Prosodic correlates of communication: boundary tone choice as an instruction for message interpretation from a multilevel linguistic perspective

Abstract

A phonetico-phonological study of Spanish declaratives which integrates the description of intonation tunes together with their pragmatic interpretations in the framework of a multilevel theory of communication is absent in most intonational accounts. In this paper, we contribute with a discourse-oriented analysis of read-news speech in Spanish. Its integrated two-fold orientation in terms of the universally well-accepted intonational framework, the Autosegmental-Metrical Theory, together with another universally recognised cognitive theory of communication, Relevance Theory, reveals that boundary tones stand as a powerful phonological unit to lead subjects through a structured discourse, and a contextualised presentation of information. In addition, our multilevel model of boundary tone interpretations also accounts for the socio-cultural use of politeness together with its orientation towards the different individuals in the communicative act: the speaker, the hearer, or both.

Keywords

• Boundary tones
• discourse
• information status
• politeness
• relevance