Modal Meaning and Usage
In statements:
grudgingly admitting, reluctantly or defensively dissenting,
contradicting, correcting, doubtful, apologetic, concerned,
warning, reproachful.
In questions:
(in echoes) astonished; otherwise pleading, interested and
concerned as well as surprised, expressing contrast.
In imperatives:
in warnings urgent with a note of reproach or concern; in
requests tentatively suggesting, polite.
In exclamations:
cordial, warm or, vice versa, scornful, protesting.
Contour 2. Stepping/High Head + Fall-Rise Divided
Modal Meaning and Usage
In statements:
appealing to the listener to continue with the topic of
conversation, expressing various implications (contrast,
regret, cordiality, apology, concern, etc.).
In questions:
appealing, expressing warmth and concern.
In imperatives:
polite, cordial, persuading (requests, warning).
In exclamations:
intensely encouraging or, vice versa, protesting.
In conversational formulas:
friendly, warm, cordial.
5. The Rising-Falling Tone-Pattern
Stepping/High Head + Rise-Fall Contour
The rising-falling tone has such a strong modal-attitudinal colouring that the overall
meaning of an utterance (intonation-group) does not depend noticeably on the type of head with
which the given tone is combined. However, the rising-falling contours with different kinds of head
will vary in the degree of expressiveness. The contour with the Stepping/High Head, clearly, is the
most ‘neutral’ one (if such a term is at all appropriate with reference to a falling-rising tune).
Falling-rising tunes with this kind of head have practically the same meaning as those without a
head. As will be seen from the contour functions the connotations imparted by the rising-falling
pattern are practically independent of the communicative type of an utterance. The exact
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connotation will only emerge from the lexical content and the context in which the utterance is
used.
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