Context clues.
What was the statement the person saying the sentence was responding to?
That also works for heteronyms. For example, “I read the newspaper every day” would have a different pronunciation and meaning if it was in response to
The interesting thing to me is that so far everyone is voting for the two options that I think are actually functionally identical.
You can tell if someone is a chemist or a plumber based on how they pronounce “unionized”
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
I never said she was the person talking.
My Dad’s example was “I never told him that”.
$0.02
My favorite is
Those old things in the attic are my husband’s.
vs.
Those old things in the attic are my husbands.
Unrelated CSB:
Jr. High and someone told me the joke "What’s black and white and read all over?
I never understood it until someone shouted out “A bloody zebra!”
Comic genius. I only understood the “newspaper” reference later in life.
/CSB
Thomas Pynchon explored a similar theme in Gravity’s Rainbow through a character’s ongoing contemplation of how many ways the nonsense phrase “you never did the Kenosha Kid” could be used to communicate different things given changes in emphasis and context.
I think a strong emphasis on “said” (at least if it’s strong enough: “I never sai-aid she…”) means that the speaker insinuated that she ate the sandwiches, or maybe wrote it, but never explicitly said it.
I never said this was true of most sentences.
What question are you answering?
Who never said that she at their sandwich?
When did you say that she ate your sandwich?
In what way did you never communicate that she ate your sandwich?
Who did you never say ate your sandwich?
What did you say that she never did to your sandwich?
Whose sandwich did never say she ate?
What did you never say that she ate?
Why would anyone ask for a document from someone who orks cows? No wonder they resented being asked!
Resent / re-sent
Coworker / cow-orker
This is so very very true. And it’s especially true if you are trying to convey sarcasm or even Happy Mutant’s quintessential “snark.” Don’t assume folks will infer the same meaning from what you’ve written, and, perhaps more importantly, don’t get upset when it happens, because it will. Use it as an opportunity to clarify, not to chastize the reader.
Debated here:
Art imitating life?
Which two would that be? Literally every different emphasis changes the meaning from my perspective.
“I never said she ate my sandwich”
“I never said she ate my sandwich”
Samsam disagrees:
Without emphasis, the sentence means, “I never said she ate my sandwich.”
The emphasis contains additional meaning not given in the sentence itself:
“[sentence] – someone else said it.”
“[sentence] – the supposed utterance did not in fact happen at all.”
“[sentence] – in fact, I relayed the sentiment via text message.”
“[sentence] – I said her brother did it!”
“[sentence] – she threw it in the trash.”
“[sentence] – the sandwich-deprived person was Ratel.”
“[sentence] – but she did eat my chips.”
Now the enhanced sentences, even without emphasis, match the various emphasized versions in meaning.
There’s a word for this gap (what’s conveyed in the words alone vs what’s conveyed with intonation and the like) in linguistics, but I’m having trouble summoning it.
When I call the kids downstairs to have dinner, I intentionally leave off the verbal comma in “Let’s eat, people!”
