TONALITY:

CHUNKING OR DIVISION
INTO IPS
 SIGNALLING THE STRUCTURE
Essentially, the intonation structure reflects the grammatical
structure.
An intonation break generally corresponds to a syntactic
boundary.
We also use intonation breaks to signal the boundaries of
parenthetic material within a larger structure.
 TONALITY CAN DESAMBIGUATE STRUCTURE
The presence or absence of intonation breaks as well as their location can desambiguate a grammatical
structure.
Let’s see some examples

Example 1

(1) ‘Help keep the dog off! (=help to keep the dog off.)
(2) ‘Help! I ‘Keep the dog off!’ (=I ask for help! Keep the dog off.)

Example 2
‘Do you like Durian fruit?’
(1) ‘I’m sorry, I I don’t know’. (= I have never tried it).
(2) ‘I’m sorry, I I don’t I no’. (= I don’t like it).

Example 3
(3) ‘You can have cheese I salad I or quiche’ (= the list consists of 3 possibilities)
(4) ‘You can have cheese salad I or quiche’ (= the list consists of 2 possibilities)
 TONALITY LOCATION CAN RESOLVE
POSSIBLE AMBIGUITY

The location of an intonation break can resolve a possible ambiguity.

Let’s see an example:

(1) ‘The competitors who finished I first received a goody bag.’

(2) ‘The competitors who finished first I received a goody bag.’

What’s the difference in meaning between statement (1) and (2)?

In statement (1) ALL competitors got a goody-bag
first and then perhaps they were given a sandwich or
a drink.

In statement (2) ONLY THE FRONT RUNNERS

got the goody-bag, not those who finished later.
 EXERCISE
Decide what are the possible intonation breaks in each case
and how each version changes the meaning of the sentence.

(1)What would you like on your toast honey?

(2) What have you got on your sweater?
(3) Those who spoke quickly got an angry response.
(4) The Swedes say the Danes drink too much.
 CHOOSING THE SIZE OF THE
CHUNKS
Each intonation phrase (IP) presents one piece of information. the speaker has to break the
message up into chunks of information and has considerable freedom of choice in how to
do so. An utterance, or a speaker’s turn in a conversation, may consist of one or many IPs.

The chunks also reflect the speaker’s decisions about FOCUS. Each IP covers a single
focus domain and the associated out-of-focus material.

Let’s see an example:

(1)I think you’ve made good progress this year.

(2) I think you’ve made good progress I this year.
(3) I think I you’ve made good progress I this year.
In the first utterance the focus domain is ‘good progress’ and the associated out-of-
focus material is ‘I think you’ve made’ and ‘this year’. The whole thing is a single
IP.

In the second utterance the speaker has decided to place additional focus on ‘this
year’ perhaps to imply a difference between this year and the last one. Therefore,
there are 2 IPs.

Finally in the third utterance the speaker also wants to place focus on ‘I’ perhaps to
imply a contrast between what he/she thinks and what other people think.
Therefore, there are 3 IPs.
The size of an IP is linked to the decisions the speaker makes about
how many words, and therefore how many syllables to accent and
emphasize.
IPs tend to be longer and have more accents in scripted material
and in material read aloud. In spontaneous conversation they tend
to be shorter, with fewer accents. This may be because the IP is not
only the basic chunk for intonation purposes but also the basic chunk
for mental planning.
Tonality thus varies considerably according to the style of speech.
 CHUNKING AND GRAMMAR
There are some strong tendencies exerted by the grammar over tonality.
Some components of syntactic structure are more likely than others to be made into separate
IPs, set off by intonation breaks.
(1)There is normally an intonation break at every sentence boundary. This is a major break
(II) more important than the intonation breaks within a sentence. E.g. ‘That’s the end of
part one II In part two I we shall study …
(2) A second basic rule is that each clause tends to be said as a separate IP. E.g. ‘First take
the lid off I and then unscrew the base’ II
(3) If a new sentence involves a change of grammatical subject, the subject tends to have its
own IP. E.g. ‘We’ll arrive about ten II The children I can come along later’ II
(4) There is usually an intonation break between coordinate clauses. E.g. ‘He turned
round I and a strange sight confronted him’ II
(5) If the subject of coordinate clauses is ellipted, there is usually no intonation break.
E.g. ‘She was sitting and singing’ II
(6) Where the object or some other complement is ellipted there is usually no
intonation break after the first verb, providing the subject is unchanged. E.g. ‘I
washed and ironed the clothes.’
(7) In coordinate clauses with different subjects and verbs but an ellipted object an
intonation break after each of the verbs is virtually compulsory. E.g. Mary has
prepared I and we’ve all just eaten I a delicious meal.
 EXERCISE

Decide what has been ellipted in each of the following. In which is an intonation break
necessary? (E4.3.1)

1- James has been walking and cycling.

2- Henry has written and performed a new monologue.
3- Nick has written, and Jeremy has revised, an account of the events.
4- I’m going to clean and repaint the bathroom.