engleski

From Intonation to Meaning (Examples of Functional Words)

Functional grammar, the one based on (real) language usage, presenting the structure through the network of semantic relationships, can be best analyzed via functional words. Their symbolic and semantic features are deciphered in usage, speech, prosody. The grammar description of functional words (esp. particles and exclamations) is focused on the meaning component, while more complex meanings are realized in speech, at the suprasegmental level. Linguistic rules (framework) regarding their pronunciation have been determined by the speech community. The analysis of contemporary dictionaries and grammar books of the standard Croatian language has shown that the semantic framework of functional words covers a very small number of domains (language changes in the communication context have recently been ascribed their entries in normative handbooks), so this paper searches for the secondary domains of functional words in order to provide a more complete grammar and semantic description. There will be, thus, analyzed their semantics related to utterances from which all meanings are determined. These are not uniquely described in lexicographic handbooks, particularly when it is considered that the focus is on their semantics, while prosody is mostly (or completely) neglected although both are definitely interwoven in functional words (e.g. intonation is important for exclamations and leads to different meanings). Despite the fact that functional words (to be discussed here) are primarily used in the conversation discourse, they can be also found in “stronger” spoken discourse types. This paper tries to provide solutions towards a more systematic description of such words in dictionaries and grammar books, the ones that are conditioned by prosody, after their different meanings and domains have been determined. Since intonation is still insufficiently and unsystematically described, the previous descriptions will be also questioned. For instance, ne (no) used to denote a negative meaning can have falling, rising and flat intonation ; consequently, negative answers can be graded. Another example refers to the exclamation represented by the phoneme /o/ which can mean: ‘surprise (positive or negative)’, ‘disappointment’, ‘enthusiasm’, ‘sympathy’, ‘effeminacy’, ‘arrival greeting, ‘disagreement’’ (“Oh, this is not possible!”), ‘emotional or intellectual ennui’ (“Oh, don’t!”, “Oh, not again!”). The exclamation expressed by the phoneme sequence /ah/ can reveal the following meanings: ‘despise’, ‘surprise (positive or negative)’, ‘disappointment’, ‘physical or psychological pain’, ’consideration of something irrelevant or unworthy of attention’. Each of these meanings is constructed due to adequate intonation patterns. The aim is to suggest a systematic approach to the description of meanings of (non-content) functional words in the standard Croatian language handbooks, based on the methodology of cognitive semantics. There will be used the semantic framework within cognitive linguistics research into a different category of non-content words (demonstratives), with regard to differences between fast and slow semantic processes (see Gärdenfors 2000 ; Gärdenfors & Brala-Vukanović 2017).

Intonation, Meaning, Functional Words, Prosody

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