A Grammar of Spoken English Discourse - The Intonation of Increments

The Psychological Foundations of the Grammar 71

and variable which is:

(the) semantic material to which speakers apply one of a number of

manipulations with respect to the Background. (ibid. 22)

According to Gussenhoven’s theory, speakers do three things with the
variable. They add the variable to the background (V-addition), they select a
variable from the background (V-selection), or they leave it up to the hearer
to decide whether the variable has been added to or selected from the
background (V-relevance testing).
Tone choice labels the speaker’s contribution as V-addition, V-selection or
V-relevance testing. Gussenhoven proposes an intonational lexicon compris-
ing three primary tones: the fall, the fall-rise and the rise. To exemplify his
taxonomy he presents three examples:

(32) The ↓HOUSE is on fi re

(33) The ↓ ↓HOUSE is on fi re

(34) The ↓HOUSE is on fi re

Gussenhoven claims (32) labels the speaker’s contribution as intended to
update the hearer’s background; the speaker adds a variable to the back-
ground and tells the hearer that the house is on fi re. (33) exemplifi es selec-
tion of a variable from the background and the speaker’s meaning is
paraphrased by Gussenhoven as ‘I want you to take note of the fact that
the house is on fi re is part of our Background’ (ibid 19). Gussenhoven
(2004: 299; 1983: 20 and 202) states that V-addition and V-selection corres-
pond to Brazil’s proclaiming and referring tones respectively.^21
Example (34), according to Gussenhoven, labels the speaker’s contribu-
tion as leaving it up to the hearer to determine if the utterance is already
part of the background or if it is to be added to the background. Rising
tone signals that the speaker is unsure whether or not the hearer is aware
that the house was on fi re. He calls this V-relevance testing.^22 This claim is
clearly distinct from Brazil who groups the rise and the fall-rise as referring
tones. It appears that the most likely occurrence of (34) is as an echo
question. Consider:

(35) A is B’s son. He is also a pyromaniac. A meets B in town and says:

A: // ↓the HOUSE is on fi re //

B: // ↓the HOUSE is on fi re //