INTONATION
Definition
• In speech, intonation is the use of changing vocal
pitch (rising and falling) to
convey grammatical information or personal
attitude. Intonation is about how we say things,
rather than what we say.The 'melody' you hear is
the intonation.
Attitudinal function
• Intonation enables the speaker to express
emotions and attitudes which adds a special
meaning to spoken language as a difference
from its written counterpart.
• Allow us to express : finality - confidence -
interest - surprise - doubt - joy - pain - irony -
anger - boredom and so on.
Accentual function
• Derived from the word”accent”=stress.
• The placement of tonic stress is determined by intonation.
1.the most common position for the placement of tonic syllable is the last
lexical
word(nouns,verbs,adjectives,adverbs)and not the functional words.
Eg: "We know a man in our area.“
2.but,for contrastive purposes any word can become the tonic syllable .
Eg: a) “she was ‘wearing a ‘red dress”
b)” She was not ' wearing a ‘red dress/ she was 'wearing a ‘ green
dress.”(contrastive purpose placement)
3. similar to the purpose of emphasis the tonic stress can be placed in other
positons.
• Eg: It was 'very \boring (no emphasis)
• It was \very boring (emphasis)
GRAMMATICAL function
• The listener is better able to recognize the grammar and syntax
structure of what is being said by using the information
contained the intonation.For example such things as:
• 1. Grammatical intonation is used in those sentences which are
ambigious
• “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)
2 Question-tags and intonation
They are coming tomorrow,aren’t they?("aren't they "has a falling
tone")=>certain about inform and whereas.
Discourse function
• in conjunction with body language is used for similar purpose in
speech as well as for establishing or confirming the status
• 1) using intonation to focus the listener's attention on aspects of
the important message.
+the tonic stress is placed on the word that is in some sense the
most important as in:
Eg: she 'went to Scotland
+ the falling tone indicates new information while rising tone
indicate shared or given information.
eg: ‘since the ‘last time we met,when we had that ‘
huge dinner,i have been on a diet.(falling)
2) the other is concerned with the regulation of conversational
behavious.intonation ,of the participants in a conversation .
4 Types of tunes :
• Rising Intonation
• Falling Intonation
• Fall - rise intonation
• Rise - fall intonation
Rising Intonation
• It can express a number of various emotions, such
as : non-finality, surprise, doubt,interest, politeness,
lack of confidence.
Rising Intonation
• - This tone conveys an impression that something
more is to follow.
Example:
A :“do you know john smith?”
B : yes.
B's reply is to invite A to continue what she intends to
say about John Smith.
Rising Intonation
• It can be used while making yes -no or general
questions:
• Examples:
• Was she glad to SEE him?
• Can you help ME ?
• Is it OVER ?
Rising Intonation
• - This tone can be used while listing things:
• Examples:
• - Red, brown, yellow, green, and BLUE.
• - Oranges, bananas, mangoes and APPLES.
Falling Intonation
• If someone is asked a question and the reply is yes
or no, it will be understood that the question is now
answered and that there is nothing more to be said.
Thus the falling tone gives an impression of finality.
Falling Intonation
• - Statements (declarative sentences):
• "i'm absolutely certain“
• - Special questions or finality : "Where do you
Live?“
• - Commands ( imperative sentences ):
• "STOP it! Sit DOwn.“
• - Exclamatory sentences :
• "What a wonderful SURprize!"
Fall - Rise Tone
• This tone shows limited agreement, response with
reservation, uncertainty, or doubt
• Examples:- You may be right.
• - Its possible .
• - He may be honest .
• - It can be true
Rise - fall tone
• This tone is used to convey strong feelings of
approval, disapproval or surprise.
Example:
- It’s impossible.
- - You were first.
- - He is honest.
- - It’s true.
exercise
• xác đinh tune cho các câu sau:
1)What's the time?(wh question)
2)Have you got a pen? (yes,no question)
3)You need a pen, a pencil and some paper.(list of items)
4)A: I have heard that he is a kind man
B: Yes (show a strong approval )
5)A: I have heard that he is a kind man.
B: Yes (doesn't completely agee)
6)A: What time are we meeting? Did you say half past two?
B: No, not half past two( shared information), half past three(new
information)
7)You're from Poland, aren't you?(expecting confirmation)
8)You live in Warsaw, don't you? (showing less certainty)
answers:
• 1) falling tune
• 2) rising tune
• 3) rising, rising ,falling
• 4) rising- falling
• 5) falling- rising
• 6) falling ,falling –rising
• 7) falling
• 8) rising