Functions & Uses of English Intonation

Prepared by Zhian Fadhil Asaad

Functions and Uses of English Intonation

Intonation and stress work together to express meaning. Intonation makes it easier for a listener to understand what a speaker is trying to convey. The following are often cited as

Important functions of English intonation

a. the attitudinal function;b. the accentual function;c. the grammatical function;d. the discourse function of intonation.

The attitudinal function

Intonation is used to convey our feelings and attitudes. For instance, the same sentence can be said in different ways, to express happiness, gratitude, anger, boredom, etc. Usually, intonation units with high heads sound more lively and interesting than those with low heads. A few generalizations can be made here: the falling intonation is said to be more often associated with completeness and uncertainty or questioning; the falling-rising is said to be associated with feeling of hesitation, contrast, reservation or doubt.

The accentual function

The location of the tonic syllable is of considerable linguistic importance. The most common position for this is on the last information word of the intonation unit. For contrastive purposes, however, any word may bear the tonic syllable.

The grammatical function

Some sentences may be ambiguous when written, but this can be removed by the use of intonation.For example:

' Those who ' sold quickly ' made a profit.↘↗ ↘ (A profit was made by those who sold quickly.)

' Those who sold ' quickly ' made a profit.↘↗ ↘(A profit was quickly made by those who sold.)

The discourse function of intonation

In speech, people often use intonation to focus the listener’s attention on aspects of the message that are most important. So the placement of nucleus or tonic stress depends on the “information content”: the more predictable a word’s occurrence is in a given context, the lower its information content is. For example, people would say: The telephone’s ringing. The kettle’s boiling.

In speech, people often use the falling tone to indicate new information and rising tone ( including falling-rising) to indicate “shared” of “given” information. People also use intonation to indicate to others that they have finished speaking and that another person is expected to speak.

The use of English intonation

The falling tone -- indicating `definiteness' and `completeness'.

Types of sentences:Ordinary statementsWH questionsImperative sentences (strong commands)Exclamatory sentences

The rising tone - indicating `uncertainty', `incompleteness' or `politeness'.

Types of sentences:Yes-no questions Statements intended as questionsStatements intended to be soothing or encouragingRepetition questions

The falling-rising tone - showing contrast, implication, disagreement, contradiction, or warning, etc.

Types of sentences:Statements where contrast is impliedStatements which imply reservationStatements which show disagreement or contradictionWarnings

Utterances : Question ,Statement , Sure ,Unsure Examples: He left already.Sally’s moving.John missed his flight.It’s snowing in New York.Your name’s George, isn’t it?It’s going to rain tomorrow, isn’t it?You wanted to go, didn’t you?We should offer to help, shouldn’t we?

Utterances: Yes-no ,Choice 1. Are you coming Friday or Saturday?2. Can you meet us at eight or nine?3. Would you like beer or wine?4. Are you going to Spain or Portugal?

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