An investigation into modality expressions in english film subtitles and their corresponding expr

THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

LÊ VƯƠNG SONG HÀ

AN INVESTIGATION INTO MODALITY EXPRESSIONS
IN ENGLISH FILM SUBTITLES AND THEIR
CORRESPONDING EXPRESSIONS IN THE VIETNAMESE

MASTER THESIS IN
LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF
FOREIGN COUNTRIES

Da Nang, 2020


THE UNIVERSITY OF DANANG
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE STUDIES

eby declare that I am the sole author of this master thesis and that I have not used
any sources other than those listed in the bibliography and identified as references.

LÊnotVƯƠNG
I further declare that I have
submitted SONG
this thesisHÀ
at any other institution in order
to obtain a degree.
Danang, March, 2020

AN INVESTIGATION INTO MODALITY EXPRESSIONS

IN ENGLISH FILM SUBTITLES AND THEIR
CORRESPONDING EXPRESSIONS IN THELÊ
VIETNAMESE
VƯƠNG SONG HÀ

Major: ENGLISH LINGUISTICS
Code: 82.20.201

MASTER THESIS IN
LINGUISTICS AND CULTURAL STUDIES OF
FOREIGN COUNTRIES

SUPERVISOR: NGUYỄN THỊ HUỲNH LỘC, PhD.
NGŨ THIỆN HÙNG, PhD.
Da Nang, 2020


i

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this master thesis and that I have not
used any sources other than those listed in the bibliography and identified as
references.
I further declare that I have not submitted this thesis at any other institution in order
to obtain a degree.
Danang, March, 2020

LÊ VƯƠNG SONG HÀ

ii

ABSTRACT

Up to now, issues of modality expressions have been addressed with more
interest in such lexical means and grammatical means as modal adverbs, modal
auxiliary verbs, modal lexical verbs and mood system. Based on a broader view
of modality, this study aims to examine prosodic means, communicative types
of sentences and modal particles used in conversations in English films and
Vietnamese subtitles. The research was conducted with a descriptive study that
sought the qualitative and quantitative information about the types of modality
expressions used in English films and their corresponding expressions in
Vietnamese subtitles. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis of a
sample of 788 utterances collected from 10 English films and their Vietnamese
translated sentences, the study found that different communicative types of
sentence were used to signal the speech act modality with illocutionary force
along with the modal nuances conveyed by various intonation patterns. The
study also reveals that the choice of modal particles in the Vietnamese
translation of the subtitles with different emotion and attitude were governed by
a number of pragmatic factors such as the information of the particular
communicative situation or the relationships between the utterances, the
information that signals the speaker’s supposition to the hearers status of mind
and knowledge, the information that signals the social status, role of the
interlocutors or communicative partners, the information that orientates the
response or feedback from the other interlocutors.


iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ......................................................................... i
ABSTRACT .............................................................................................................. ii
TABLE OF CONTENTS ........................................................................................ iii
FIGURES ................................................................................................................ vii
TABLES ................................................................................................................. viii
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................1
1.1. RATIONALE....................................................................................................1
1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ..............................................................................2
1.2.1. Aims ...........................................................................................................2
1.2.2. Objectives ...................................................................................................3
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ..............................................................................3
1.4. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY ................................................................3
1.5. SCOPE OF STUDY .........................................................................................4
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................5
2.1. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES ...............................................................5
2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND..................................................................9
2.2.1. Modality .....................................................................................................9
2.2.2. Intonation as language means to express modality ..................................11
2.2.2.1. Pitch ...................................................................................................12
2.2.2.2. Tone Stress and Tonic Syllable ..........................................................12
2.2.2.3. Types of Tones in English ..................................................................14
2.2.3. Mood as language means to express modality .........................................17
2.2.4. Types of modality .....................................................................................18
2.2.5. Definition of modal particles ....................................................................19
2.2.6. Speech Acts ..............................................................................................21
2.2.6.1. Definition of Speech Acts ...................................................................21
2.2.6.2. Locutionary acts.................................................................................21

iv

2.2.6.3. Illocutionary acts ...............................................................................21
2.2.6.4. Classification of illocutionary acts ....................................................22
2.3. SUMMARY ....................................................................................................24
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY .................................................26
3.1. RESEARCH DESIGN ....................................................................................26
3.2. RESEARCH METHODS ...............................................................................27
3.3. PROCEDURE OF STUDY ............................................................................28
3.4. SAMPLING ....................................................................................................29
3.3.1. Sample of study ........................................................................................29
3.3.2. Sampling method ......................................................................................29
3.5. DATA COLLECTION ...................................................................................30
3.5.1. Instrument .................................................................................................30
3.5.2. Procedures of Data collection ..................................................................31
3.6. DATA ANALYSIS ........................................................................................32
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION ...................................................34
4.1. COMMUNICATIVE TYPES OF SENTENCE AND MODAL PARTICLES
IN SHAPING THE ILLOCUTIONARY FORCE ................................................34
4.1.1. Direct Illocutionary acts of representative by Declarative sentence ........34
4.1.2. Indirect Illocutionary acts by Declarative sentence .................................38
4.1.2.1. Indirect Illocutionary acts of Questions by Declarative sentence .....38
4.1.2.2 Indirect Illocutionary acts of Directive by Declarative sentence .......40
4.1.3. Direct Illocutionary acts of Directive by Imperative sentences ...............42
4.1.4. Direct Illocutionary acts of Questions by Interrogative sentences...........45
4.1.4.1. Direct Illocutionary acts of Open Questions by Wh-Interrogative
sentences .........................................................................................................46
4.1.4.2. Direct Illocutionary acts of Closed Questions by Yes-No
Interrogative sentences ...................................................................................48

4.1.4.3. Direct Illocutionary acts of Alternative Questions by OrInterrogative sentences ...................................................................................49


v

4.1.4.4. Direct Illocutionary acts of Confirming Questions by Tag Interrogative sentences ...................................................................................50
4.2. MODAL FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION PATTERNS IN SPEECH ACTS
USED IN THE ENGLISH FILMS AND VIETNAMESE TRANSLATIONAL
EQUIVALENTS WITH MODAL PARTICLES ..................................................53
4.2.1. Rising intonation patterns as indicators of completeness of a question
with interrogative sentence and Vietnamese translation equivalents with modal
particles ..............................................................................................................54
4.2.2. Falling intonation patterns as indicators of completeness of a question
with interrogative sentence and Vietnamese translation equivalents with modal
particles ..............................................................................................................55
4.2.3. Rising intonation pattern as indicators of Statement intended as Question
............................................................................................................................59
4.3. FUNCTION OF EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION OF MODAL PARTICLES
USED IN VIETNAMESE TRANSLATED VERSION IN SUBTILES ..............62
4.3.1. Expressing a conative force applied to directive speech acts ..................63
4.3.2. Expressing intimacy .................................................................................65
4.3.3. Expressing surprise...................................................................................67
4.3.4. Expressing irony .......................................................................................69
4.3.5. Expressing assurance or restricted alternative .........................................70
4.3.6. Expressing threat ......................................................................................71
4.3.7. Expressing respect ....................................................................................72
4.4. THE PRAGMATIC FACTORS THAT GOVERN THE USE OF MODAL
PARTICLES IN VIETNAMESE SUBTITLES OF THE ENGLISH FILMS ......74
4.4.1. The information of the particular communicative situation or the
relationships between the utterances ..................................................................74

4.4.2. The information that signals the the speaker’s supposition to the hearer’s
status of mind and knowledge ............................................................................77


vi

4.4.3. The information that signals the social status, role of the interlocutors or
communicative partners .....................................................................................80
4.4.4. The information that orientates the response or feedback from the other
interlocutors ........................................................................................................81
4.5. DISCUSSION .................................................................................................83
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ...............................................................................86
5.1. Conclusions .....................................................................................................87
5.2. Implication to the teaching and learning concerning the use of modality
expressions in English films and corresponding equivalents in Vietnamese
subtitles ..................................................................................................................88
5.3. Limitation and recommendation for further study .........................................90
REFERENCES ........................................................................................................91
QUYẾT ĐỊNH GIAO ĐỀ TÀI
APPENDIX


vii

FIGURES
Figure 3.1. Representation of contour of “what do you wanna do?” ........................33
Figure 3.2. Representation of contour of “why does that soldier look so familiar?”33
Figure 4.1. Representation of contour of “Are people gonna like it?” .....................54
Figure 4.2. Representation of speaker’s performance of “Do you remember that rent
is due next week?” ....................................................................................................55

Figure 4.3. Representation of speaker’s performance of “Do you think Mum and
Dad would call this a "home”?” ................................................................................56
Figure 4.4. Representation of speaker’s performance of “Where did you get that
scarf?”........................................................................................................................57
Figure 4.5. Representation of speaker’s performance of “How do I know?” ...........58
Figure 4.6. Representation of speaker’s performance of “You guys have been dating
a couple months now?” .............................................................................................60
Figure 4.7. Representation of speaker’s performance of “The one that father warned
us about?” ..................................................................................................................60
Figure 4.8. Representation of speaker’s performance of “You have fun?” ..............61
Figure 4.9. Representation of speaker’s performance of “You don't think we're
gonna make it out of here?” ......................................................................................61
Figure 4.10. Representation of speaker’s performance of “All of this will belong to
me?” ..........................................................................................................................62


viii

TABLES
Table 4.1. The frequency of modal particles occur in translating declarative
sentences in English film subtitles ............................................................................41
Table 4.2. The frequency of modal particles occur in translating imperative
sentences in English film subtitles ............................................................................44
Table 4.3. The frequency of modal particles occur in translating interrogative
sentences in English film subtitles ............................................................................52
Table 4.4. The identification of corresponding modal particle of the modality
expressions in English film subtitles .........................................................................84


1

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1. RATIONALE
In language communication, apart from the message based on the
descriptive meaning of the utterance, there is a kind of interpersonal meaning that
needs to be interpreted for the comprehending of the speaker/writer’s attitude
toward the content of utterance and toward the hearer/reader. This kind of meaning
is labeled modality in terms of grammar, semantics and pragmatics as far as its
meaning and function are concerned. This is an essential component of meaning
that should be taken into consideration in shaping the communicative message by
the addresser/encoder and in decoding/interpreting the interpersonal meaning for the
successful communication. How to express and interpret modality is not an easy
task for speakers of English as a second language. The basic content of utterances
can be translated word by word, but for interpersonal meaning. Therefore, learners
and translators need to utilize some of the linguistic means that help to render the
interpersonal meaning in the characters’ conversations. In case of rendering this
kind of meaning in conversations from English films into Vietnamese subtitles, the
translators are expected to understand not only the proposition or descriptive
meaning of utterance but also know how to express the modal meaning conveyed in
this utterance. This requirement has to be met so that the movie viewers can have a
better insight into how the characters communicate their messages and build up the
interactive relationships between interlocutors.
However, as far as issues of means of expressing modality have been
concerned, apart from what has been traditionally discussed such as lexical and
grammatical means, there is still room for the examination of the prosodic devices
and syntactical structures of communicative types of sentences. These have not
been paid close attention in the discussion of the modal meaning and pragmatic
functions. One possible reason may be due to the difficulty in building a spoken

2

corpus for the phonetic analysis that enables us to point out the phonetic features
that help bring out the modal meaning along with the syntactic structure employed
to realize the utterances. Surprisingly, what is feasible for doing the same thing with
the conversations in films and translation of the modalized utterances with lexical
means and prosodic resources has not been dealt with. So far, little has been written
about the modal meaning of intonation along with the syntactic form to modalize an
utterance in English as the source language and the equivalents in Vietnamese as
target language. Also, such linguistic resources as modal particles, modal set
phrases as means to render the modal meaning in the translational equivalents in
subtitles in Vietnamese as the target language still need a closer examination. For
some translators, most English modality expressions can be translated to
Vietnamese without problem, but this is not an easy task for the comprehension of
the paraverbal signs along with the sentence structure to figure out the modal
meaning to achieve a satisfactory translation into Vietnamese. For example, in
"The pursuit of happiness" movie, the father’s utterance "I don't want you out here
shooting this ball around all day and night, all right?" and the son’s response, "all
right!" were translated into "được chứ?" and "được ạ" respectively. How to
identify the linguistic means as modalility expressions and the governing factors to
understand the addresser’s communicative message with interpersonal meaning of
corresponding Vietnamese expressions in subtitles of English films is an interest for
researchers.
These concernings have inspired me to choose to conduct the research with
the title "AN INVESTIGATION INTO MODALITY EXPRESSIONS IN ENGLISH FILM
SUBTITLES AND THEIR CORRESPONDING EXPRESSIONS IN VIETNAMESE”.

1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES
1.2.1. Aims

This study aims to investigate the pragmatics of modality expressions used
in English Film subtitles and their corresponding expressions in the Vietnamese to


3

provide the learners of English as translators with an insightful knowledge
concerning the use of modality expressions in English and the Vietnamese
equivalents in different kinds of speech act.
1.2.2. Objectives
The study intends to fulfil the following objectives
1) To identify what types of English modality expressions and Vietnamese
equivalents are used in the Vietnamese translated subtitles of the English
films
2) To identify the pragmatic factors that govern the use of modality expressions
and the Vietnamese equivalents for the Vietnamese translated subtitles of
the English films
1.3. RESEARCH QUESTIONS
For the fulfilment of the objectives of the study, the research attempts to
answer the following questions
1) What types of English modality expressions and Vietnamese equivalents are
used in the Vietnamese translated subtitles of the English films?
2) What are the pragmatic factors that govern the use of modality expressions
and the Vietnamese equivalents for the Vietnamese translated subtitles of the
English films?
1.4. JUSTIFICATION OF THE STUDY
Firstly, these results of this research also will be used as references for
viewers who watch Vietnamese subtitles understand more about the attitude of the
character in conversations in the English films.
Secondly, the result of study is expected to help Vietnamese learners of

English know how to use modal particles with reference to the governing factors
that allow the potential translators to make good choice from the list of these modal
particles.


4

Finally, the study provides materials for language teaching and learning as
well as translating.
1.5. SCOPE OF STUDY
The examination of types of modality used in the English films focuses on a
wide range of lexical and syntactic means such as intonation patterns accompanying
the communicative sentence types, namely declarative, interrogative, imperative
and exclamation. The exploration of the equivalents in the Vietnamese subtitles was
intended to look for the corresponding of those modality expressions in English
including modal particles. Specifically, the description of modal particles used in
the Vietnamese translated subtitles of the English films paid special attention to
discussing the syntactic realizations of Vietnamese modal particles and their
pragmatic functions in signaling the speaker’s attitude and mood in extracts of
conversations in English films.
The discussion of pragmatic factors that govern the use of modality
expressions and the Vietnamese equivalents for the Vietnamese subtitles of the
English films was restricted to the types of illocutionary acts used in the
conversations between characters, the mood of interactional transaction and the
speaker’s intent with the potential perlocutionary force. The discussion involved the
pragmatic factors such as the relation between the interlocutors, and the phonetic
features such as the speaker’s intonation.


5

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1. REVIEW OF PREVIOUS STUDIES
Issues of modality expressions have been a growing interest for
grammarians, semantists and pragmatist for modality involves semantic values and
interpersonal meaning in communication. Especially, issues of modality expressions
in cross-linguistic expressions have been discussed in several contrastive studies.
However, just a few studies on paraverbal means to express modal meaning and the
corresponding devices in the target language have been done so far.
With the focuses on correlation between mood and modality in Modern
English, Khomutova (2014) discussed the relations between logical and linguistic
modalities and established the semantic scope of linguistic modality. With the aim
of presenting typology of language means used to express linguistic modality the
author analyzed different approaches to the category of mood as a morphological
means of expressing modality. However, this topological study has not dealt with
the prosodic means to express modality in a cross-linguistic view.
In a discussion of typological approaches to modality, Haan (2006) surveyed
the typological literature on modality and placed an emphasis on explaining
language structures through analyzing their function based on comparisons and
generalizations with explanations. This author dwelt his discussion on the
diachronic explanations of typological approaches to modality where a wide range
of modality expressions such as lexical, grammatical and phonological means were
presented though with not in details for each type.
Looking at the peculiarities of speech formation from the standpoint of
intonation, grammar, lexical characteristics of the source text and the stylistic frame
of the context, Khisamova & Moullagaliev (2016) describes the comparative
analysis of existing lexical and semantic means of the English language expressing
modality in novels by Harriet Beecher Stowe and their translations into Tatar. The

6

co-authors define the boundaries of the results of various sciences, emphasizes the
role of the Russian language in the formation of translation among Tatars, and also
describes transferring of real, irreal and imperative modality from English into
Tatar through different linguistic means including different approaches to the
process of fiction translation.
As mentioned in the scope of study, intonation and modal particles are
considered one of the typological means of modality for rendering the modality
expressions in the source language as far as translation is concerned. There have
been several studies on modal particles conducted in typological view and
pragmatic approach.
In a brief comment on some previous works on modality, Hladký (1976)
stated that the means of expressing modality include intonation, the moods and the
lexical / syntactical means: modal particles, modal verbs, adjectives, nouns,
adverbs. He claimed that the term 'grammatical' in grammatical means of expressing
modality may include 'lexical' and 'intonational' as well.
In a description of intonation of modality in English, Shnurovska (2017)
presented intonation as a modal means providing speech utterance segmentation
into sentences or phrases; realizing emotional-sensuous aspects of the utterance;
expressing the volitional implementation of the utterance; and finally detecting the
modal relation of the utterance to the reality as well as a speaker’s attitude to it. It
also shows the role the syntagm plays in semantic-intonational text stratification.
She further characterized the modal essence of the sentence, logical and emphatic
stress. The author explains the specificity of modal means’ intonation in the plane
of the evaluative information theory and the role intonation takes in utterance
content heterogeneity and speaker's stance conveying.
Situating the intersection between modal particles and discourse markers
within the wider context of categorization work in linguistics, Degand et al. (2013)

examined the definitions provided in the literature for discourse markers and modal


7

particles, and review different reasons for the possible confusion between the two
classes, among which their functional proximity and diachronic relation. The coauthors discussed whether or not it is possible to draw a line between these two
types of linguistic expressions.
In a discussion of the sentence type restrictions of modal particles from a
construction grammatical perspective, Alm et al. (2018) viewed the previous work
on the semantic, formal and functional factors that determine the usage of modal
particles in different grammatical configurations and showed the necessity of
representation on several different levels of both modal particles and their
grammatical environments in accounting for the usage restrictions. These coauthors suggested that the sentence type restrictions of modal particles are the result
of a complex interaction between the individual modal particle on the one hand and
specific grammatical constructions on the other hand. Especially, they focused on
constructions of the kind encoding particular speech act orientations, namely
sentence type constructions.
Based on previous work on of course as a modal adverb within the
framework of Quirk et al’s (1985) classification of modal adverbs as conjuncts,
disjuncts and subjuncts, Aijmer (2013) discussed discourse markers and modal
particles in a grammaticalization perspective and dealt with translations as a
methodology providing ‘paradigms’ which can be the basis for categorizing the
different functions of of course. The author dealt with of course with examples of
this modal adverb used as a modal particle.
The literature review of the issues of linguistic means of modality also
touches Vietnamese modal particles as a means to express modal modal meaning
which can be conveyed in the utterances in English movies in this study.
Accordingly, the review has seen several studies of Vietnamese modal particles in
the appreciated works by Vietnamese researchers, namely Nguyen Van Hiep

8

(2001), Pham Thi Ly (2002), Vu Thi Kim Anh (2005), Ho Thi Kieu Oanh (2010),
Nguyen Duy Dien (2014).
Nguyen Van Hiep (2001a, 2001b) described and classified modal particles
in his work which enables us to distinguish modal particles from other types of
words. Especially, the author proposed an analytical framework to classify modal
particles based on a semantic and pragmatic model which allows us to identify the
scope of modal particles’ function over the layers of utterance.
In a pragmatic analysis of sentence final modal particles in Vietnamese, Vu
Thi Kim Anh (2005) investigated 28 modal particles which are most typical and
have the highest frequency used in conversation and examined their functions in
shaping the illocutionary force of utterances. The author discussed the semantics,
mechanism of these modal particles as signals of explicit performative utterances
with reference to maxims of politeness.
Nguyễn Duy Diện (2014) clarified that modal particle is one of the
important means to express emotions, attitude of the speaker. Their functions are to
contribute to expressing the purpose of the speech and to express the different
attitudes, assessments of the speaker to the announcement, to the reality and to the
dialogue.
For a narrower review of literature, it can be noticed here some researches
closely related to the issues this study intends to discuss for the analysis of modality
expressions in films and corresponding equivalents in subtitles.
With the aim to identify the subtitling variations of the English modal verbs
in Inside Out (2015) film and to describe the accuracy of English modal verbs
translation found in the subtitling in this film, Sari (2015) examined English modal
verbs in subtitling Inside Out (2015) film using the data from sentences consisting
modal verbs found in Inside Out (2015) film. Nevertheless, the study just focused

on the investigation modal verbs in the translation from English to Indonesian while
other such paraverbal means were not mentioned.


9

In his attempt of finding categories of modal verbs and the most dominant
categories that found in the movie, Agus (2015) analyzed modal verbs on movie
dialogue in the movie Warm Bodies. This descriptive qualitative study employed
the sources of data from the script of movie dialogue and explained modal verbs
used in Warm Bodies Movie to point the dominant category of each modal verb
from a list of 10 modal members.
In a particular aim to identify and classify the modal auxiliary verbs
according to their meanings, Atmaja (2013) attempts to investigate the meanings of
modal auxiliary verbs in the movie The Perks of being a Wallflower using the data
from dialogues containing modal auxiliary verbs. The author analyzed the modal
auxiliary verbs semantically and pragmatically based on the data of 171 modal
auxiliary verbs found in the movie with epistemic meanings, deontic meanings, and
most frequently used dynamic meanings. Unfortunately, this research was restricted
to most commonly used modal auxiliary verb in the movie. Other modality
expressions such as intonation used in films has not been addressed.
In sum, there has been several researches on modal particles in Vietnamese;
however, there is still a little concern in defining modality in a broader sense and
modal functions of intonation and modal particles. Meanwhile, there are not many
studies thoroughly dicussing the expressive aspects of intonation patterns in English
and those modal particles as corresponding items in Vietnamese. Therefore, this
study of some effective ways of translating modality expressions used in English
films into Vietnamese modal particles will hopefully help the Vietnamese learners
and interpreters overcome the difficulties in communicating the modal meanings
successfully in translated subtiles.

2.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.2.1. Modality
Matthews (2005: 228) defines modality as “category covering either a kind of
speech act or the degree of certainty with which something is said.” The semantic


10

trait of confidence in the truth value of the proposition is not only an illustration of
subjective character of an utterance but also can be present in sentence structuring,
vocabulary choice, or stylistic differentiation.
In a broad sense, modality is viewed by Erhart’s view (1984: 117) to
comprise ‘nuances’ in the formal realization of the utterance where a bare statement
can be meant as a fact/a possibility/a subjective obligation (and/or request)/an
objective necessity, etc.
In the same veine, Lock (1996: 193) claimed that “A broad definition would
encompass all expressions of interpersonal meanings that lie between it is so and it
is not so or between do it and don’t do it.” From this view, we can arrive at a
desired illocutionary force, not only by means a verbal complex, i.e. modal
adverbs/adjectives/nouns, and the like in a traditional narrow view. The language
has in possession a wide range of means in contributing to communicating the
speaker’s stance to the truth-value of the whole utterance or its part, i.e.
communicating modal meaning. Accordingly, ‘broad modality’ means more than
modal meaning of the predication core. Its scope is expanded so as to include all
possible manifestations of a subjective attitude of a speaker.
Thus, the linguistic resources for expressing modality clearly go well beyond
the grammatical system of modal auxiliaries. As Kress and Hodge have said:
There are a large number of ways of realising modality: non-verbal and verbal,
through non-deliberate features (hesitations, ums, ers, etc.) and deliberate
systematic features which include fillers (sort of), adverbs (probably, quite better),

modal auxiliaries (can, must), and mental process verbs (think, under stand, feel)
and intonation.

(Kress and Hodge, 1988: 127)

In the same vein, as Bybee and Fleischman (1995: 2) stated,


11

'Modality… is the semantic domain pertaining to elements of meaning that
languages express. It covers a broad range of semantic nuances - jussive,
desiderative, intentive, hypothetical, potential, obligative, dubitative, hortatory,
exclamative, etc. - whose common denominator is the addition of a supplement or
overlay of meaning to the most neutral semantic value of the proposition of an
utterance, namely factual and declarative' Modality can be expressed in various
ways, 'morphological, lexical, syntactic, or via intonation' (ib.).

Bybee & Fleischman (1995: 2)
2.2.2. Intonation as language means to express modality
From what has been mentioned above, it is necessary to contrast modality
of the predication center from a narrow definition with other modal meanings
from a broad definition concerning the language means.
A means that t h a t f it s both definitions is intonation. Intonation patterns
are recognized as bearers of modal meaning that can turn a single solitary lexical
item into an utterance. Intonation has a significant value to determine the modal
meaning of an utterance. As Fónagy (1983: 341) claimed about spoken language,
“modal intonation patterns represent undoubtedly the highest level of semantic
organization which can be reached by tonal means.…Intonation had to cover
nonetheless a long distance in semantic space to become, from a mere reflection of

emotional states, a denotation of modal categories.”
The link of prosodic or intonational components of language to the
expression of modal strength should come as no surprise, since prosody is one of
the resources languages have available for the expression of subjectivity. Discussing
epistemic modality, Lyons (1995: 331) ties subjectivity and modality to prosody,
remarking that “All natural languages provide their users with prosodic resources –
stress and intonation – with which to express the several distinguishable kinds of
qualified epistemic commitment.”


12

Intonation refers to the rising or falling of the voice used to convey
differences of expressive meaning. Within the scope of this study, intonation is
considered as a physical object and therefore, it can be measured in terms of
acoustic aspectsconcerning the movement of the speaker’s voice. By taking the
advantage of some computer software as speech analyzer, the measurement of
speaker’s tone will be achieved (to be discussed later in chapter Three and chapter
Four).
2.2.2.1. Pitch
Pitch is one of the acoustic correlates of stress (Underhill, 1994, p57).
Physiologically, pitch is the degree of highness or lowness of a tone perceived by
the listeners’ ears, depending on the rate of vibration of the vocal cords. Usually, the
faster the vocal cords vibrate, the higher the pitch is.
Pitch movement happens when there are changes in the quality of speakers’
voice during communicating process. More specifically, a unit of speech bounded
by pauses has movement, of music and rhythm, associated with the pitch of voice
(Roach, 1983, p113). This certain pattern of voice movement is called 'tone'.
From the functional point of view, the pitch-level plays an important role in
marking the degree of semantic prominence attached by the speaker to this or that

word or phrase in an utterance. Pitch level is also significant for conveying various
shades of modal-attitudinal meanings and emotional colouring.
2.2.2.2. Tone Stress and Tonic Syllable
As for Brazil (1997), in case one syllable in intonation units is produced more
noticeably than the others, it is supposed to have stress. An intonation unit almost
always has one peak of stress, which is called 'tonic stress', or 'nucleus'. Tonic stress
is virtually always found in a content word in utterance final position. In a word, the
syllable that receives the most stress in an intonation unit is called 'tonic syllable'.
Consider the examples below in which the tonic syllable is underlined (PH:
PreHead, H: Head, N: Nucleus, T: Tail):


13

PH H

N T

I love cooking.
I love cooking with my mom.

PH H (body)

N

In the intonation unit, in spite of receiving less force and prominence than the
tonic syllable, the previous syllables still get stressed.
As usual, words bearing insides more information within the utterance are
given higher stress than those carrying less significant information and those that
are predictable based on the context. Those that provide the listener much

concerning the content of the utterance are called 'content' words as opposed to
'function' words which heavily affect the grammatical meaning. Content words
include nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs while function words are articles,
prepositions, conjunctions, and modal auxiliaries.
Table 2.1 Classification of stressed and unstressed words shows the list of the
content words and function words.
Table 2.1.Classification of stressed and unstressed words
Content/Stressed words Function/Unstressed words
Verbs

modal auxiliaries

Nouns

Articles

Adjectives

Conjunctions


14

Adverbs

Prepositions

question words

Pronouns

prepositional adverbs
Negatives

2.2.2.3. Types of Tones in English
In English, there are five typical types of tones: fall, low-rise, high-rise, rise-fall
and fall-rise. Thanks to them, speakers signal whether to refer, proclaim, agree,
disagree, question or hesitate, or indicate completion and continuation of turntaking, in speech.
a. Fall
Afalling tone is more commonly used than any other types of tone. It occurs
when the speaker’s voice descends from a higher to a lower pitch on the tonic
syllable. It signals the sense of finality, completion in statements, information
questions and confirmatory question tags.
b. High-rise
The speaker’s voice moves from a lower pitch to a higher one on the tonic
syllable. This tone conveys the meaning of something incomplete or covers the idea
of asking for repetition or clarification or encouraging the speaker to continue his or
her talk. It is usually applied in Yes/No question.
c. Low Rise
The speaker’s voice moves from a lower pitch to a higher one on the tonic
syllable. This tone conveys the meaning of something incomplete or asks for the
confirmation of what the speaker just says. It is usually applied in question-tag.


15

d. Fall-rise
In this kind of tone, the voice falls and then rises again on the tonic syllable. It
conveys an impression of doubt, reservation, warning, contrast or contradiction. It is
widely used when calling someone’s name out and with adverbials at the beginning

of a sentence.
e. Rise-fall
It causes the pitch of the voice to rise and then descend again on the tonic
syllable. This tone is used in expressing strong feelings of approval, disapproval,
emotion, shock or surprise.
Except for the tones mentioned above, there is also one more tone - the level
tone which shows no pitch movement, i.e., neither upwards nor downwards. This
tone conveys a feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting or boring.
Halliday (1978) claimed that basically, the falling intonation means a certainty
and the rising intonation means an uncertainty (italic by author of this study).
Accordingly, the falling intonation means the polarity of a proposition with certainty
and the rising intonation means the polarity of a proposition with uncertainty. The
falling – rising intonation indicates something that seems obvious, nonetheless needs
to be checked, which is used to create the utterances with hesitation implying the
contrast and something unreal also.
Attitudinal function of intonation expresses the mood and emotions of a
speaker, their attitude to the certain situation and also to the listener or other
interlocutor. ... A single sentence can be pronounced in a number of different ways
depending on intonation of the utterance which helps us to make an unambiguous
utterance with a clear communicative aim, if pronounced without differentiations in
pitch and stress. For instance, "He's passed his exam" may be taken for a statement, or
a question, or an exclamation, while with a definite intonation contour superimposed
on this chain of words, the communicative aim of the utterance is clearly revealed.