Kinds of Tones and their function

Linguistics are not in complete agreement about the precise number

of tones which are used by speakers of English. Some distinguish as
many as eight, others work with four or five. The following tones are
the ones most usually encountered.
•Fall
•Rise – fall
•Fall – rise
•Rise
•Level (flat)
•High
•Low
• The most important are the first four: rising, falling, and
combinations of rising and falling tones.
• Flat tones, including high and low tones, aren’t common and don’t
have many uses, so we won’t talk about them.
• However, rising and falling tones can each
have many different meanings. Keep this in
mind: one intonation pattern does not mean
one thing. The same intonation can have
different meanings in different situations.
• Also, intonation is flexible. There are rules, but
the rules are not one hundred per cent fixed.
Different people speak in different styles.
DIFFERENT INTONATION SYMBOLS
 Importance of Intonation in Social
Interaction
TURN-TAKING: Giving the floor to another
person or taking your turn in a conversation

INFORMATION STRUCTURE :Major stress

items pick out the most important words in
the sentence .
 What will happen if I don’t use
intonation appropriately?
• You may mislead your listener or your
audience. For example, repeatedly using high
rising intonation at the end of speech chunks
and sentences can be irritating and confusing.
Listeners can also get confused because they
can’t distinguish between what information is
finished and what is not. The speaker may also
give the impression of seeking feedback or
approval and therefore lacks confidence.
• If you don’t finish off with a falling intonation
at some point, the listener is left ‘hanging’,
waiting for the ‘story’ to end.
• Now try a different intonation:
• What’s wrong with using a lot of high rising intonation in
presentations?
• In a presentation, a series of high rising tones may
communicate that:

• • you haven’t finished a piece of information. This can be

confusing for listeners because they need to understand
each piece of information so they can build understanding
as they progress through the presentation with the speaker.

• • you are uncertain or tentative about what you are saying.

This can be a problem if you want to communicate your
thoughts with confidence.
1. Fall
It is regarded as neutral tone and gives the
impression of ‘finality’.
Example:
A: Have you attended the class?
B: Yes
(It will be understood that the question is now
answered and that there is nothing more to be
said.)
 2. Rise

This tone conveys an impression that something more is to

follow.
For example:
A: (wishing to attract B’S attention.)
Excuse me.
B: Yes
(B’S reply is, perhaps, equivalent to what do you
want?)
A: Do you know John Smith?
B: Yes
(Inviting A to continue with what she intends to say about
John Smith. The response with a fall would make it
difficult for A to continue).
 3. Fall – rise

This tone shows limited agreement, uncertainty,

and doubt.
For example:
A: I have heard that it’s a good college.
B: Yes
(B does not completely agree and A would
probably expect B to go on to explain why he
was reluctant to agree).
 4. Rise – Fall

This is used to convey rather strong feelings of

approval, disapproval or surprise.
A: You wouldn’t do on awful thing like that,
would you?
B: No
A: Isn’t the view lovely!
B: Yes
 5. Level

This tone is neutral and uninterested.

High level Yes No
Low level Yes No
It is used in English language in a restricted
context. It almost always conveys a feeling of
routine, uninteresting or boring.
For example:
A teacher calling names of the pupils from a
register.
 Recap
• Fall – gives the impression of finality
• Rise- conveys an impression that something
more is to follow.
• Fall-Rise – shows limited agreement,
uncertainty and doubt.
• Rise-Fall – conveys rather strong feelings of
approval, disapproval or surprise
• Level- tone is neutral and uninterested
(usually calls “flat”)
 Function of intonation
• Without intonation speech will be as though
produced by a mechanical speech device.
 Functions of intonation
• Attitudinal functions
• Accentual functions
• Grammatical functions
• Discourse functions
 Say “HELLO”
● to a friend you meet regularly
● to a friend you haven’t seen for 10 years
● to a neighbor whom you don’t like
● to a 6 month old baby
● to someone doing what he shouldn’t
● to know if someone is listening (phone)
 Attitudinal functions
• Expresses our feeling, attitudes, emotions

• For example
• Anger
• Boredom
• Gratefulness and so on
 Analysis of attitudinal functions
• Four alternative approaches are proposed by
the analysts to analyze attitudinal functions
and formulate some basic functions of
intonation for the English language learners.
 How to express a certain attitude
• 1-Different voice qualities for different
attitudes
• 2-Different pitch range in different ways
• 3-Different keys: high key, mid key or low key
• 4-One may use different facial expressions,
gestures and body movements
• You will have to use variations in loudness and speed,
for example; almost certainly you will have to use
different voice qualities for different attitudes. You may
use your pitch range in different ways: your pitch
movements may take place within quite a narrow
range (narrow pitch range) or using the full range
between high and low (wide pitch range); if you do not
use wide pitch range, you may use different keys: high
key (using the upper part of your pitch range), mid key
(using the middle part of the range) or low key (the
lower part). It is very likely that you will use different
facial expressions, and even gestures and body
movements. These factors are all of great importance
in conveying attitudes and emotions, yet the traditional
handbooks on English pronunciation have almost
completely ignored them.
 Four Types of Attitudinal Intonation
• 1- Fall Intonation
• 2- Rise Intonation
• 3- Fall-rise intonation
• 4- Rise-fall intonation
 Falling Intonation
• This is the tone that is usually regarded as
more or less neutral. 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.
 Examples of falling intonation
• 1- |This is the end of the \news|
• 2- |I am absolutely \ certain|
• 3- |Stop \ playing|
• 4- |I have finished \ working|
• 5- |Stop \ talking|
 1-Rising Intonation
This tone conveys an impression that something
more is to follow.
1- |I phoned /them| (but they were not home)
2- |You must write it/ again| (and this time get
right)
3- |I have to leave /now| (because I am getting
late)
 2-Rising Intonation
It can be used while making general questions
• 1- |Can you help |
• 2- |Is it over|
• 3- |Can I go now|
 3-Rising Intonation
• This tone can be used while listing things
• 1- |Red, brown, yellow, green, and blue|
• 2- |Peter, Jack, Roger, and Sam|
• 3- |Oranges, bananas, mangoes and apples|
 4-Rising Intonation
• It may be used while encouraging someone.
• 1- |It wont hurt|
• 2- |You will get it right|
• 3- |There is always next time|
 Fall-rise tone

This tone shows limited agreement, response with reservation,

uncertainty, or doubt
• 1- |You may be right|
• 2- |Its possible|
• 3- |If I am not mistaken|
• 4- |He may be honest|
• 5- |It can be true|
 Rise-fall tone
This tone is used to convey strong feelings of
approval, disapproval or surprise.
• 1- |It’s impossible|
• 2- |You were first|
• 3- |All of them|
• 4- |He is honest|
• 5- |Its true|
 ACCENTUAL FUNCTIONS

The term accentual refers to accent. Some

writers attach the word accent to stress.
When it is said that intonation has accentual
function, it implies that the placement of
stress is somewhat determined by intonation.
 1-FUNCTIONS OF ACCENTUAL
INTONATION
• 1-The most common position for the
placement of tonic syllable is the last lexical
word (nouns, adjectives, words, adverbs) and
not the functional words.
• There are quite a few situations where it is
normal for the tonic syllable to come earlier in
the tone-unit.
• For contrastive purpose, however any word
may become the bearer of tonic syllable.
 Examples
a-|She was wearing a red dress|
(Normal placement)
b-She was not wearing a red dress| She was wearing a green
dress|
(Contrastive purpose placement)

a-|I want to know where he is traveling to|

b-|I don’t want to now where he is traveling to| I want to now
where he is traveling from|
 2-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|
 3-Functions of Accentual Intonation
Intonation is used to clear out the ambiguities.

a-|I have plans to leave|

(I am planning to leave)

b-|I have plans to leave|

(I have some plans/diagrams/drawings that I have to leave|