Intonation

CLASS E2

Bich Phuong - Huyen Trang

Minh Thu - Do Nham

ENGLISH PHONETICS & PHONOLOGY

I. Definition

II. Functions of intonation

1. Attitudinal function

2. Accentual function

3. Grammatical function

4. Discourse function

CONTENT

WHAT IS “INTONATION” ?

Intonation can be described as the movements or variation in pitch to which we attach familiar labels describing levels (ex. High/low) and tones (falling/rising), etc.

(The way voice goes up and down in pitch.)

Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say.

Without intonation, it's impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words. 

KEY COMPONENTS OF INTONATION

SENTENCE STRESS

makes the utterance understandable to

the listener

PITCHis the

degree of height ofour voice in speech

RHYTHM

Sentence stress

provides rhythm in connected speech.

FUNCTIONS OF

INTONATIONATTITUDINAL

ACCENTUAL

GRAMMATICAL

DISCOURSE

ATTITUDINALFUNCTION

To express emotions and attitudes which adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language as a difference from its written counterpart.

Ex. finality, confidence, interest, surprise, doubt, joy, pain, irony, anger, boredom, gratefulness, and so on.

ATTITUDINALFUNCTION

How to express a certain attitude:

+ Different voice qualities for different attitudes. + Different pitch range in different ways

+ Different keys: high key, mid key or low key + One may use different facial expressions, gestures and body movements

ATTITUDINALFUNCTION

PRACTICE

Say “HELLO! IT’S NICE TO MEET YOU” to:

A friend you meet regularly;A friend you haven’t seen for a long time; A neighbor you don’t like; A 6 month old baby;A to know if someone is listening;

ACCENTUALFUNCTION

Accentual function derived from the word

“accent” = stress

To produce the effect of prominence on syllables that should be perceived as stressed while tonic stress on a particular syllable marks the word as the most important in the tone-unit.

In this case, intonation works to focus attention on a particular lexical item or syllable.

The most common position for the placement of tonic syllable is the last lexical word (nouns, adjectives, words, adverbs) and not the functional words.

ACCENTUALFUNCTION

Ex1: - She was wearing a red dress (Normal placement) - She was wearing a red dress The writer wants to emphasize that she was not

wearing a green dress

Ex2: - Where he is I want to know traveling to.The word “to” is a preposition and is not a lexical

word and it is not stressed

- I want to now where he is traveling to. The writer doesn’t want to know where he’s

traveling from so the word “to” here is stressed.

ACCENTUALFUNCTION

Functions of Accentual Intonation similarly for the purpose of emphasis the tonic stress can be placed in other positions.

a- |The movie was very boring | b- |The movie was very boring|

a- |You shouldn’t talk so loudly | b- |You shouldn’t talk so loudly|

ACCENTUALFUNCTION

Intonation is used to clear out the ambiguities.  

- I have plans to leave. (I am planning to leave)  

- I have plans to leave. (I have some plans/diagrams/drawings that I have to leave)    

PRACTICE

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.

ACCENTUALFUNCTION

GRAMMATICALFUNCTION

To recognize the grammar and syntax structure of what is being said by using the information contained in the intonation.

For example such things as :

1. The placement of boundaries between phrases, clauses and sentences.

2. The choice of falling and rising tones

GRAMMATICALFUNCTION

Grammar function performed by tone boundaries→ remove ambiguity Ex: - |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)

GRAMMATICALFUNCTION

2. The choice between the falling and raising tone

* To distinguish sentence types

GRAMMATICALFUNCTION

Yes/NoQuestions

WHQuestions

Statements

Imperatives

Lists

- Falling intonationEx. Where are you from?

- Rising intonationEx. Have you finished?

- Falling intonationEx. She lives in a house in a small village.

- Falling intonationEx. Sit down, put it on the table

- Rising, rising,… and falling at the end. Ex. I need a pen, a pencil, and some paper.

GRAMMATICALFUNCTION

2. The choice between the falling and raising tone

* Cause different meanings

Ex: Question tags:

They’re coming tomorrow, aren’t they?↘

→ request for confirmation.

They’re coming tomorrow, aren’t they? ↗

→ request for information.

Intonation can signal to the listener what is to be taken as “new” information and what is already “given”.

It can indicate when the speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or link with material in another tone unit.

Mark prominence.

Indicate expectation of speakers from listeners respone.

Faciculate cooperation between speaker.

DISCOURSALFUNCTION

DISCOURSALFUNCTION

1. Attention focusing

In case of attention focusing, tonic stress is placed on the appropriate syllable of one particular word in the tone unit. The tonic stress is placed on the word that is the most important.

Ex.

a. She went to Scotland.

b. He went to the drawing-room.

DISCOURSALFUNCTION

2. Information content

Sometimes the stress is placed on syllable in term of “information content”. The more predictable a word occurrence in a given sentence, the lower its information will be. The tonic stress will be placed on words with high information content.

Ex.

a. I have to take a dog for a walk.

b. I have to take a dog to the vet.

Source:

http://www.slideshare.net http://www.semioticon.com/virtuals/multimodality/martin.pdf