The semantic function of the nucleus. Emphatic and unemphatic speech

Nuclear tones may express the attitudes of a speaker to what he / she says. So nuclei can perform certain semantic function. The meanings of the nuclear tones are difficult to specify. A falling-rising tone may combine the meaning of “certainty” with the meaning of “incompleteness”. As for rising-falling and rising-falling-rising tones, they add refinement to speech, that is why they are not considered absolutely essential tones for the foreign learner to acquire. Low-Level tone is very characteristic of reading poetry and Mid-Level tone is particularly common in spontaneous speech functionally replacing the rising tone.

In the table below you will find some generalized meanings of principal nuclear tones and attitudes they may express.

Nucleus	Generalized meaning	Possible attitudes
Low Fall	finalality, categoricity, completeness, certainty, independence	neutral or grim I ̖know him.
High Fall	lively interest, personal concern I `know him.
Rise Fall	surprise, delight I ̂know him.
Low Rise	non-finality, incompleteness, uncertainty, dependence		hesitation, disbelief, lack of interest I ̗know him.


(may bear different implications in different situations)
High Rise		asking for repetition, searching for information I ́know him.
Fall-Rise	warning, apology I ̌know him.
Rise-Fall-Rise	optimism, enthusiasm Do you ~know him? - Yes.
Level	uncertainty, indifference I >know him.

It is interesting to trace how the implication in the following sentences is changing with the change of the nuclear tone:

־What’s your ̖name? (= Tell me your name, I’ll put it down.) – formal, unemotional

־What’s your ̗name? (=You see, I’m friendly to you, do trust me…) – warm, sympathetic

־What’s your ́name? (=Sorry, I didn’t catch your name, will you repeat it, please?) – asking for repetition:

Thus, we should stress the idea that intonation is more than just the melody of speech. It can express the attitude of the speaker but it can also contribute to the actual meaning of an utterance. As that, intonation also carries important semantic functions and it’s important to be aware of the strong link between intonation and attitude, even if it’s difficult to provide rules here.

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.005 сек.