Lecture 8: Intonation

Definition Tune shapes Functions of intonation The basic English tunes

The falling tune The glide down The first rising tune The glide up The second rising tune The take off The falling-rising tune The dive
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Definition
Intonation is the pattern of pitch changes that occurs over a phrase which may be a complete sentence. When he came, I greeted him I bought some bananas, oranges, apples and grapes The part of a sentence over which a particular pattern extends is called a tone group. A short sentence often forms a single tone group, while longer ones are made up of two or more. Within the tone group, there is usually a single syllable that stands out because it carries a major pitch change. A syllable of this kind is called the tonic syllable.
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Tonic syllable
It is usually impossible to predict which syllable will be the tonic syllable in a tone group. It depends on what the speaker considers important. In general, new information is more likely to receive a tonic stress than material that has already been mentioned. Water is a liquid How was he? Was he boring? Water is a liquid He was very boring He was very boring
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Tune shapes
The shape of a tune is decided partly by the number of important words in the group, and partly by the exact attitude you wish to express. Important words are words which carry the most meaning in a word group. Important words must be stressed, but not all stressed words are important. Examples: How was John?
He was in an appallingly bad temper

 Was John in a good temper? He was in an appallingly bad temper

Was John in a bad temper? He was in an appallingly bad temper

Functions of intonation
1. Attitudinal function. Intonation enables us to epxress emotions and attitudes as we speak, and this adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language. This is called the attitudinal function of intonation. E.g. Thank you. Starts high and ends low shows real gratitude Starts low and ends high casual acknowledgement of something not very important.
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 Where did you go?

Sounds more business like, interested in the Subject.

Where did you go?

Interested in both the Subject of the conversation and the other speaker.
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2.

Accentual function Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be perceived as stressed, and in particular the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllble marks out the word to which it belongs as the most important in the tone unit. This has been called the accentual function of intonation. I want to know where hes travelling to. He was very boring

3.

Grammatical function. The listener is better able to recognize the grammar and syntactic structure of what is being said by using the information contained in the intonation. For example, such things as the placement of boundaries between phrases, clauses and sentences, the difference between questions and statements and the use of grammatical subordination may be indicated. This is called the grammatical function of intonation. Those who sold quickly made a profit. My son John and my daughter. Shes dead
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4.

Discourse function Looking at the act of speaking in a broader way, we can see that intonation can signal to the listener what is to be taken as new information and what is already given, can suggest when the speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or link with material in another tone unit and, in conversation, can convey to the listener what kind of response is expected. You love her, dont you? Since the last time we met when we had that huge dinner, Ive been on a diet.
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The basic English tunes

The falling tune The glide down The first rising tune The glide up The second rising tune The take off The falling-rising tune The dive

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The falling tune The glide down

1. Definition The falling tune is the intonation pattern consisting of a fall in the voice from a fairly high pitch to a very low one. 1. a. How the voice falls. If there is one important word On a single syllabe, the voice falls within the syllable. No Two

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 On more than one syllable, the voice either falls within the stressed syllable or it jumps from that syllable to the next. Unstressed syllables at the end are very low. Wonderful Photography

If there are other words following the falls, they may still have stress, but they are still said on that very low pitch just like the unstressed syllable. Susans knocking at the door

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b.

When there is more than one important word: the last one has the fall, but the other ones are treated differently. The stressed syllable of the first important word is high and any unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch. The stressed syllable of the second important word is a little lower and any unstressed syllables following it are on the same pitch. The falls starts at the same pitch as the syllable just before it.
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How can I possibly pay him two hundred pounds?

Notes If there are any unstressed syllables before the stressed syllable of the first important word, these are all said on a rather low pitch. Also any stressed syllable near the beginning which belongs to a word which is not important is said on that rather low pitch.
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Ill s see you on Thursday night

You can phone me at any time of the day or night

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3.

Symbols Before the stressed syllalbe where the voice falls, we put ( \ ) Before the stressed syllable of each other important word, we put ( ' ). Unstressed syllables at the beginning have no mark before them. If there is a low-pitched stress near the beginning, it is marked by ( < ). And the same mark is used for stressed syllables which come after the fall.

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I waited almost twenty five minutes for the wretched man

4.

How to use the glide down.

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The first rising tune - The glide up

1. Definition The glide up is the intonation pattern consisting of a rise at the end of a sentence but the tune starts at a high pitch. 2. How the voice rises All syllables, either stressed or unstressed, before the rise ( the stressed syllable of the last imporant word) are treated exactly the same as in the glide down. At the stressed syllable of the last important word, the voice rises from a low pitch to one just above the middle of the voice. 19

 All the syllables, stressed as well as unstressed) after the stressed syllable of the last important word are on the rise. Is it true that youre changing your job?

Did you say it was your twentieth birthday today?

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If the sentence consists of only one important word, the voice starts at a very low pitch. Forty of them were there?

3.

Symbols We use ( / ) before the stressed syllable of the last important word to show where the rise starts. We use ( ) before any stressed syllable within the rise We put ( ' ) before the stressed syllable of each important word.

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 Have you been at work today John?

Could I borrow this book for a day or two?

Would you mind if I brought my mother in low to see you?

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4.

How to use the glide up

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The second rising tune - The take off

1. Definition The take off is the intonation pattern that ends with a rise in the voice like the Glide up but any words or syllables before the rise are low. We call it the take off because like an aeroplane taking off, it starts by running along at a low level and finally rises into the air. 2. How the voice take off The rise starts at the stressed syllable of the last important word.
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 All the syllables before the rise are said on the same low pitch as the beginning of the rise. Each syllable after the rise is a bit higher. I was only trying help him with it.

I wasnt expecting him at six oclock in the morning

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3.

The symbols We use ( / ) before the rise. Any stressed syllable after this have ( ) Any stressed syllables before this have ( < )

You shouldnt have given him all that money you silly boy

4. How to use the take off

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The falling-rising tune The dive

1. Definition The dive is the intonation pattern consisting of a fall from a rather high pitch to a low one and then a rise to about the middle of the voice. 2. How the voice falls and rises The fall-rise is also connected with the stressed syllable of the last important word. If that syllable is finalin the group, the fall-rise is completed on that syllable. Five Soon
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 If there is one or several syllables following, the fall and the rise are separated. The fall is on the stressed syllable of the last important word and the rise on the last syllable of all. Seventy of them

If there are stressed syllables of unimportant words following the fall, the rise at the end is from the last stressed syllable. Mary would probably tell you

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Words or syllables before the fall are said in the same way as for the glide down and glide up. I may be able to come on Monday

3.

Note that the fall of the fall-rise is always from a fairly high note. Symbols If the stressed syllable of the last important word is the final in the group, or it is followed only by unstressed syllables, we but ( v ) before it. 29

 But if the fall is followed by one or more stressed syllables, we mark the fall with ( \ ) and we put ( / ) before the last stressed syllable of all. Other stressed syllables between the fall and the rise have ( ) before them. Other intonation marks are the same for the gilde down and the glide up. John told me he was going to holiday next week

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4. How to use the dive

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