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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 himI 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 Water is a liquid

How was he? He was very boring

Was he 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 arewords 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

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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

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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 conversationand 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

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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 theuse 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 tothe 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 lowone.

1. How the voice falls.

a. 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 isa little lower and any unstressed syllables following it

are on the same pitch.

The falls starts at the same pitch as the syllable justbefore 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 whichbelongs 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 ahigh 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.

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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 orsyllables 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 (