Alan Cruttenden

Belfast intonation and the myth of the fall

The type of analysis best suited to intonation (what Stockwell, 1972, calls the ‘representation’ question) is not under discussion in this article. In order to save taking up space with such analytical preliminaries, Belfast intonation is described in this article largely in a framework similar to that of Halliday (1967). We describe firstly the forms of intonation in that dialect; then the use of such forms; and end with some implications for linguistics in general. The analysis is based on recordings of the speech of an educated speaker of an urban Anglo-Irish dialect of Belfast. The main findings were checked by reference to a second speaker of the same dialect.

Item-Learning and System-Learning

Phonological and grammatical analyses of child language have concentrated on finding a system in the childs production or in its relationship to the adult target. This paper suggests that a stage of item-learning applies at various levels of language (phonology, intonation, morphology and syntax, and semantics) before a stage of system-learning. System-learning may involve segmentation and subsequent substitution; the separation of two simultaneously operating systems; or the pairing of a set of referents with one form.

English sentence adverbials: Their syntax and their intonation in British English

Abstract The problems of isolating sentence adverbials as a class are discussed. An attempt is then made to subcategorise adverbials to take account of their transformational relations and other syntactic characteristics. The intonation of English sentence adverbials is then considered with special reference to sentence-initial position. It is found that there are correlations between intonation and syntactic class; and that other factors conditioning choice of intonation include: the inherent semantics of the adverb; whether it modifies a sentence containing “new” or “given” information; and the attitude of the speaker. The interaction of these various factors is considered in some detail. The findings are tested against informant reaction tests.

Mancunian Intonation and Intonational Representation

There has been little systematic description of the intonation of English accents other than RP and General American. In the first part of this article the characteristics of the tones of Mancunian intonation are described together with a functional categorisation of these tones, in which a dichotomy is proposed between Open and Closed varieties. In the second part the description is related to the current model of intonation known as ToBI and the inadequacies of a representation of Mancunian tones in a standard and a modified form of ToBI are revealed. A more radical modification of the ToBI approach based on tonal features is proposed.

The Acquisition of Personal Pronouns and Language 'Simplification':

On the evidence available general tendencies in the development of personal pronouns are enumerated. Two interconnected sets of tendencies are considered in more detail together with similar tendencies in pidgins and creoles.

Phonological Procedures for Child Language.

It has often been stated by linguists {e.g. Haas, 1963) that in making phonological analyses of childrens speech it must be emphasized that at all stages of development the child has a system of his own and that it is misleading to regard his speech as “an imperfect version of adult language” (Fry, 1968, p. 19). This article suggests that over-emphasizing such viewpoints, particularly with regard to articulatory disorders, may be as unhelpful as the earlier disregard of functional factors (being “swamped by a mass of observations”) which such emphasis was intended to dispel.

Clicks and syllables in the phonology of Dama

The regional identity of a click language of Namibia, Dama, is outlined. The phonology (including tone) and the orthography of Dama are described, with special attention to the click phonemes. The (underlying) syllable structure of the language (including the position of clicks in that structure) is discussed. Finally some theoretical implications of clicks in word and syllable structure are suggested.