: Alvin is using a r+ tone to show dominance over Alfur.

Alf: |1 Hey that’s a \nitten. |2 And ‘her °name is \Peppercorn|

Tonality: These are clauses

Tonicity: All of the IPs are in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: The p tone on ‘nitten’ and ‘Peppercorn’ indicates that this is new2 information.
Alfur projects this as new information since Alfred does not know what type of animal Alfred
had and his name.
Interactional: Alfur’s choice of tones in his answer (p tones) are used to show divergence and a
lack of dominance over the situation.

3:13

Alv: |1 Do you ‘really °expect us to be\lieve |2 some of the ‘crazy \claims |3 you’ve ‘made in
your /reports?|

Tonality: Long grammatical unit

Tonicity: Everything is in BF since there is no presence of OI.
Transactional: Alvin uses a p tone since he is asking a question to find out. The answer of this
question is unknown to him.
Interactional: Alvin is showing dominance by using an r+ tone. He believes he is smarter than
them because he is sure that Alfur’s reports are fake.

Hilda: |1 ’Crazy \claims?|

Tonality: This is a question

Tonicity: Everything is in BF since there is no presence of OI.
Transactional: She uses a p tone to project that her presence during those “crazy claims” is
something unknown to Alvin. Also this is a question to find out.
Interactional: Hilda is showing divergence

…
H: |1 But ‘all those °things you °mentioned °really \happened. |3 ‘I should \know, |4 ‘I was
\there|

Tonality: Different clauses

Tonicity: Everything is in BF since there is no presence of OI.
Transactional: The p tone indicates that Hilda projects this as new2 info.
Interactional: Hilda is showing divergence

4:52

H: |>Alfur, | you °can’t just Vleave|

Tonality: Vocative at the beginning. We must chunk after.

Tonicity: Every IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional:
Interactional:

Alf: |1 ’Have you ever °heard the >saying,|2 “ ’Desperation \begins |3 ‘where the °paper
°trail /ends?”|

Tonality:
Tonicity: Every IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional:
Interactional:

H: |\No|

Tonality:
Tonicity: The IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional:
Interactional:

Alf: |1 \Well, |2 it’s a ‘common ° saying °among Vmy people.|

Tonality:
Tonicity:
Transactional:
Interactional:

….

Alf: |1 I ‘believe °you °people have a Vsaying, |2 “ ‘Desperate /times |3 ‘call for °desperate
\measures.”|

Tonality:
Tonicity: Every IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional:
Interactional:

6:40

Bartell: |1 And \this |2 is \Alfur. |3 ‘Always has >been, |4 ‘always will \be.|

Tonality: This is chunked like this for emphatic purpose.

Tonicity: Every IP is in BF
Transactional: The p tone on ‘Alfur’ indicates that this information is new2 information to the
listener, since they’ve never met Alfur in person.
Interactional: Bartell is showing divergence.

10:12

Aloysius: |1 That \scoundrel |2 is /hiding in here, |3 \somewhere|

Tonality: The first IPs are chunked like that in order to topicalize, highlight the subject. The
last one is a disjunct at the end of a sentence, so we must chunk before the disjunct.
Tonicity: All of the IPs are in BF. IP 2 is still in BF but there is an ELLIR: “in here” is a FCSAT
(ELLIR).
Transactional: The p tone on ‘scoundrel’ and ‘somewhere’ indicates that Aloysius projects that
this is new information. The r tone indicate that ‘hiding’ belongs to the common ground,
hence, it is shared information.
Interactional: -

12:10

H: |1 \Jump! |2 I’ve ‘got \you!|

Tonality: We could say that 1 is a command, still both 1 and 2 are different clauses.
Tonicity: Every IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: The p tones on ‘jump’ indicates that Hilda projects this as new2 info and it
doesn’t belong on the common ground. The same happens on the following clause.
Interactional: Hilda is showing divergence.

Alv: |1 VJump? |2 Are you in/sane?|

Tonality: 1 and 2 are questions.

Tonicity: Every IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: The r tone indicates that these are questions to check. Alvin wants to check if
what Hilda said was correct since he thinks it’s dangerous or crazy. Also, he treats these as
shared info.
Interactional: In this case I think that Alvin is showing dominance by using a r+ tone because he
thinks that Hilda’s plan is rather crazy and not smart at all.
H: |1 ’Got \you! |2 \See?|

Tonality: 1 is a statement, a clause. 2 is a question tag.

Tonicity: Every IP is in BF. There is no presence of OI.
Transactional: Again, the p tone indicates that Hilda is projecting this as new2 info.
Interactional: Hilda is showing divergence.

19:50

Aloy: |I ‘must say that this ex\perience has been…|

Tonality: This is a clause

Tonicity: One cannot be 100% sure to say if this IP is in BF or NF because he was interrupted.
Transactional: The p tone on ‘experience indicates that Aloysius projects this as new2
information and it doesn’t belong on common ground.
Interactional: Aloysius is showing divergence.

H: |Ex/citing?|

Tonality: It is a question
Tonicity: The IP is in BF
Transactional: The r tone indicates that this is a question to check since Hilda assumes the type
of experience they had.
Interactional: Although Hilda is using a dominant tone, she is not showing dominance in this
case.

Aloy: |Un\nerving.|

Tonality: This is an adjectival clause

Tonicity: The IP is in BF
Transactional: The p tone on ‘unnerving’ indicates that Aloysius projects this as new2
information and it doesn’t belong on common ground.
Interactional: Aloysius is showing divergence.