INTONATION
A. Introduction
There are other suprasegmental features, besides stress, that govern appropriate English pronunciation. You will certainly remember that these other features include intonation, tone, and length. Due to its importance in native-like pronunciation, the suprasegmental feature 'intonation' will be explained here. 'Intonation' means when, why and how a speaker chooses to raise, lower or sustain the pitch of her or his voice at particular points while speaking. These choices are as much a part of the grammatical system of the language as, say, using the correct auxiliary verb, or remembering when and where to place the person markers (I, you, he/she ...) which tell us who is carrying out an action; who or what is acted upon.
Intonation is very important to make the point that we are not interested in all aspects of a speaker’s pitch, the only thing that should interest us are those which carry some linguistic information.
B. Intonation
1. What is Intonation?
Language conveys very specific information, such as how to get somewhere or what someone is doing. It can be also used beyond the exact meaning of the words to indicate how the speaker feels about what he is saying, or how he personally feels at that moment. Generally speaking, if English is not your first language, this is where you start running into difficulty. Even if you pronounce each word clearly, if your intonation patterns are non-standard, your meaning will probably not be clear. Also, in terms of comprehension, you will lose a great deal of information if you are listening for the actual words used.
One of the most important tasks in analyzing intonation is to listen the speaker’s pitch and recognize what it is doing, this is not an easy thing to do, and it seems to be a quite different skill from that acquired in studying segmental phonetics.
Intonation in English is the tools for achieving at least five important aims:
a. expressing new information
This is the starting point of standard intonation. When we say that we need to stress the new information, it is logical to think, "Hmmm, this is the first time I am saying this sentence, so it is all new information. I had better stress every word." Well, not quite. In Standard English, we consider that the nouns carry the weight of a sentence, when all else is equal. Although the verb carries important information, it does not receive the primary stress of a first-time noun.
Example:
Dogs eat bones.
After the information has been introduced, or is being repeated through the use of pronouns, the intonation shifts over to the verb. Notice how the intonation changes when a sentence changes from nouns to pronouns:
Dogs eat bones. They eat them.
b. showing contrast
Once the intonation of new information is established, you will soon notice that there is a pattern that breaks that flow. When you want to emphasize one thing over another, you reflect this contrast with pitch change. Notice how the intonation indicates contrast:
Bob studies English.
Bob studies English, but he doesn't use it.
If a person consistently stresses "contrast words" as opposed to "new information words", he can end up sounding permanently argumentative or bad-tempered:
I said it is good.
He doesn't like it. Where are you going?
c. expressing meaning
A good exercise to demonstrate the variety of meaning through intonation changes is to take a single sentence, try stressing each word in turn, and see the totally different meanings that come out.
1. I didn't say he stole the money.
2. I didn't say he stole the money.
3. I didn't say he stole the money.
4. I didn't say he stole the money.
5. I didn't say he stole the money.
6. I didn't say he stole the money.
7. I didn't say he stole the money.
Once you are clear on the intonation changes in the seven sentences, you can add context words to clarify the meaning.
d. showing pronunciation
In any language, there are areas of overlap, where one category has a great deal in common with a different category. In this case, intonation and pronunciation have two areas of overlap.
1. The first is the pronunciation of the letter T. When a T is at the beginning of a word (such as table, ten, take), it is a clear sharp /t/ sound. It is also clear in combination with certain other letters, (contract, contain, etc.) When T is in the middle of a word, between two vowels, or in an unstressed position, it turns into a softer /d/ sound.
Betty bought a bit of better butter. /bedɪ bɔ:d ə bɪd ə bedə bʌdə/
It is this intonation/pronunciation shift that accounts for the difference between photography /fəˈtɒgrəfɪ/ and photograph /ˈfəʊdəgræf/.
2. The second overlap has to do with the syllable (within a word) that receives the prominence of stress and pitch. In fact, the same syllable that receives the stress, will also govern pitch in the sentence if it occurs in the last content word, or if it is the focus of contrast in the sentence.
e. showing mood or personality
This is an extremely important aspect of intonation, as it goes beyond what you are trying to say--it dictates how your listener will relate to you as an individual. In fact, intonation determines if you will be considered charming or rude, confident or nervous, or informed or unfamiliar.
An extremely important part of intonation is inside a one-syllable word. You may wonder if intonation exists in a one-syllable word at all. However, we often put little sounds in a one-syllable word that are not in the written language, but that convey a great deal of information in terms of who
we are. These extra sounds are explained in the following sections under the heading of liaisons.
When we contrast two similar words, one ending with a voiced consonant (d, z, g, v, b) and the other with an unvoiced consonant (t, s, k, f, p), you will hear the difference in the preceding vowel, specifically in the length or duration of that vowel.
2. Types of Intonation
In general, English uses six different forms of intonation patterns:
a. Falling Intonation
Falling intonation is characterized by a clear fall of the pitch after the stressed syllable of the last content word towards the end of the sentence. In other words, the pitch will have to fall after the stressed syllable of the last content word. Falling intonation is used in many situations.
1. Statements
Statements are those sentences that provide information for the listener. They may be either positive or negative. They may sometimes be imperative. All of these forms of statements require falling intonation. For statements, you should stress the nouns and let the tone fall at the end of the sentence, Take the following examples:
Dogs eat bones.
Open the door, please.
2. WH-questions
WH-questions are those questions that ask for information by having the question word (e.g., where, when, how, what, which, why, who, etc.) placed at the front of the sentence. You have certainly noticed that the pitch falls for the questions that begin with WH-words like where, when, etc. Take the following examples:
Hey! Where are you going?
Which temples should I visit?
3. Tag question
Tag questions are very small questions (usually in the form of auxiliary verbs followed by subject) that come at the end of statements (often for politeness purposes). They can receive either falling or rising intonation depending on the predictions the speaker can make. When the speaker believes that the listener will confirm what he says, he will use falling intonation; when, on the other hand, the speaker is not sure whether the listener will confirm his position, he may prefer to use rising intonation. Rising intonation is often more polite. Take the following examples:
Jack will come over to lunch, won't he?
You come from London, don't you?
b. Rising Intonation
Rising intonation is characterized by a clear rise of the pitch after the stressed syllable of the last content word of the sentence onwards. In other words, the pitch will have to rise after the stressed syllable of the last content word. Rising intonation is used in:
1. yes-no questions
In English, yes-no questions are often differentiated from question-word questions (also called information questions or WH-questions) in terms of intonation. Yes-no questions require rising intonation. Take the following examples:
Have you just come from the airport?
Is there a local bus terminal nearby?
2. Repeated questions
Notice that pitch on a regular question goes up (compared with a statement), but drops back down at the end.
Do dogs eat bones?
A repeated, rhetorical or emotional question goes up, and then up again at the end.
Do dogs eat bones?!
3. Tag Questions
Rising intonation is also used in tag question in which the speaker is not sure if the listener will confirm what he says. Take the following examples:
Jack will come over to lunch, won't he?
You come from London, don't you?
c. Rising-Falling Intonation
Rising-falling intonation is characterized by a combination of a rise followed by a fall. Rising-falling intonation is characterized by a combination of a rise followed by a fall. In this case, the pitch will go up on one part of the sentence and then fall down on another part. Rising-falling intonation is often used in:
1. two-part statements
In two-part sentences, the first half of the sentence usually sets up the second half. That is, the first half requires rising intonation, and the second half will take on falling intonation. The cradle of intonation in both parts is the last content word of each part. Take the following example:
Dogs eat bones, but cats eat fish.
2. Intro-phrases
Intro-phrases, too, require rising-falling intonation patterns. When you want to preface your statement, use a rising tone. In the following example, the first part requires rising intonation because it is an intro phrase. The second part will then be articulated with falling intonation.
As we all know, dogs eat bones.
3. Listings
Rising-falling intonation is also used in listings. With more than one item in a list, all but the last one have a rising tone. The last item in the list will, however, require falling intonation.
Dogs eat bones, kibbles, and meat.
If there are more than two sentences joined by conjunctions, the same pattern will be used. That is, all but the last one have a rising tone. The last part will, however, require falling intonation. Take the following example:
Dogs eat bones, cats eat cheese, and mice eat wheat.
In this example, the parts prior to the conjunction "and" require rising intonation, and the part following it requires falling intonation.
d. Falling-rising intonation
Falling-rising intonation is characterized by a combination of a fall followed by a rise. This intonation pattern is the reverse of the rising-falling pattern. Falling-rising intonation is often used for soothing and politeness. When small children feel uneasy, for example, parents use falling-rising intonation to soothe them.
1. Soothing
Soothing refers to statements that make pain or discomfort less severe. Take the following examples:
Don't cry.
I'll take you to the park.
2. Politeness
For purposes of politeness, too, falling-rising intonation is a good tool. Take the following example:
Thank you
If the level of pitch falls on "thank" and then rises over "you", the expression will be more polite than when it is pronounced with falling intonation.
3. Pleading
Falling-rising intonation pattern is sometimes used for pleading. Pleading refers to statements in which the speaker makes an earnest or urgent entreaty, often in emotional terms. Take this example:
I plead with you to stay.
You will have certainly noticed that falling-rising intonation is a good tool for the expression of emotions. Politeness, soothing, and pleading are all emotionally charged.
e. Take-off intonation
Take-off intonation is characterized by a take-off pattern after the most important contrastive stress of the sentence. In other words, the speaker begins with a regular or level tone and then gradually raises the pitch (similar to the way airplanes run along the runway before take-off). The point at which the pitch comes to a full rising pattern depends on the speaker's choice. This is normally the point the speaker finds most important. Take-off intonation is often used in statements with negatively-charged emotions. For example, take-off intonation can freely be used for grumbling. Take the following example:
You shouldn't have given him all that money you silly boy.
Grumbling is a kind of emotional expression, one that is normally negative. Other forms of negative emotional expressions, too, require take-off intonation. Cursing, blasphemy, etc. often take on this intonation pattern.
References
Birjandi, Parvis.(2005). “An Introduction To Phonetics”. Allameh Tabatabaii University
Roach, Pater. (1991) English Phonetics and Phonology”. Cambridge University Press.
