Directed Pronunciation - A New English Grammar

Back on the subject of emphasis and we can see how we can make the negative more or less emphatic by the simple separation or contraction of the modal negative idea: She does not like chocolate - more emphatic She doesn’t like chocolate - less emphatic In our negative question, the separation of the negative will force the emphatic not to return to its preverbal emphatic position leaving the emphatic inversion of does and she intact: Doesn’t she like chocolate? Does she not like chocolate? Here we can see that the pre-verb position holds the true key emphatic position. When we look at this in illustrated form, we can see how the emphasis provokes a kind of dip or stop, in the sentence, before the release of the verb. Furthermore, the more marked our dip (or stop) is, the greater the emphasis we create. Conversely, the smoother our horizontal line of projection is, the less emphatic our sentence becomes. It also becomes easier to understand that the smoothe...

Emphasis is a fundamental aspect of language and plays a great part in determining the basic structure of the syntax. Unfortunately, most visions of grammar underestimate this importance; nevertheless, it is the important tool which is not only used to stress one part of an idea or another but also transfers the weight of importance of the phrase from one part of the structure to another through inversions, etc. To discuss the English verb system without an understanding of the importance of emphasis would be to miss several important and fundamental arguments about structure, logic and interpretation. Vocal and Structural Emphasis There are two basic forms of emphasis: vocal and structural emphasis. In the former, one word or another is simply given more force than the rest through emphasized speech, leaving it quite clear which word carries the greater importance: She doesn’t like chocolate - indicates who. She doesn’t like chocolate - emphasizes the negative. She doe...

With each movement and directional vector (or sense) of each modal, we can start to map out the areas of modal expression. The chart (illustrated above) shows how each aspect is directed;a skill we certainly need to emulate, if we are to give the correct language signals. As the chart shows , the high area is reserved for probability, the degree of which ranges from positive certainty through possibility to uncertainty at the back of the head. The forward area (ahead of the eye) carries the different notions of future modality, rising from the low downward driven decisive intention or acceptance (will) and determination (shall) through obligation(must), permission (may) and advice – or deferred obligation (should) to prediction (will) and desire (will, must, should). The past forms are set back or directed behind us, with past probability looped high in speculation but ending low - so as to combine with the auxiliary have and the past pa...