A Review of A Grammar of Speech 17
end-falling tones or end-rising tones depending on their understanding of
the state of shared speaker-hearer convergence. If a speaker introduces
content into the discourse which he/she believes to be outside the existing
state of shared speaker-hearer convergence, he/she selects end-falling tone.
On the other hand, if the speaker believes that the content introduced into
the discourse is already part of the shared state of speaker-hearer state of
convergence, he/she selects end-rising tone. Brazil labelled end-falling
tone, which is realized as a fall or rarely as rise-fall, proclaiming (P) tone
and end-rising tone, which is realized as either a fall-rise or rise, as referring
(R) tone. Brazil (1987: 150) states that for an increment to have the
potential to tell it must contain at least one proclaiming tone unit (p. 254).
Examples (3) to (5) all tell and are potential telling increments.
(3) // P i SAW JOHN in town //
(4) // P i SAW JOHN // R in TOWN //
(5) // R i SAW JOHN // P in TOWN //He states that referring tone labels the tone unit as not intended to change
the existing informational status quo (1987: 149), and so examples (6) and
(7) cannot tell.
(6) // R i SAW JOHN in town //
(7) // R i SAW JOHN // in town //
(8) // R i SAW JOHN // IN town...Example (8) is a referring tone unit followed by an incomplete tone unit
which Brazil (1997: 148) describes as a manifestation of the speaker’s
moment to moment diffi culties in employing his/her linguistic resources.
Incomplete tone units, by defi nition, are in themselves incapable of telling;
therefore examples (6) to (8) are not potential telling increments.
Example (9), as Brazil (1987: 151) concedes, complicates the description
slightly.
(9) // P i SAW JOHN // P in TOWN //#The fi rst proclaiming tone unit, while altering the hearer’s world view, does
not, in the speaker’s view, tell the hearer all that needs to be told. The fact
of seeing John, while signifi cant, does not in the context of interaction satisfy
the hearer’s communicative need, which is to be told both who was seen
and where the person was seen. The speaker is obliged to produce the