Functions of Intonation

Functions of Intonation

 3 main categories of intonation in terms of function:

-----  Attitudinal Functions of Intonation

-----  Discourse Functions of Intonation

-----  Grammatical Functions of Intonation

A.  Attitudinal Functions of Intonation

When a speaker wants to express his emotions and attitudes, he may stress on any words in a sentence. 

The speaker may want to express sarcasm, surprise, boredom, anger, happiness, etc

Hence, a neutral sentence may have different meanings as a result of the emphasis on different words.

Normally, only the main word classes ----- nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs are stressed. 

Forms      Attitudinal Functions       Examples

Fall          Definiteness                    

               Assured                        She is John’s sister.

               Confidence

Rise        Unsure                          Has Tom come?

              Encouraging                 Keep it up!

Fall-rise   Uncertain    

              Doubt                           Maybe

Rise-fall  Surprised

             Impressed                     It is made of gold and silver.

B.  Discourse Functions of Intonation

It is natural to engage in social interaction and communication with others in our everyday life.  There are exchanges in conversation and the usual intonation patterns we use.

Common Forms of Intonation in Discourse Functions

Forms    Discourse Functions         Examples

            Turn-taking: end of

Fall        your turn to tell the                 She has bought a new car.

              information

              ----- major stress

              for new or unknown

Rise      Turn-taking: speaker               Well……..

              has not finished.

            Inviting another to talk            Can she manage?

Fall-rise  Turn taking: speaker        Anyway….

              has not finished          

              Focus attention on          The conditions as you say are

              known information          getting tougher.

                                                      

C.  Grammatical Functions of Intonation

Grammatical Functions of intonation are related to the grammar of the language.  The intonation patterns vary according to the different structures of English. 

Examples:

Falling intonation:

----- positive and negative statements

----- Wh-questions

Rising intonation:

----- questions with ‘Yes / No’ answer

----- in greeting

----- making a request

----- asking for repetition.

** The wh-questions are used when we ask for the information to be repeated.

Fall-rise intonation

----- question-tag

----- compare and contrast

Grammatical Functions of Intonation

Form     Grammatical Functions   Examples

Fall         to state / assert            She is a good cook.

Rise        to ask question              Did you do it on your own?

Fall-rise   question-tag                 He works really hard, doesn’t he?

Fall-rise-fall        Compare and contrast        He is poor but he is honest.