title: Intonation in discourse analysis. With material from Finnish, English, Alemannic German.
abstract: 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.
mesh_terms: D004739:England; D005387:Finland; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D010700:Phonetics; D012660:Semantics; D013060:Speech; D014705:Verbal Behavior