Intonation: A Distinctive Parameter in Grammatical Constructions

Abstract

Abstract If intonation and syntactic form are independent of each other, as it is generally assumed, then we would expect that a particular sentence pattern would be assigned any number of distinct tunes on separate readings. An experiment with subjects reading aloud contextualized sentences in Finnish revealed, however, strong default relations between syntax and intonation. Another common assumption is that F₀ height is a metalinguistic variable that does not express linguistic contrasts but only various degrees of emphasis. The results here indicate that neutral declarative contours are statistically significantly different from qualitatively identical tunes with a final focus and these statistical differences coincide with semantic differences in the sentences. The conclusion is that grammatical constructions, as fundamental linguistic categories, may count intonation as one of their formal parameters.