The significance of intonation in discourse 47do so as he could have done by high termination. If the first speaker chooses
to continue in the same exchange and produce a follow-up, one option is a
low key ‘thanks’, particularly if the exchange has occurred between strangers
in the street in Britain, in which case the item would serve simultaneously
to acknowledge receipt of the information and to terminate the encounter.
(In the United States, one would expect a mid or even high termination
‘thanks’, allowing for or even constraining, the ‘you’re welcome’, ‘sure’,
‘OK’ which almost invariably follows.) If the exchange had occurred during
a longish interaction, the acknowledging function could equally well have
been realized by ‘mm’, a repetition, ‘three o’clock’ or an equative reformulation,
‘time to go’.
Form and function
We can now use these observations on the significance of pitch concord
to explain one of the major puzzles in discourse analysis: why are some
items which are declarative or moodless in form taken to be questioning
in function?
Following example (34), we discussed the possibilities for the follow-
up; options we did not discuss were those in which the speaker ends in
mid or high termination, rather than low. The exchange could have ended
as in (34a), and the message would have been ‘I take “three o’clock” as
equivalent in meaning in this context to “time to go” (indicated by choice
of low key), and I assume you will agree’ (mid termination predicting mid
key ‘yes, I agree’):
34a A: Have you got the time?
B: It’s three o’clock.
A: // TIME to GO //
Another alternative would be (34b), and this time the speaker is heard as
both adding the information that he considers ‘three o’clock’ to be ‘time
to go’ and asking for positive confirmation in the form of a ‘yes/no’
response.
34b A: // TIME toGO //
We can see the difference that termination choice makes in the following
two extracts from a doctor/patient interview: in (35), the repetition with low
termination is heard as exchange final; in (36), the repeated item with high
termination is heard as eliciting.
35 D: How long have you had these for?
P: Well I had them a week last Wednesday.
D: // a WEEK last WEDnesday //
D: // HOW many atTACKS have you HAD //