The acoustics of ‘newness’ and its pragmatic implications in classroom discourse

This article will reconsider the relationship between the assignment of the tonic and the transmission of information via the interplay between the concepts of “given” and “new” in a classroom context. Firstly, the article will study the acoustic difference between tonic and non-tonic elements in English native teacher talk, and then will focus on the study of the tonic items in order to re-evaluate the equation of the tonic and its realization of “new information”. Two issues are under study: (i) do tonic elements only convey “new” information in the classroom context?, and if not, (ii) do the acoustic correlates (duration and fundamental frequency) of the tonics correspond to different degrees of information? The results of the study will show that tonics can convey “given” and “new” information and that both functions of information can be realized with no significant acoustic variation in classroom discourse.