The Discourse Function of Intonation in Central Kurdish: A Phonological Account

Twana  Saadi Hamid; Tola  Najm Taha

doi:10.25098/7.2.27

Authors

Twana Saadi Hamid College of Language, University of Sulaimani, Sulaimaniya, Iraq
Tola Najm Taha School of Language and Education, Charmo University, Sulaimaniya

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25098/7.2.27

Keywords:

Intonation, Tone, Functions of intonation, Discourse, Intonation in Discourse

Abstract

This paper looks into the Discourse Functions of Intonation in Central Kurdish ( CK henceforth). Although it is assumed that intonation is attested universally, its discourse function may differ cross-linguistically. Intonation can contribute to discourse directly and indirectly. The present study focuses on the former function which includes signalling turn-taking, topic-initiation and achieving coherence. Intonation can express some extra discourse functions such as showing interest, attention and agreement amongst the interlocutors. The Intonation tools used to add to the meaning of the utterances are usually by varying the pitch. Even though some studies examined intonation in Kurdish, to the best of the researchers’ knowledge, no study has exclusively examined the discourse functions of intonation in CK. Therefore, this paper embarks on investigating the discourse functions that intonation can convey in CK. It is found out that rising the pitch signals the start of a new topic, and lowering the pitch indicates the end of a topic. Another finding of the paper was that CK interlocutors lower the pitch, reduce loudness and lengthen the final element to signal end-of-turn whereas final high pitch is typically used in lists, and when the speaker is unwilling to give up the turn. The paper also discovers that CK speakers use intonation to achieve cohesion. Finally, the study acknowledges that the findings are only applicable in standard cases and they are not applied across the board. The unexpected interruption of conversation is a case where the rules that govern the discourse functions of intonation are violated.

References

Al-Bazzaz, S., & Qadir, S. (2016). Expressing Fear via Intonation in Kurdish with Special Reference to English. Journal of Literature, Languages and Linguistics, 20, 66-80.

Ali, T. H. (2013). Awaz u Watai Pragmatiki Gwtn. Journal of Zankoy Sulaimani-Part B / for Humanities, 43, 109-130.

Bartels, C. (2013). The intonation of English statements and questions: a compositional interpretation. New York: Routledge.

Brazil, D., Coulthard, M., & Johns, C. (1980). Discourse Intonation and Language Teaching. Essex: Longman.

Brown, G., Currie, K. L., & Kenworthy, J. (2015). Questions of Intonation (1st ed.). New York: Routledge.

Chafe, W. L. (1994). Discourse, Consciousness, and Time: The Flow and Displacement of Conscious Experience in Speaking and Writing. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Couper-Kuhlen, E., & Selting, M. (1996). Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 12: Prosody in conversation (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cruttenden, A. (1997). Intonation (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cutler, A., & Pearson, M. (1985). On the analysis of prosodic turn-taking cues. In C. Johns-Lewis (Ed.), Intonation in Discourse (pp. 139-155). London: Croom Helm.

Duncan, S., & Fiske, D. W. (1979). Face-to-Face Interaction (1st ed.). London: Routledge.

Fattah, M. M. (1997). A Generative Grammar of Kurdish. Amsterdam: Unpublished PhD Dissertation, University of Amsterdam.

Fóngay, I. (1989). On Status and Functions of Intonation. Acta Linguistica Hungarica, 39(1/4), 53-92.

French, P., & Local, J. (1986). Prosodic Features and the Management of Interruptions 1. In C. Johns-Lewis (Ed.), Intonation in Discourse (pp. 157-180). London: Routledge.

Grice, M., & Bauman, S. (2007). An introduction to intonation – functions and models. In J. Trouvain, & U. Gut (Eds.), Non-Native Prosody: Phonetic Description and Teaching Practice (pp. 25-52). Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.

Gussenhoven, C. (2004). The Phonology of Tone and Intonation (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Gussenhoven, C. (2007). Types of Focus in English. In C. Lee, M. Gordon, & D. Büring (Eds.), Topic And Focus: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives on Meaning and Intonation (pp. 83-100). Dordrecht: Springer.

Halliday, M. K., & Greaves, W. S. (2008). Intonation in the Grammar of English (1st ed.). London: Equinox Publishing.

Halliday, M., & Hasan, R. (1976). Cohesion in English. London: Longman.

Hasan, A. M. (2012). Kurdish Intonation with Reference to English. University of Ulster.

Hedberg, N., & Sosa, J. M. (2007). The Prosody of Topic and Focus in Spontaneous English Dialogue. In C. Lee, M. Gordon, & D. Büring (Eds.), Topic and Focus: Cross-Linguistic Perspectives on Meaning and Intonation (pp. 101-120). Dordrecht: Springer.

House, J. (2006). Constructing a Context with Intonation. Journal of Pragmatics, 38, 1542–1558.

Kousidis, S., Dorran, D., Mcdonnell, C., & Coyle, E. (2009). Convergence in Human DialoguesTime Series Analysis of Acoustic Feature. Dublin Institute of Technology.

Ladd, D. R. (2008). Intonational Phonology (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Leemann, A. (2012). Swiss German Intonation Patterns. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Levis, J. M., & Wichmann, A. (2015). English Intonation-Form and Meaning. In M. Reed, & J. M. Levis (Eds.), The Handbook of English Pronunciation (pp. 139-155). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Local, J., & Walker, G. (2004). Abrupt-joins as a resource for the production of multi-unit, multi-action turns. Journal of Pragmatics, 36, 1375–1403.

Martin, J. (2001). Cohesion and Texture. In D. Schiffrin, D. Tannen, & H. E. Hamilton (Eds.), The Handbook of Discourse Analysis (pp. 35-53). Oxford: Blackwell.

Musa, A. X. (2009). Hêz u Awaze le Dyalêktî Kurdî Jûrûda. Hawler: Kurdish Academy Press.

Nolan, F. (2006). Intonation. In B. Aarts, & A. McMahon (Eds.), The Handbook of English Linguistics (pp. 433-458). Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.

Nolan, F. (2006). Intonation. In B. Aarts, & A. McMahon (Eds.), The Handbook of English Linguistics (pp. 433-458). Oxford: Blackwell.

O'Connor, J. D., & Arnold, G. F. (1973). Intonation of Colloquial English: A Practical Handbook (2nd ed.). London: Longman.

Parsa, H. (2012). The Contrastive Analysis of English and Kurdish Intonation Patterns and its Effect on Kurdish-Speaking Students. (pp. 1-10). Mashhad: CONFERENCE ON LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TEACHING: AN INTERDISCIPLINARY APPROACH (LLT-IA)(Volume 1, 30-31 OCTOBER 2012).

Pierrehumbert, J. B. (1980). The phonology and phonetics of English intonation. (Doctoral dissertation, Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Qadir, S. M. (2011). The Attitudinal Function of Intonation in Kurdish with Reference to English. Sulaimani: Unpublished M.A. Thesis.

Roach, P. (2009). English Phonetics and Phonology a practical course (4th ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Schaffer, D. (1983). The role of intonation as a cue to turn-taking in conversation. Journal of Phonetics, 11, 243-257.

Selting, M. (1996). Prosody as an activity-type distinctive cue in conversation: the case of so-called 'astonished' questions in repair initiation. In E. Couper-Kuhlen, & M. Selting (Eds.), Prosody in conversation (pp. 231-270). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Swerts, M., & Veldhuis, R. (1997). Interactions Between Intonation and Glottal-Pulse Characteristics: Intonation: In Theory, Models, and Applications. Athens: ISCA-Archive.

Wells, B., & Peppe, S. (1996). Ending up in Ulster: Prosody and Turn-taking in English Dialects. In E. Couper-Kuhlen, & M. Selting (Eds.), Prosody in Conversation: Interactional Studies (pp. 101-130). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wells, J. C. (2006). English Intonation: An Introduction (1st ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wennerstrom, A. (1998). Intonation as Cohesion in Academic Discourse: A Study of Chinese Speakers of English. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 20(1), 1-25.

Wichmann, A. (2013). Intonation in Text and Discourse: Beginnings, Middles and Ends. London: Routledge.

Wichmann, A. (2015). Functions of Intonation in Discourse. In M. Reed, & J. M. Levis (Eds.), The Handbook of English Pronunciation (pp. 175-189). Oxford: Wiley Blackwell.

Wilson, M., & Wilson, T. P. (2005). An oscillator model of the timing of turn-taking. Psychonomic Bulletin and Review, 12(6), 957-968.

Xarib, D. M. (2019). Hez u Eksent le Shewezari Kerkukda. Sulaimani: Unpublished Dissertation.

Yule, G. (1980). Speakers' Topics and Major Paratones. Lingua, 52(1-2), 33-47.