intonation

Lecture No. 15
Intonation 1
Intonation can be defined as rise and fall of pitch. Pitch is described in terms of high and low
Form and function in intonation
We are going to look at the intonation of one- syllable utterances. Two common one – syllable utterances are yes and no . The first thing to notice is that we have a choice of saying these words with the pitch remaining at a constant level , or with the pitch changing from one level to another . the word used for the behavior of pitch is tone . A one – syllable word can be said with either a level tone or a moving one. If you try saying yes or no with a level tone, you ll find the result unusual. Moving tones are more common. If English speakers want to say yes or no in a definite, final manner, they will probably use a falling tone that descends from a higher to a lower pitch. If they want to say yes? or no? in a questioning manner , they may say it with a rising tone – a movement from a lower pitch to a higher one
Tone and tone languages
Symbols can be used to represent tones by means of marks placed before the syllable in the following way:
Level yes no
Falling yes no
Rising yes no
If it were important to distinguish between a high level and a low level tone for English we could do it in this way:
High level yes no
Low level yes no
The meaning of yes and no is not different with different tones because English is not a tone language. Some other languages such as Mandarin Chinese tone language in which the meaning of then word is determined by changing the tone.
Complex tones and pitch height
This is exemplified by fall – rise tone, where the pitch descends and then rises again. The other complex tone which is less frequently used is rise – fall in which the pitch follows the opposite movement.
Each speaker has his or her own normal pitch range: a top level which is the highest pitch normally used by the speaker, and a bottom level that the speaker s pitch normally does not go bellow. In ordinary speech, the i8ntonation tends to take place within the level part of the speaker s pitch range, but in situations where strong feelings are to be expressed. It is usual to make use of extra pitch height.
A normal unemphatic yes could be diagramed like this:
But a strong emphatic yes like this:
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Some functions of English tones
Fall yes no
This tone represents an answer to a question. It gives an impression of finality. .
Rise yes no
This tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow:
A: (wishing to attract B s attention): Excuse me.
B: yes
(B s reply is equivalent to what do you want?)
With no similar functions can be seen:
A: Have you seen Ann?
If be replies no, he implies quite clearly that he has no interest in continuing with topic of conversation. But a reply of no would be an invitation to A to explain why she is looking for Ann, or why she doesn t know where she is.
Someone may ask a question that implies readiness to present some new information .For example:
A : Do you know what the longest balloon flight was ?
If B replies no , he is inviting A to tell him , while a response with no means that he doesn t know and is not expecting to be told .
Fall – rise yes no
This tone is used to describe limited agreement or response with reservation:
A: I ve heard that it s a good school .
B: yes
B s reply means that he would not completely agree with what A said, and A would probably expect B to go on to explain why he was reluctant to agree .
Rise – fall yes no
This is used to convey rather strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise:
A: You wouldn t do an awful thing like that , would you ?
B: no
A: isn t the view lovely!
B: yes
Level yes no
This is used t o convey a feeling of saying something routine , interesting or boring . A teacher calling the names of pupils from a register will often do so using level tone on each name and the pupils are likely to respond with yes when their names are called.
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Functions of intonation 1
1-Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak, and this adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language. This is called the attitudinal function of language.
2-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 syllable 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.
3-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, or sentences, the difference between questions and statements and the use of grammatical subordination may be indicated. This has been called the grammatical function of intonation.
4-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. Such functions are examples of intonation s discourse function.

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Lecture No. 15
Intonation 1
Intonation can be defined as rise and fall of pitch. Pitch is described in terms of high and low
Form and function in intonation
We are going to look at the intonation of one- syllable utterances. Two common one – syllable utterances are yes and no . The first thing to notice is that we have a choice of saying these words with the pitch remaining at a constant level , or with the pitch changing from one level to another . the word used for the behavior of pitch is tone . A one – syllable word can be said with either a level tone or a moving one. If you try saying yes or no with a level tone, you ll find the result unusual. Moving tones are more common. If English speakers want to say yes or no in a definite, final manner, they will probably use a falling tone that descends from a higher to a lower pitch. If they want to say yes? or no? in a questioning manner , they may say it with a rising tone – a movement from a lower pitch to a higher one
Tone and tone languages
Symbols can be used to represent tones by means of marks placed before the syllable in the following way:
Level yes no
Falling yes no
Rising yes no
If it were important to distinguish between a high level and a low level tone for English we could do it in this way:
High level yes no
Low level yes no
The meaning of yes and no is not different with different tones because English is not a tone language. Some other languages such as Mandarin Chinese tone language in which the meaning of then word is determined by changing the tone.
Complex tones and pitch height
This is exemplified by fall – rise tone, where the pitch descends and then rises again. The other complex tone which is less frequently used is rise – fall in which the pitch follows the opposite movement.
Each speaker has his or her own normal pitch range: a top level which is the highest pitch normally used by the speaker, and a bottom level that the speaker s pitch normally does not go bellow. In ordinary speech, the i8ntonation tends to take place within the level part of the speaker s pitch range, but in situations where strong feelings are to be expressed. It is usual to make use of extra pitch height.
A normal unemphatic yes could be diagramed like this:
But a strong emphatic yes like this:
31
Some functions of English tones
Fall yes no
This tone represents an answer to a question. It gives an impression of finality. .
Rise yes no
This tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow:
A: (wishing to attract B s attention): Excuse me.
B: yes
(B s reply is equivalent to what do you want?)
With no similar functions can be seen:
A: Have you seen Ann?
If be replies no, he implies quite clearly that he has no interest in continuing with topic of conversation. But a reply of no would be an invitation to A to explain why she is looking for Ann, or why she doesn t know where she is.
Someone may ask a question that implies readiness to present some new information .For example:
A : Do you know what the longest balloon flight was ?
If B replies no , he is inviting A to tell him , while a response with no means that he doesn t know and is not expecting to be told .
Fall – rise yes no
This tone is used to describe limited agreement or response with reservation:
A: I ve heard that it s a good school .
B: yes
B s reply means that he would not completely agree with what A said, and A would probably expect B to go on to explain why he was reluctant to agree .
Rise – fall yes no
This is used to convey rather strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise:
A: You wouldn t do an awful thing like that , would you ?
B: no
A: isn t the view lovely!
B: yes
Level yes no
This is used t o convey a feeling of saying something routine , interesting or boring . A teacher calling the names of pupils from a register will often do so using level tone on each name and the pupils are likely to respond with yes when their names are called.
32
Functions of intonation 1
1-Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak, and this adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language. This is called the attitudinal function of language.
2-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 syllable 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.
3-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, or sentences, the difference between questions and statements and the use of grammatical subordination may be indicated. This has been called the grammatical function of intonation.
4-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. Such functions are examples of intonation s discourse function.

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