Recognition and Realisation of Elocutionary Force through Intonation by Native Speakers of English : Comparison with the Models in Intonation Studies

This paper examines the recognition and realisation of illocutionary force through intonation by native speakers of English and confirms if the native speakers of English recognise and realise illocutionary force through intonation as the models from the intonation studies do. In the recognition survey, participants were asked to listen to the dialogues and to judge intentions in these dialogues. In the realisation survey, they were asked to read aloud the dialogues with the instructed intentions. The results of the recognition survey illustrated that participants recognised approximately 30 percent of the intentions through intonation and that varieties of English did not affect their judgment of intention. Illocutionary forces of ""implication, possibility"" and ""exclamation"" are recognised easier than other illocutionary force such as ""warning"". The results of the realisation survey showed that participants succeeded in realising approximately 28 percent of the dialogues corresponding to the model tone choice. Again, illoctuionary forces of ""implication, possibility"" and ""exclamation"" are realized easier than other illocutionary force such as ""warning"". Overall results show that even native speakers of English do not recognise and realise illocutionary force through intonation as the intonation studies described. However, some common features with models were observed and although being different from the models, certain tendencies can be detected from the subjects' data. Thus, the results of this survey do not mean that intonation does not contribute to illocutionary force at all, but suggest that to a certain degree intonation definitely plays a role in conveying illocutionary force