Intonation

Intonation

Intonation is one of the supra-segmental features of a language.

It is associated with the rise and fall of the tone of the voice in a linguistic utterance.

It has been referred as pitch variation in speech and thus creates the melodious effect to a language.

Mind Map

                         Intonation

       Prosody                        Intonation Patterns

       Loudness                      Fall intonation

       Length                           Rise intonation

       Pitch                              Fall-rise intonation

                                            Rise-fall intonation

                                               Level intonation

I.  English Prosody

To understand prosody,  we have to know the concepts of prosody in terms of loudness, length and pitch above the level of segment.

A.   The loudness of a syllable in everyday speech is perceived as the relative loudness in relation to other surrounding syllables.  In general, the stressed syllables are louder than the unstressed ones and thus a kind of rhythm is created as a result of the variation in loudness.

B.  The length of a syllable is perceived as the duration of a given syllable in relation to other surrounding syllables.  In general, the stressed syllables are also longer than the unstressed ones and thus a kind of rhythm is created as a result of the variation in length in addition the variation in loudness.

C.  Pitch

Pitch is perceived as the varying height of the voice over one syllable or a series of syllables.

The variation in pitch is caused by the changes in the rate of the vibration of vocal folds (cords).

To conclude, we can say that intonation is the result of variation in loudness, length and pitch of syllables in speech.  Hence, it is perceived as melody of a language.

II.  Intonation

We perceive intonation in our everyday speech as variation in loudness, length and pitch.

To analyse intonation, we have to identify the tone group in speech. 

It is not fixed in value and may vary according to the emphasis of the speaker.

Generally, intonation depends mainly on the discourse functions and speakers’ message.

The size of the tone unit (group) may vary from a single syllable to a series of syllables.

In each tone unit, there is a tonic syllable which is the most prominent within the intonation group as it carries the tonic stress.  That means the tonic syllable is louder, longer and higher in pitch

Examples:

Peter:      Were you ABsent yesterday?     

John:       No.

There are 7 syllables in the first utterance by Peter and 1 syllable in the second utterance by John.

Were—you—ab—sent—yes—ter—day --à 7 syllables

The first syllable in the word absent (ab—sent ) is the tonic syllable and a rising tone is used.

 Any question that you will give Yes / No answer, the intonation pattern is rising in natural speech.

In the second utterance, there is only 1 syllable, so that the word No. is the tonic syllable and it is a falling intonation.

Any statement whether it is positive or negative, the intonation pattern is falling in natural speech.

The unstressed syllables before the tonic syllable is called pre-head . 

The first stressed syllable before the tonic syllable is the head of the tonic syllable. 

They will buy a big new house.

The syllables  ‘They will’ are called pre-head and the syllables ‘buy a big new’  are considered as the head of the tone unit. 

The syllable ‘house’ is the tonic syllable.

The head of the tone unit includes the first stressed syllable and all the following stressed and unstressed syllables before the tonic syllable.

They will buy a big new house as I heard.

The syllables after the tonic syllable are called the tail.  Hence, the syllables ‘as I heard’ are the tail of the tone unit.