Roach, P. (2000). English Phonetics and Phonology: A Practical Course (3rd ed.).

Cambridge University Press.

What is intonation?
Intonation is the melody of speech. In studying intonation we study how the pitch of the voice rises
and falls and how speakers use this pitch variation to convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning. It also
involves the study of the rhythm of speech, and (in English. at any rate) the study of how the interplay
of accented, stressed and unstressed syllables functions as a framework onto which the intonation
patterns are attached.

Prosodic features

The prosodic (or suprasegmental) characteristics of speech are those“pitch, loudness and speed (or
tempo. or speech rate: its inverse is the duration- the constituent segments). These combine together
to make up the rhythm of speech, and are combined in turn with stretches of silence (pause) to break
up the-woof speech.

To some extent prosodic characteristics are the same in all languages.

• speed up when they are excited

• impatient and slow down when they are being thoughtful or weighty. We all
• quietly when we do not wish to be overheard.
• speak more loudly to be heard over a distance orin noisy conditions

But different languages also regularly differ in their prosodic characteristics.

Stress is an important feature in spoken English. (Stress used lexically)

Tone is another prosodic characteristic, being realized mainly by differences in the pitch of the voice
(e.g., high level, mid-level, low level, rising or falling).

• A high pitch results from the relatively rapid vibration of the vocal folds in the larynx
• a low pitch from a relatively slow vibration.
• An acceleration in the rate of vibration is heard as a rising pitch, a slowing down as a falling
pitch. In a level.
• Ditch the vocal folds vibrate at a constant rate.

Some languages use tone lexically.

Is English a tone language?

• English does not use tone lexically.it is not a tone language. But English does use tone for
intonation.
• The lexical meaning still the same.
• The non-lexical meaning is different. So English use tone intonationally, not lexically.
(Changes de pragmatic meaning).
By combining different pitch levels (= unchanging pitch heights) and contours (= sequences of levels,
changing pitch shapes) we express a range of intonational meanings:

• breaking the utterance into chunks

• distinguishing between clause types (such as statement vs. question),
• focusing on some parts of the utterance and not on others, indicating which part of our
message is background information and which is foreground, signalling our attitude to what
we are saying.

Intonation is partly universal but also partly language-specific.

• the same physical pattern of rises and falls may have different meanings different pragmatic
implications in different languages.
• Between speakers of different languages, intonation patterns can be much more easily
misunderstood than segmental patterns.

IP= Intonation phrase = Tone unit

Divided in chucks.

Chunking = Tonality

Tonicity: the words on which the speaker focuses the hearer’s attention. To highlight an important
word, we accent it. More precisely, we accent its stressed syllable.

The nucleus is the most important accent in the IP. It indicates the end of the focused part of the
material. In terms of pitch, it is marked out by being the place where the pitch change or pitch
movement for the nuclear tone begins.

Having decided the Tonicity is having selected a suitable location for the nucleus.
The nucleus can be put in various places.

Tone

In general,

• fall tends to indicate that the information conveyed is, or could be, complete
• rise or fall-rise tends to indicate that there is something more to come (either from the
same speaker, or from a different speaker)
• The default tone (= the tone used if there are no special circumstances) for statements,
exclamations, commands and wh questions is a fall,
• but for yes-no questions it is arise.
• A fall-rise often signals particular implications.
 The function of intonation

Why is intonation important?

To put it in the broadest possible terms, we can see that intonation makes it easier for a listener to
understand what a speaker is trying to convey. The ways in which intonation does this are very
complex, and many suggestions have been made for ways of isolating different functions. Among the
most often proposed are the following:

1. Attitudinal function: Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes as we speak,

and this adds a special kind of “meaning” to spoken language. This is often called the
attitudinal function of intonation. We do this by Tone.

2. Accentual or informational function (the focusing): 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 syllable marks out the word to which it belongs as the
most important in the tone-unit. We use it to bring some parts of the message into focus, to
emphasize or highlight some parts. This is one of the most important functions of English
intonation. We do this by tonicity

3. The grammatical function: The listener is better able to recognise 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 or sentences, the difference between questions and statements (tone) and the use
of grammatical subordination may be indicated. This has been called the grammatical
function of intonation. We do this by tonality.

4. Discourse or cohesive 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 to the listener what kind
of response is expected. Such functions are examples of intonation’s discourse function.

5. The psychological function: Intonation helps us organize speech into units that are easy to
perceive, memorize and perform. We can all repeat an arbitrary string of three, four or five
numbers, but not a string of ten — unless we split them into two units of five. This is why we
need tonality.

6. The indexical function: Just as with other pronunciation features, intonation may act as a
marker of personal or social identity. What makes mothers sound like mothers, lovers sound
like lovers, lawyers sound like lawyers?, Partly, their characteristic intonation.
 TONE: Going up and going down
FALLS, RISE AND FALL-RISE

1. Falling tone (fall and rise-fall)

2. Non-falling tone (rise and fall-rise)

The most basic distinction among English nuclear tones is that between falling and non-falling
predictable relationship between sentence type and tone choice. Nevertheless, it is useful to apply
the notion of a default tone (= unmarked tone. neutral tone) for each sentence type. As we shall
see the default tone is

 A fall for statements, exclamations, wh questions and commands:

 A rise for yes—no questions.

Another useful generalization is that the default for utterances involving two intonation phrases is to
have

 A fall on the main part, and

 A non-fall on the subordinate or dependent part.

• Independent tones: as seen in short utterances that involve only a single intonation phrase.
• Dependent tones: the tones of successive IPs in sequence.

In considering tone meanings, we classify sentences according to their discourse function. We look in
turn at statements, questions, exclamations, commands and interjections.

FALLS

In a falling nuclear tone the pitch of the voice starts relatively high and then moves downwards. The
starting point may be anywhere from mid to high. The endpoint is low.

• In the simplest cases the fall takes place on a single syllable. We see this in cases where the
nuclear syllable is the only syllable in the IP, or where the nuclear syllable is the last syllable
in the IP. The fall then happens on that syllable.

The preceding pitch patterns are irrelevant in determining the nuclear tone.
There is very often a step up in pitch as we reach the beginning of the nuclear fall. Do not let this
mislead you into thinking that the tone is rising.

Fall: Finality, definiteness:

 “That is the end of the, news”

 “I'm absolutely ,certain”
 “Stop ,talking”
RISES

In a rising nuclear tone the pitch of the voice starts relatively low and moves upwards. The starting
point may be anywhere from low to mid, and the endpoint anywhere from mid to high. The nucleus
is on the last or only syllable in the intonation phrase. then the ...takes place on that syllable.
Again, in identifying the nuclear tone we must disregard any prenuclear pitch pattern:

There is often a step down in pitch as we reach the beginning of the nuclear rise. not let this mislead
you into thinking that the tone is falling. If there is a tail (= syllables after the nucleus), the rising
pitch movement does (fall is normal on the last item) happen wholly on the nuclear syllable, as in
the case of a fall. Rather the rise spread over the nuclear syllable and all the following syllables —
over the whole of the nucleus plus tail:

This means that the last syllable is actually the highest pitched, even though it is unaccented. Some
people find this difficult to perceive, and instead tend to hear the nucleus later in the intonation
phrase than it really is. In fact, if there is no prenuclear material the nucleus, perceptually the most
salient syllable for native speakers is actually the lowest-pitched syllable in the IP:

Rise

Most of the functions attributed to rises are nearer to grammatical than attitudinal, as in the first
three examples given below; they are included here mainly to give a fuller picture of intonational
function.

• General questions: Can you ,help me?

• Is it ,over
• Listing: ,Red ,brown ,yellow or blue (fall is normal on the last item)
• “More to follow”: I phoned them right a ,way (and they agreed to come)
• You must write it a,gain (and this time, get it right)
• Encouraging: It wont ,hurt
FALL-RISES

In a fall-rise nuclear tone, the pitch of the voice starts relatively high and then moves first
downwards and then upwards again. The starting point may be anywhere from mid to high, the
midpoint is low, and the endpoint is usually mid.

If the nucleus is on the last or only syllable in the intonation phrase. then the entire fall-rise
movement takes place on that syllable:

In identifying the nuclear tone, we must disregard any prenuclear pitch pattern:

If there is a tail (= syllables after the nucleus), the falling-rising pitch movement is spread out over
the nucleus and tail. The falling part takes place on the nuclear syllable, or between that syllable and
the next. The rising part takes place towards the end of the tail and extends up to the last syllable of
the IP:

Fall-rise

1. Uncertainty, doubt:

You >may be right

Its >possible

2. Requesting:

Can >buy it?

Will you >lend it to me?

Rise-fall

1. Surprise, being impressed:

You were >first

>All of them

1. STATEMENTS

The definitive fall

Although simple independent statements can take any tone, they most often have a fall. A fall is the
default (= neutral, unmarked) tone for a statement. “We say statements with a fall unless there is a
particular reason to use some other one.

All the uses of the falling tone have some degree of meaning in common. As with other tone
meanings, it is difficult to define this shared meaning precisely in words.

• But in general, we can say that by using a fall we indicate that what we say is potentially
complete and that we express it with confidence, definitely and unreservedly. The fall thus
also tends to signal finality. We call this tone meaning the definitive fall.

The implicational fall-rise

Sometimes statements are said with a tone other than a fall, namely, the rise or fall-rise. One very
typical meaning of a non-fall is non-finality, shows that the speaker has not reached the end of what
he or she wants to say.

What did you do next? - Well, I 'opened the /door, | and. .

- Well, I 'opened the Vdoor, | and.. .

The rise or fall-rise thus indicates that the clause, phrase or word that bears it part of a larger
structure.

But what about non-fall tones on statements that are complete in themselves, independent non-
falls?

The most typical meaning of fall-rise tone is that the speaker implies something without necessarily
putting it into words. We call this tone meaning the implicational fall-rise.

By making a statement with the fall-rise, the speaker typically states one thing that implies
something further. Something is left unsaid — perhaps some kind of reservation or implication:

Who's that? -Well i 'know her Vface.

The fall rise implies something further: a contrast between what is expressed and what has not, or
not yet, been expressed. In this case it might be:

- Well, I "know her Vface, | but i ‘can’t remember her \name.

The speaker has the choice of making the contrast explicit, as in the second version, or leaving it
implicit, as in the first. Whether explicit or implicit, the implication is still hinted at by the fall-rise
intonation.

The unexpressed implication can usually be formulated in a clause beginning ….. which would make
it explicit. The implicational fall-rise can be thought if as the tone that signals a but. . . to come.

• More than one implication may be possible:

- Can we fix an appointment? I could ‘see you on Vwednesday,

• Making it explicit we might have:

-I could ‘see you on Vwednesday, | but "not on “Thursday.

-I could see you on vWednesday, | but not might not suit \you.

Using a fall-rise but leaving the reservation unexpressed may lead the other speaker to pick up on
the implication and ask for the reservation to be spelt out.

A speaker who uses a fall-rise has reservations about what is said. The speaker's statement may be
true under some conditions, bus not under others. Again, the reservation may or may not be made
explicit. In the following examples it is given in parentheses: the words in parentheses might or
might not be spoken aloud.
Devious- retorcido,sinuoso

Hypocritical-Hipocrita

More about the implicational fall-rise

The implication is that the corresponding positive statement is not true. There is contrast, implicit or
explicit, between a negative (something that we present as at true) and a positive (something we
present as true).

If it is made explicit------ before or after the negative part and could have definitive fall or
implicational fall-rise (polite correction).
Scope=alcance

DECLARATIVE QUESTIONS

In English — yes—no questions usually have a special interrogative grammatical form, involving the
inversion of the subject and the verb. However, we do also sometimes use declarative questions,
which are grammatically like statements. They can be identified as questions only by their
intonation, or by the pragmatics of the situation where they are used. They are usually said with a
rise: a yes-no rise:

Sometimes they are said with a fall-rise:

And sometimes, confusingly, with a fall:

YES, NO AND ELLIPTICAL ANSWERS

The answer to a yes—no question is usually not a complete statement. Rather, it is just yes or no (or
an equivalent). Quite often, we support the yes or no by an elliptical verb phrase. Or we may just
use the elliptical verb phrase on its own:

The tone for these answers may be any of the tones that can be used in full statements. Typically, it
will be a definitive fall; but other tones are possible:

These grammatical patterns can be used not only to answer a direct question but aIso to express our
agreement with what the other person is saying, or alternatively to contradict them. A
straightforward agreement typically uses a fall:
To contradict what the other person says, it is possible to use a definitive fall or tentative fall-rise;
but the most usual tone is a rise:

If we put (oh) yes or (oh) no before the elliptical verb phrase in a contradiction, English has fixed
idiomatic tone patterns, and in particular disallows a sequence two falls. (You cannot contradict a
negative statement by saying yes alone.)This pattern is used only to contradict a statement, not to
answer a question:

Contradictions can also be said with a definitive fall: the difference is that a (high) fall implies
warmth and solidarity with the other person — i.e. supportive — while the rise implies
defensiveness and unfriendliness — that is, it is unsupportive:

INDEPENDENT RISES

As well as for declarative questions and in uptalk, rises are used for short responses encouraging
further conversation. They signal no more than that the social interaction is running smoothly.
Learners of English should be careful, however, not to use this tone for non-routine answers:

With a rise on Norway, this could sound rude (suggesting, perhaps, that this is routine information
that the person asking the question ought to know already).For a straightforward statement in
answer to the question, use a fall.

Rises are also used for various interjections (see 2.19) and for dependent parts of a larger structure.
But they are fairly unusual with statements that are truly independent.

The rise here perhaps signals that the second sentence is not actually independent, but an
afterthought to, or qualification of, the first.

QUESTIONS: WH QUESTIONS

Wh questions (= question-word questions, special questions) are those that are formed with a
question word such as who, what, which, when, where, why, how. They ask for a more specific
answer than just ‘yes’ or ‘no’.

The default tone for wh questions is a fall. As with statements, this tone meaning is the definitive
fall:
 YES OR NO QUESTIONS

Yes-no questions (= general questions, polar questions) ask whether something is the case or not.
Such questions are capable of meaningfully being answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’ (though there may be other
possible answers such as ‘perhaps’ or ‘I'm not sure’). The default tone for a yes—no question is a
rise. We call it the yes—no rise.

Yes—no questions can be positive or negative. Whatever their polarity, they usually have a yes—no
rise: