152 A Grammar of Spoken English Discourse
engaged. Examples (16–18) are representative illustrations of disengaged
level tone.
(16) –ERM // in the \SENSE // that you \LOOK at // what is
ex p d n w n vphr W V
\/HAPpening in the middle east // and WHAT is \/HAPpening in
V' p d N c W V V' P
iraq // and LEbanon and \/PAlestine // [T2-Bc-43]
N c N c N #In (16) the presence of the initial tone unit with level tone signals that Bc
was momentarily disengaged from satisfying a communicative need. He was
instead focusing on the linguistic message as form rather than as commun-
icative content in order to presumably interpret the reading himself so that
he could project it to suit his communicative needs. The presence of the
marked tonality choices on the immediately following tone unit coupled
with a falling tone indicates that the speaker switched from oblique to direct
discourse during the articulation of the second tone unit of example (16).
(17) there will be –↑TIME // to... to TALK \LAter about this //
N V V' E (p) V' A+ P N (#)
[T2-Jt-19]In (17) as in (16) the initial tone unit of the increment contains a level tone.
However, unlike in (16) the level tone tone unit contains elements which are
formally required to complete the grammatical chain. The presence of the
level tone followed in the next tone unit by a repeated lexical element and a
tone unit internal pause signals Jt’s disengagement from the communicative
context. Like Bc in (16) he is focusing on the form of the text and not on the
message. It is only after the tone unit internal pause and the repetition of
the element to that Jt re-engages with the communicative situation.
(18) and ↑THAT S /WHY // we HAVE the ISsue –THERE // and THAT S
c N V W N V d N A c N V
why the taleban... –TAleban // are TRYing to COME back in
W d (N)... N V V' PHRV' P
af\↓GHANistan // [T2-Bs-39]
N #