Part of
Beyond MeaningEdited by Elly Ifantidou, Louis de Saussure and Tim Wharton
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 324] 2021
► pp. 29–42
Edited by Elly Ifantidou, Louis de Saussure and Tim Wharton
[Pragmatics & Beyond New Series 324] 2021
► pp. 29–42
Contrastive stress in English
Meaning, expectations and ostension
In this chapter I consider where contrastive stress fits within the relevance-theoretic model of utterance interpretation. In particular, I focus on contrastive stress as a cue to ostension which layers on top of the ostensive act of producing an utterance and which guides inferential processes. Stress patterns, however, only act as a cue to ostension when they are unexpected. It is the disconfirmation of expectations that puts the hearer to more effort and prompts the search for extra interpretive effects. The discussions in this chapter build on existing work on both prosody and pragmatics and the conclusions drawn have implications for our understanding of inferential processes, procedural meaning, and ostensive communication more generally.
Keywords: ostension, procedural meaning, prosody, contrastive stress, cues to ostension, intonation, expectations, relevance theory
Article outline
- 1.Introduction
- 2.Contrastive stress, interpretation and natural highlighting
- 3.Relevance, ostension and the role of expectations
- 4.Contrastive stress as a cue to ostension
- 5.Contrastive stress and procedural meaning
-
Notes -
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Cited by
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Helganger, Line Sjøtun & Ingrid Lossius Falkum
2023. Intonational production as a window into children’s early pragmatic competence: The case of the Norwegian polarity focus and two jo particles. Frontiers in Psychology 14 
Madella, Pauline & Tim Wharton
2023. Nonverbal Communication and Context: Multimodality in Interaction. In The Cambridge Handbook of Language in Context, ► pp. 419 ff.
Scott, Kate
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