7

The presentation of information

7.1 Basics

Language is not only a system of elements and relationships existing in potentia. Language is also used in context, as an exchange of information (beliefs, attitudes) between speaker and addressee. As language is used in context, alternative messages are considered, and the components of the information are hierarchized. The techniques used to manipulate information are quite heterogeneous, but they are also patterned, conventional, recurrent. Among the techniques are those that derive from the specific fact that, as language is used, the elements of language have to be presented in a linear order (and in speech, presented in time). Russian is famous for its variations in presenting information through the use of variations in word order, intonation, and lexical operators.1

7.2 Intonation

7.2.1 Basics

Each speaker has a characteristic fundamental frequency, which depends on the size of the vocal chamber. The typically smaller chamber of children and women implies a higher frequency than the larger chambers of adults and men. Speakers vary the fundamental frequency over the duration of an utterance. These variations of fundamental frequency over time result in a limited number of intonation contours, analogous for different speakers.

Over the course of an utterance, the intonation, if left to its own devices, declines gradually. It becomes possible to identify a contour when there is a noticeable change in pitch, whether a rise or fall, that departs from this gradual

1The Prague School of Linguistics, in the spirit of Saussurean structuralism, thought at first that word order was parole, while syntactic relations were langue. But it soon discovered that word order was not invented ex novo on each occasion. There are patterns; therefore word order belongs to langue. The discussion here attempts to balance the patterned character of information devices (they are constructions, or nhfafhtns) and their ability to convey quite specific messages.

Intonation, though it is obviously a feature of spoken language, may nevertheless be relevant to written language. Possibly speakers write and read written texts with a virtual intonation in mind (the intonation with which the text would be spoken).

For attempts to bring together intonation and word order, see Keijsper 1985, Yokoyama 1986.

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The presentation of information 445

downward drift. The rises and falls are usually centered on one stressed focal syllable (or focus), even if the changes spread over onto adjacent syllables. (When the focal syllable comes near the end of an intonation phrase, the contour after the focal syllable is abridged.) The word that includes the focal syllable is the locus of the semantic operation associated with a given contour. It seems sensible to follow the system articulated by E. D. Bryzgunova, which identifies an inventory of types of “intonational contour” (bynjyfwbjyyfz rjycnherwbz), written here as “IC” with a superscripted number of the focal syllable.2 Each contour can potentially be used in utterances of different kinds: in questions and imperatives (more broadly, in utterances oriented towards the addressee), in expressive functions (more broadly, utterances oriented towards the speaker), and in narrative and descriptive utterances (utterances that purport to be factual statements about the world -- utterances not oriented towards the speaker or addressee).

7.2.2 Intonation contours

The least expressive intonation contour is IC1, a modest rather than precipitous fall in the intonation contour. If there are syllables following the focal syllable, they continue the lower pitch. IC1 is the basic contour of factual assertion and narrative. The fall, if it occurs in the middle of an intonation phrase, focuses on that word. Often the fall occurs by default on the last stressed syllable in the phrase. In Xnj bltn d rbyjntf1nhf[?, the question asks simply what is happening in the theaters; theaters are not singled out as opposed to other locales.

IC2 is a significant fall in intonation linked to a stressed syllable. The shape of the contour -- falling -- is similar to that of IC1, but the focal syllable and the surrounding syllables are more marked in IC2 than in IC1. The differences are evident in, for example, the contrast of the neutral question Xnj bltn d rbyjntf1nhf[? as opposed to Xnj bltn d rbyjntf2nhf[?. In IC1, the fundamental frequency falls less than 100 Hz -- for example, from 160 Hz to 100 Hz, over the stressed vowel of rbyjntf1nhf[.3 In IC2, the fundamental frequency starts at a higher level and falls more -- for example, from 300 Hz to 200 Hz, over the stressed syllable of rbyjntf2nhf[.4

In iconic fashion, IC2 is not only more marked phonetically, it is also functionally more marked than IC1. In questions, it contrasts one element with an analogous element:

2	System and most examples derive from Bryzgunova 1972 and Bryzgunova’s contribution to the
	Academy Grammar 1980 (96--122); now SRIa 1.69--72. Hesitations about the system have been regis-
	tered by Matusevich 1976, Yokoyama 1986, Mills 1990, Schallert 1990 ([6]). Intriguing alternatives
	have been proposed by Svetozarova 1982 and Od† 1989. For a summary of what can be determined
	about historical changes in intonation, see Comrie, Stone, and Polinsky 1996:99--103.
3	Academy Grammar 1980, Fig. 23.	4 Academy Grammar 1980, Fig. 33.

446 A Reference Grammar of Russian

[1]Ybrjkfz ecnhjbkb. F ult Gt2nz ,eltn ;bnm? Nikolai has been set up. And where will Petia live?

In narrative, IC2 distinguishes one element (time, individual, event) from other comparable elements that could be expected or imagined: Z ghjcbkf dfc d dj2ctvm ‘I asked you to come at eight [specifically then, not at another time]’. In orders, it is more insistent than IC1: Pfrhj2qnt jryj! ‘Close the window! [as you seem not to have done yet]’. IC2, then, is similar to IC1, but is more exaggerated, phonetically and functionally.

In IC3, the pitch jumps up suddenly over the focal syllable. By the end of the focal syllable, the pitch begins to fall and continues to fall on further syllables to a level lower than the level before the focal syllable. The contour over the focal syllable is then not a pure rise, but a concave rise--peak--fall.

IC3 is used in various contexts. In questions, IC3 asks about polarity, for example, whether the situation of possession is true: E dfc t3cnm ghjcnjq rfhfylfi? ‘Do have an ordinary pencil [or do you not?]’, often in the face of the possibility that the answer might be otherwise: Tuj pjden Cf3if? ‘Is his name [really] Sasha [or not]?’. In expressive contexts, IC3 emphasizes the polarity of a property: J[ b uhe3,sq ;t ns! ‘Oh are you ever rude!’. As a command, IC3 is softer than IC2: Pfrhj3qnt jryj! ‘Close the window, won’t you’. In narrative and description, IC3 commonly occurs near the end of a clause and signals that the information to this point is partial; further information will follow:

[2]F njn, rnj pfgbcsdftn yfhjlyst gt3cyb, ljk;ty cjplfnm yfcnhjt2ybt gtdwfv. Anyone who records folk songs has to create an atmosphere for the singers.

In this context, IC3 is anticipatory, cataphoric.

A sentence fragment from [2] can be used to illustrate graphically the difference between IC3 (first sharp peak) and IC2 (valley), as in Fig. 7.1

IC4 is signaled by a fall in pitch over the focal syllable. The dip is followed by a rise on the focal syllable or especially on the subsequent syllables, which then remain higher than the pitch level preceding the focal syllable. In general, IC4 signals that the current information responds to the prior discourse (or to the whole surrounding discourse). It leaves open the possibility that further information will be forthcoming, but does not require it (unlike IC3). In a question, IC4 acknowledges the prior information, but extends beyond it ([3]). IC4 can be used in a series of questions, each of which contributes to a program of extracting information: Dfit b4vz? Dj4phfcn? ‘Your name? Age?’. As a response to a request or question, IC4 confirms the answer and extends it; thus, in [4], the speaker offers permission to enter, and more. As an assertion of intention, IC4 continues and responds to the prior situation ([5]):

The presentation of information 447

500
400
300		é
	p'	s'	´n	s´	n´		p'ifcám
200						j´
				zdát'
			dólzh		strΛ	én'
			n'i
100
0
				1
0			0.5		1.5		2	2.5
					Time

Fig. 7.1 . . . gt3cyb, ljk;ty cjplfnm yfcnhjt2ybt gtdwfv ([2])

[3]-- Z yt vjue1 gjt[fnm.

--F Yfnf4if?

--I can’t go.

--[I understand that.] But what about Natasha?

[4]-- Vj3;yj?

--Djqlb4nt! Ghj[jlb4nt, hfpltdf4qntcm.

--May I come in?

--Come in! Come on in [now that you’ve come, go ahead,], take your coat off.

[5]-- Ns3 yt gjtltim, / b z4 yt gjtle.

--You’re not going / and likewise I’m not going.

IC4 can be used in narrative and descriptive, as a way of filling in background that continues the prior discourse. For example, in a description of a photograph, a clause with IC4 could be used to supply additional description:

[6]Tplzn rfrbt-nj ljnjgys[ cjdthityyj vfhjr vfib4ys.

[You can see in the picture] some absolutely antediluvian cars are driving.

IC4, unlike IC3, does not demand an elaboration in the following discourse. Rather, IC4 elaborates the prior discourse.

The remaining three ICs (in the system of Bryzgunova) are all quite specific phonetically and quite expressive functionally. IC5 occurs in the construction in which a quantifier or adjective (for example, rfrj´q) comes at the front of the

448A Reference Grammar of Russian

sentence and is split from the noun it quantifies or modifies. IC5 in this construction has two focal syllables. The intonation rises on the first focal syllable (here “V5 ”). By the end of the second focus (here “V5 ”), the pitch levels off and falls, returning back to the low level before the first focal syllable.

[7]Rfrf5 z d vbht nb5 im!

Such calm there is in this world!

[8]B rfrj5 q jy ,sk bynthtcysq hfccrf5 pxbr. And what an interesting storyteller he was!

In IC6 -- for example, Rjulf6 jy ghbl=n? ‘And when [did you say you think] he will come?’ -- the pitch rises steeply on the focal syllable (Rjulf6) and may even continue to rise on the following syllable (jy). After it reaches its maximum value, as much as 150 Hz above the starting point, it remains level and high (ghbl=n). IC6 is used in content questions that ask for an answer to be repeated (D rfrj6q felbnjhbb? ‘In which auditorium [was that you said]?’), in expressive exclamations (Rfrbt z6,kjrb cgtkst! ‘What luscious apples!’), and even narrative (Dct cbcnt6vs / hf,j6nf/n / yjhvf2kmyj ‘All systems / are working / correctly’), when this expressive intonation retards the flow of narrative in non-final phrases in an expressive -- portentous, grandiose -- manner.

IC7 is an extremely sharp rise on the focal syllable (or the focal syllable and an adjacent syllable), so sudden and emphatic that the vowel is truncated by a glottal closure. It is followed by an equally precipitous fall in pitch over the following syllable(s). Consistent with the significant pitch increments, IC7 emphatically expresses the speaker’s involvement in the content, ranging over disbelief to anxiety: Rfrj7t ;fhrj! D gfkmnj [jlbv ‘How so hot! We’re going around in coats’; Z xnj7! Djn Gfdtk -- if[vfnbcn! ‘Me? Take Pavel -- now there’s a real chess player’.

It is conceivable that the core of the intonation system is simpler than the heptopartite system of Bryzgunova. The first, IC1, is a default contour. The next three -- IC2, IC3, and IC4 -- are indeed real contours with recognizable functions. The last three intonation contours (IC5, IC6, IC7) are less central than the first four, and could be derivative of, or exaggerated versions of, the others. IC7 is probably just an emphatic variant of IC3, and IC6 is reminiscent of IC4.5 IC5 is arguably not a single contour, but two contours linked in a very specific syntactic idiom ([7--8]) which, because of its syntax, has two focal syllables.

Table 7.1 schematizes the four basic contours IC1 through IC4. Intonation contours manipulate ideas -- the content of the focal word (here “x”) or possible alternatives (here “x ”). If the focal word is a noun, the ideas manipulated

5 Similarities that Bryzgunova (Academy Grammar 1980:107, passim) acknowledges. SRIa 1.69--72 omits IC7.