140 A Grammar of Spoken English Discourse
(6) because POlicy has CHANGED in the PAST few \YEARS //
c N V V' P d e e N #
INT1 INT2 INT3 TS
[T2-Rf-3]In examples (5) and (6) we see that Rf has projected a context where the
entire increment is presented within one tone unit. Her placement of
the tonic syllable on the fi nal elements hours and years signals that these ele-
ments represent the focus of the increment (Halliday 1967: 24). Unlike
examples (3) and (4) the telling is not qualifi ed by the adverbial elements;
it is rather culminated by their articulation. It is also clear that a difference
between examples (3) and (4), and (5) and (6) is that the latter pair result
in a closing down of the discourse. Rf has told and in so doing she has
modifi ed her hearer’s cognitive environment while Bc and Dc have at least
nominally deferred to their hearers. This point will be expanded in the
following paragraphs.
Brazil’s view that the increment end-rises merely coincide with informa-
tionally redundant elements seems dubious in relation to adverbials if we
consider the possible increment presented in (7).^4
(7) // because POlicy has CHANGED in the past few years //In this case it is clear that as the adverbial elements have been placed
in post tonic position in the tail that they are projected as realizing given
information (Halliday 1967). None of the 11 readers chose this option; in
fact all 11 readers made the element years tonic indicating that for them the
adverbial element did not represent informationally redundant elements
which are formally required for the workings of the chains.
There were 28 increment fi nal fall-rises which coincided with tone units
containing nominal or verbal elements for example, (8) and (9).
(8) in other \↑WORDS // PEOple werent goVERned
phr dº N V V'
INT1 INT2 INT2
EIther by reLIGious fa\NAtics // or SEcular dic/↓TAtors //
A+ P dº e N c dº e N #
INT3 INT4 TS
[T2-Rf-27]