"He didn't come to the party because he was busy. " This sentence has two meanings. The first one is as follows ." He didn't come the party, because he was busy ". "The second one is as follows. He didn't come the party. Because he has another reason not because he was busy.
Above two meanings is different meaning and nuance.
My question : What is the difference in intonation between these two? And why?
Please tell me.
I believe when I say the first one my intonation rises back up at the because and then continues to go down throughout the remainder of the phrase.
The second one is a little harder for me to peg down. I do think this is ambiguous. However, I think in the second reading I can't make it so that he both did not come to the party and this was not because he was busy. It works fine for me iff he came to the party but he did not do so simply because he was busy (maybe he escapes his class work by going to parties). In this case my tone starts off low, raises and then remains low until it rises again at the very end.
I've attached pitch tracks for what I'm talking about. However, the second reading really feels like it requires something after that as the intonation used is, I think, indicative of contrast.
Asked: 2016-10-11 23:42:57 -0400
Seen: 53 times
Last updated: Oct 20 '16
(C) 2015 by The LINGUIST List and Contributors
