228 Advances in spoken discourse analysis
The difference between the low and mid key choices is that the former
attributes knowledge of the equivalence to the hearer while the latter makes
no such attribution. Once more, the reading we have errs on the side of
explicitness: it works against probability by not taking an aspect of speaker/
hearer understanding for granted.
Let us now consider the first reading, the act of dictation.
//o supPORters CLASHED //o DURing PLAY //o at the NATional STAdium
//o HERE toDAY //
There is an obvious need to give the colleague time to take down the copy
so the division into short tone units with level tones and pauses between is
fairly predictable. If we focus upon prominence distribution, we find we
have a performance of the kind we have associated with minimal engagement:
all the content words, and only the content words, have prominent syllables.
This version and the news item version are not identical in non-intonational
ways, but we can make a comparison between
//o at the NATional STAdium //o HERE to DAY //and
//r+ at the NATional stadium in NIBlitz today //The journalist is not telling his colleague what happened but what to write
down, and orientation towards language rather than sense reduces the likelihood
of engagement as we have understood it. This stance is not consistently
maintained, however:
//o WHEN ENGland //r played their WORLD CUP match
//o against the PRESent cup holders //p ruriTANia //We can safely assume that the colleague knows, in a general way, what this
report is going to be about. The change to what seems like fully engaged
mode in the second tone unit of this extract is therefore not surprising. Notice
that the referring tone implies that this part of the message will be predictable,
and the allocation of prominence is in accordance with a tenable view of the
state of understanding: two of the content words, played and match have their
non-selective status acknowledged. The next tone unit has level tone. It is
otherwise identical with the corresponding tone unit in the news item:
//r against the PRESent cup holders //This represents a degree of engagement that we have called Stage 2: the speaker
makes no decision with respect to the proclaiming/referring opposition, but distributes
prominence in a way which implies an understanding about what will, and will
not, be selective. There follows of stretch of minimally engaged speech:
//o ENGland //o had HELD the CHAMpions //o to ONE ONE
//o until HALF TIME //o but SOON //o after PLAY //o was reSUMED
//o a PENalty //o was aWARDed //p aGAINST them //