Intonational Meaning in Cameroon English Discourse

A Sociolinguistic Perspective

Author: Talla Sando Ouafeu, Yves Freiburg, 01. March 2006 pages: 234 edition: 1 language: EN ISBN-10: 3865378145 ISBN-13: 9783865378149 allocated areas: Sprachwissenschaften category: Dissertation source of supply Print Version 32,00 € 30.4 in the shopping basket eBook (2102.7 kB) 32 in the shopping basket

Kurzbeschreibung

This study is dedicated to a thorough phonetic description of the intonation of Cameroon English, a non-native variety of English. It focuses on the usage of specific tones, paratone and the intonational marking of the information status in discourse. Two main descriptive frameworks, namely the Discourse Intonation framework and the Auto-Segmental Metrical approach were used. Data from natural conversation as well as from passage reading were analysed both auditorily and acoustically and with relation to the sociolinguistic variables education and gender and the linguistic variable speaking style. Results showed that Cameroon English intonation has its specificities which distinguish it not only from Standard English but also from other non-native varieties of English. For example, Cameroon English speakers, unlike speakers of other non-native varieties of English (cf. Nigerian English), make new information more prominent than given information in the discourse structure. New information is spoken with higher intensity than given information in Cameroon English. Besides, it was found that Cameroon English speakers make extensive use of the falling tone which led the author to argue that “the falling tone does a lot of work in Cameroon English intonation” (p. 169). Finally, findings revealed that sociolinguistic theories postulated in native English communities do not necessarily apply in non-native English communities.

Stichwörter: intonation, paratone, new information, given information, New Englishes, Cameroon English, tone, referring tone, proclaiming tone, intensity, pitch height, pitch range