The Communicative Function of Intonation Processing in English and Persian Perception of Implicit Directive Messages

This cross-cultural research was conducted to reveal the differences between English and Persian directive speech act set and intonation systems. The subjects of the study were 40 undergraduate male and female students studying translation in Ahvaz Azad University in Iran. For data collection, two English and Persian versions of a two-option closed-ended questionnaire were used. The Chi-square formula was then employed to analyze the data. Analysis of the pitch contours of the recorded utterances were done through PRAAT program. The results of the study revealed that pitch as an intonational element is an important aspect of speech communication in various pragmatic and syntactic functions generates a specific sensation. The main conclusion drawn is that having access to more contextual information and communicative signals changes the interpretation of prosodic feature such as pitch range in natural conversation