Stress & Intonation (Dickins, 2008: 114)
- In spoken texts, different sentences for different purposes can be created through intonation and stress.
- Intonation patterns (falling, rising, fall-rise, high level) can result in distinct spoken sentences: a statement, question, demand, encouragement, warning, etc.
The salt. [with falling intonation: statement]
The salt? [with rising intonation: question]
The salt! [ with fall-rise intonation: demand]
The salt! [ with high, level intonation: command]
The salt. [with falling intonation: statement]
The salt? [with rising intonation: question]
The salt! [ with fall-rise intonation: demand]
The salt! [ with high, level intonation: command]
- Similarly, stress stress can express different shades of meaning.
I know that man. [neutral]
I know that man. [ I ]
I know that man. [know]
I know that man. [that]
I know than man. [man]
- In written texts, stress and intonation can be conveyed through three ways:
Punctuation [a capital letter, fullstop, comma, question/exclamation mark]
Typography [italics, capitals, bold interface]
Additional explicit information [e.g. 'she exclaimed in surprise', 'she said angrily', etc]
I know that man. [neutral]
I know that man. [ I ]
I know that man. [know]
I know that man. [that]
I know than man. [man]
- In written texts, stress and intonation can be conveyed through three ways:
Punctuation [a capital letter, fullstop, comma, question/exclamation mark]
Typography [italics, capitals, bold interface]
Additional explicit information [e.g. 'she exclaimed in surprise', 'she said angrily', etc]