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 doesn’t like chocolate - emphasizes the verb to like and not any other action.
She doesn’t like chocolate - emphasizes what (in this case) we don't like.
Without changing the syntax (the word order) of our phrase, the use of emphasis on different words in the phrases produces differing messages. On the other hand, the use of the natural unforced syntactical emphasis throws the importance onto the word that falls before the main verb - the auxiliary or the subject pronoun for instance:
She doesn’t like chocolate
Doesn’t she like chocolate?
In the emphatic inversion of the modal doesn’t, we can see that the phrase inverts to form the interrogative. That is to say that, through the change of positions, we create the question form, which can be both positive and negative, as in our case above. Nevertheless, an emphatic inversion is exactly what it says it is and therefore can as easily be a simple use of emphasis as a question “interrogative” form. Notice the following:
She does like chocolate!
Does she like chocolate!
Does she like chocolate?
In the first example, we can see that with the modal does before the verb, the modal is emphatic. Furthermore, in the second example, the inversion of the pronoun and modal allows the emphasis to fall on the subject of the verb in an emphatic phrase. When, however, we reduce the vocal emphasis on the pronoun (she), to less than the surrounding auxiliary and verb, the phase becomes less vertically driven, more horizontal and slightly uplifted, giving us the question form, whilst still allowing us to choose which word we want to add a moderate vocal emphasis to.
Further to this, the more separated the words are, more emphatic and marked our phrase becomes, as if we were hammering them out.
Inversely, the use of contractions and contracted inversions help to horizontalize the phrase, which leaves it less marked by stress:
I am a teacher. (verticle emphasis on the verb)
I’m a teacher. ( natural slight emphatic drop on the noun)
The concept also includes inverting the modal does with our verb like and contracting it to the less emphatic form likes:
She does like chocolate! (vertical emphasis on the modal – DOES)
She likes chocolate. (contracted form makes for a smooth horizontal phrase)
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 doesn’t like chocolate - emphasizes the verb to like and not any other action.
She doesn’t like chocolate - emphasizes what (in this case) we don't like.
Without changing the syntax (the word order) of our phrase, the use of emphasis on different words in the phrases produces differing messages. On the other hand, the use of the natural unforced syntactical emphasis throws the importance onto the word that falls before the main verb - the auxiliary or the subject pronoun for instance:
She doesn’t like chocolate
Doesn’t she like chocolate?
In the emphatic inversion of the modal doesn’t, we can see that the phrase inverts to form the interrogative. That is to say that, through the change of positions, we create the question form, which can be both positive and negative, as in our case above. Nevertheless, an emphatic inversion is exactly what it says it is and therefore can as easily be a simple use of emphasis as a question “interrogative” form. Notice the following:
She does like chocolate!
Does she like chocolate!
Does she like chocolate?
In the first example, we can see that with the modal does before the verb, the modal is emphatic. Furthermore, in the second example, the inversion of the pronoun and modal allows the emphasis to fall on the subject of the verb in an emphatic phrase. When, however, we reduce the vocal emphasis on the pronoun (she), to less than the surrounding auxiliary and verb, the phase becomes less vertically driven, more horizontal and slightly uplifted, giving us the question form, whilst still allowing us to choose which word we want to add a moderate vocal emphasis to.
Further to this, the more separated the words are, more emphatic and marked our phrase becomes, as if we were hammering them out.
Inversely, the use of contractions and contracted inversions help to horizontalize the phrase, which leaves it less marked by stress:
I am a teacher. (verticle emphasis on the verb)
I’m a teacher. ( natural slight emphatic drop on the noun)
The concept also includes inverting the modal does with our verb like and contracting it to the less emphatic form likes:
She does like chocolate! (vertical emphasis on the modal – DOES)
She likes chocolate. (contracted form makes for a smooth horizontal phrase)
Comments
Post a Comment