A Grammar of Spoken English Discourse - The Intonation of Increments

The Corpus and its Coding 133

idealized abstraction which, in real communicative situations, is constrained
by speakers’ need for economy. Speakers’ apprehension of their present
and individual communicative needs takes precedence over grammatical
form in determining the elements they produce. Example (24) demon-
strates the importance to the grammar of the Ø symbol in detailing the
movement from initial state to target state.

(24) preyed on whatever reactionary elements there

Ø V'PHR d e N+ N

=INT2 INT3 INT4

are to boost it

V V' N(#)

INT5 TS

The Ø coding allows the analyst to code that the speakers’ production of the
V’PHR element preyed on signals to the hearer that the speaker, in the context
of the utterance, has modifi ed the existing set of circumstances; the incre-
ment is in the same state it would have been had the speaker produced the
elided NV elements. Without the incorporation of the Ø symbol example
(24) would be incapable of forming an increment and could represent no
more than an extension of the previous increment. This would have the
unfortunate consequence of making some increments too long to be of much
use in contributing to the overall achievement of the speaker’s purpose.

(25) it’ s my intention to leave the G8 within the next couple of hours

N V d N+ V' d N P+ d e e P dº N (#)

and go down to London

c Ø V' A+ P N (#)

and get a report face to face with the police

c Ø V' d N phr P d N

and the emergency services and the ministers that have been

c d N c d N W V V'

dealing with this

V' P N(#)

and then to return later this evening

c a Ø V' A d N (#)