Intonation in discourse analysis. With material from Finnish, English, Alemannic German.
OBJECTIVE
intonation is not additional, but essential to the composition of texts.


BACKGROUND
even pathological (written) texts can be made to sound normal when read with a good intonation; even well-formed (written) texts cannot be put across when read with a poor intonation; loss of intonation, in aphasia, is coupled with inability to handle texts, and inversely.


BACKGROUND
intonation is analysed either as phonological pattern or as a constituent of texts. The lexical meaning of intonations (such as question, statement) is spurious; social tradition makes available certain (spoken) rhetorical topoi for use in standard situations; their use ensures textual meaning. It is not predictable in any given instance.
D004739:England; D005387:Finland; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D010700:Phonetics; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech; D014705:Verbal Behavior