ENTONACIÓN Y MODALIDAD EN EL DISCURSO DE ENTREVISTA*

Abstract

(The present work analyzes mode and modality in relation to intonation marking and function, applied to verbal, adverbial and adjectival morphemic signs, within the ilocutionary modality of representative acts of speech, of greater occurrence in interviews in semiformal situations. The results of a sample of twelve representative subjects from Valdivia, Chile, indicate the following tendencies of use: (1) high use of the indicative mood, without intonational accentuation; (2) little use of modal verbs, without intonational accentuation; (3) predominance of intonationally marked forms in disjunct and subjunct adverbials, with a pragmatic-communicative intonational function of assurance and contrast; (4) predominance of forms with intonational accent of adjectives, especially value adjectives, with pragmaticcommunicative intonational functions of contrast, suspense and reference; (5) higher frequency of representative speech acts used to inform, narrate and argue, with use of descending movement of conclusiveness modality, with communicative function of assurance and modality of inconclusiveness, in ascending movements with the function of suspense in medial position.)