A functional description of questions 105In all of the above arrowed utterances, the declarative, or the declarative
associated with the interrogative, expresses what the speaker assumes to be
true and the speaker is inviting the addressee to confirm that his assumption
is true.
In (39) and (40) the rising tag invites the addressee to confirm the speaker’s
assumption. The arrowed utterances in (41) and (42) are declarative in form,
with the former spoken with a falling tone (p) and the latter in rising tone
(r+). In both cases, the addressee has better knowledge of the subject matter
than the speaker. Hence they realize the function of seeking confirmation
from the addressee. If it were vice versa, (41) would realize the function of
giving information and (42) would realize the function of seeking confirmation
that the addressee knows which building the speaker is referring to. The
following is an example of the latter.
45 (B:A:A:1)
H: //p HEY //p i i forGOT something //p i HAVE to go to
LUNCH today //p with ALice // ((laughs)) //o to SEE the //p YOU
know //o THE //
X: ((laughs))
H: //p the ah VIDeotape //r+ of that SHOW //r+ we DID at the
hoTEL //
X: Yup, yup.
Here, H seeks confirmation from X that he knows which videotape he is
referring to.
Hence, the discourse function of an utterance depends not only on the
intonation, but also on the situation and who knows what (see Brazil 1985).
However, it should be noted that the context of situation does not always
help to disambiguate the discourse function. For example,
46 (Coulthard and Brazil 1981:84)
A: So the meeting’s on Friday.
B: Thanks.
A: No I’m asking you.
In cases like this, the discourse function of the utterance will only be
disambiguated as the discourse unfolds.
E’s utterance in (43) is a negative polar interrogative. According to
Quirk et al., ‘negative questions’ have a negative orientation: they are
biased towards a negative answer. However, E’s utterance is not negatively
conducive. Quite the contrary, it prospects a positive response confirming
the speaker’s assumption that Yevtushenko did write a poem. Whether a
negative polar interrogative is positively or negatively conducive depends
on the context. For example, if A, upon seeing B still in bed at eleven in
the morning, says ‘Don’t you have lectures today?’ then the expected
answer to the utterance is obviously negative. A positive answer would be
contrary to the expectation.