Lecture

Intonation in English
 Outline

 1. Intonation: definition, approaches,

functions.
 2. Components of intonation and the
structure of English tone-group.
 3. Sentence stress.
 4. Rhythm.
1. Intonation: definition, approaches, functions.
Intonation is a language universal. There are no
languages which are spoken without any change of
prosodic parameters but intonation functions in various
languages in a different way.

What is the role intonation plays in the language?

Intonation is indispensable in communication, because

it is instrumental in conveying meaning.

No sentence can exist without a particular intonation.

No meaning can be expressed without it.
What is intonation? It is quite impossible to
describe intonation in a word or two. Sometimes
the ups and downs of pitch and loudness are
compared to the waves of the ocean.

‘The surface of the ocean responds to the

forces that act upon it in movements
resembling the ups and downs of the human
voice.’
(Bolinger, 1972)
There are two main approaches to the
problem of intonation in Great Britain.
One is known as a contour analysis
and the other may be called
grammatical.
 The first is represented by a large group of
phoneticians: H. Sweet, D. Jones, G. Palmer, L.
Armstrong, I. Ward, R. Kingdon, J. O'Connor, A.
Gimson and others. It is traditional and widely
used. According to this approach the smallest
unit to which linguistic meaning can be attached
is a tone-group (sense-group). Their theory is
based on the assumption that intonation consists
of basic functional "blocks". They pay much
attention to these "blocks" but not to the way
they are connected.
Intonation is treated by them as a layer
that is superimposed on the lexico-
grammatical structure. In fact the aim of
communication determines the intonation
structure, not vice versa.
The grammatical approach to the study of
intonation was worked out by M.
Halliday. The main unit of intonation is a
clause. Intonation is a complex of three
systemic variables: tonality, tonicity and
tone, which are connected with
grammatical categories.
Tonality marks the beginning and the end
of a tone-group. Tonicity marks the focal
point of each tone-group. Tone is the
third unit in Halliday's system. Tones can
be primary and secondary. They convey
the attitude of the speaker. Hallyday's
theory is based on the syntactical function
of intonation.
There is wide agreement among Russian
linguists that on perception level intonation
is a complex, a whole, formed by
significant variations of pitch, loudness and
tempo closely related.
Some Russian linguists regard speech
timbre as the fourth component of
intonation.
M. Sokolova and others write that the term
prosody embraces the three prosodic
components and substitutes the term intonation.
Many foreign scholars (A. Gimson, R.
Kingdon) restrict the formal definition of
intonation to pitch movement alone, though
occasionally allowing in variations of loudness as
well.
According to D. Crystal, the most important
prosodic effects are those conveyed by the
linguistic use of pitch movement, or melody.
Intonation is very important. It organizes a
sentence, determines communicative types
of sentences and clauses, divides sentences
into intonation groups, gives prominence
to words and phrases, expresses contrasts
and attitudes. The two main functions of
intonation are: communicative and
expressive.
 2. Components of intonation and the structure of
English intonation group.

The components of intonation are:

pitch,
loudness and
tempo.
 In the pitch component we may consider
the distinct variations in the
 direction of pitch,
 pitch level and
 pitch range.
 Pitch is described as a system of tones
(fall, rise, fall-rise and so on).
Three pitch levels are generally distinguished:
high, medium and low.
The pitch range is the interval between two pitch
levels. When we speak about the pitch range of
the whole intonation unit we mean the interval
between the highest-pitched and the lowest-
pitched syllables.
Pitch ranges maybe normal, wide and narrow.
 Loudness is described as normal,
increased (forte) or low (piano).
Tempo includes rate of speech and
pausation.
The rate of speech can be normal, slow
and fast. Generally, the parts of the
utterance which are particularly important
are pronounced at a slower rate, while in
less important parts the rate of speech
tends to be faster.
 Any stretch of speech can be split into smaller
segments by means of pauses. A pause is a
complete stop of phonation. Pauses are
classified according to their length, their position
in the utterance (final - non-final) and their
function.
Types of pauses:
l. Short pauses which may be used to separate
intonation groups within a phrase.
2. Longer pauses which normally manifest the end
ofthe phrase.
3. Very long pauses which are used to separate
bigger phonetic units (phonopassages).
Functionally, there may be distinguished syntactic,
emphatic and hesitation pauses.
Syntactic pauses separate phonopassages, phrases,
intonation groups.
Emphatic pauses serve to make some parts of the
utterance especially prominent.
Ex. She is the most | charming girl I've ever seen. ||
The subject of this talk is | intonation. ||
Hesitation pauses are mainly used in spontaneous
speech to gain some time to think over what to say next.
They may be silent (unfilled) or filled.
Ex. She is rather a |good student.||
Where does she live? - Um, not far from here. ||
 All the three components of intonation, i. e. pitch,
loudness and tempo form the intonation pattern,
the basic unit of intonation.
An intonation pattern has one nuclear tone (nucleus)
and may contain other stressed or unstressed syllables
preceding or following the nuclear tone. The
boundaries of an intonation pattern may be marked by
stops of phonation, i. e. temporal pauses.
Intonation patterns serve to actualize syntagms in oral
speech. A syntagm is a group of words which is
semantically and syntactically complete.
In phonetics actualized syntagms are called intonation
groups (tone groups).
For example, the sentence
I think he is coming soon
has two potential syntagms:
I think
and
he is coming soon.

In oral speech it is normally actualized as one

intonation group.
The intonation pattern may include the following
components:
the nuclear tone (nucleus),
the head,
the pre-head and
the tail.
 Parts of an intonation group
 unstressed and half stressed syllables preceding
the first stressed syllable constitute the pre-
head of the intonation group;
 stressed and unstressed syllables up to the last
stressed syllable constitute the head or scale of
the intonation group;
 the last stressed syllable, within which the
change of pitch is accomplished, is called the
nucleus;
 the syllable or syllables, that follow the nucleus,
constitute the tail.
It's been a 'very 'good \evening for me.
[ɪts bin ə 'verɪ 'gʊd \ i:vnɪŋ fə mi]
Not all stressed syllables are of equal importance.
One of the syllables has the greater prominence
than the others and forms the nucleus, or focal
point of an intonation pattern. Formally the nucleus
may be described as a strongly stressed syllable
which is generally the last strongly accented syllable
of an intonation pattern and which marks a
significant change of pitch direction, that is where
the pitch goes distinctly up or down. The nuclear
tone is the most important part of the intonation
pattern without which the latter cannot exist at all.
On the other hand an intonation pattern may
consist of one syllable which is its nucleus.
The tone of a nucleus determines the pitch
of the rest of the intonation pattern
following it which is called the tail. Thus
after a falling tone, the rest of the intonation
pattern is at a low pitch. After a rising tone
the rest of the intonation pattern moves in
an upward pitch direction.
According to R. Kingdon the most
important nuclear tones in English are:
Low Fall,
High Fall,
Low Rise,
High Rise, and
Fall-Rise.
Vassilyev gives ten tone units. He states that
tones can be moving and level. Moving tones
can be: simple, complex and compound. They
are:
Low Fall; High Wide Fall; High Narrow Fall;
Low Rise; High Narrow Rise; High Wide Rise;
Rise-Fall; Fall-Rise; Rise-Fall-Rise.
The most common compound tones are:
High Fall + High Fall; High Fall - Low Rise.
Level Tones can be pitched at
High, Mid and Low level.
The meanings of the nuclear tones are
difficult to specify in general terms.
Roughly speaking the falling tone of
any level and range expresses certainty,
completeness, and independence.
A rising tone on the contrary
expresses uncertainty, incompleteness
or dependence.
A falling-rising tone may combine the falling
tone's meaning of assertion, certainty with the
rising tone's meaning of dependence,
incompleteness.
At the end of a phrase it often conveys a feeling
of reservation; that is, it asserts something and at
the same time suggests that there is something
else to be said.
At the beginning or in the middle of a phrase it is
a more forceful alternative to the rising tone,
expressing the assertion of one point, together
with the implication that another point is to
follow.
Low Level tone is very characteristic of reading
poetry.
Mid-Level tone is particularly common in
spontaneous speech functionally replacing the
rising tone.
There are two more nuclear tones in English:
Rise-Fall and Rise-Fall-Rise. But adding
refinement to speech they are not absolutely
essential tones for the foreign learner to acquire.
Rise-Fall can always be replaced by High Fall
and Rise-Fall-Rise by Fall-Rise without making
nonsense of the utterance.
According to D. Crystal, there are nine ways of saying Yes as an answer to
the question Will you marry me?
1. Low fall. The most neutral tone; a detached, unemotional statement of
fact.
2. Full fall. Emotionally involved; the higher the onset of the tone, the
more involved the speaker; choice of emotion (surprise, excitement,
irritation) depends on the speaker's facial expression.
3. Mid fall. Routine, uncommitted comment; detached and unexcited.
4. Low rise. Facial expression important; with a 'happy' face, the tone is
sympathetic and friendly; with a 'grim' face, it is guarded and ominous.
5. Full rise. Emotionally involved, often «disbelief or shock, the extent of
the emotion depending on the width of the tone.
6. High rise. Mild query or puzzlement; often used in echoing what has
just been said.
7. Level. Bored, sarcastic, ironic.
8. Fall-rise. A strongly emotional tone; a straight or 'negative' face conveys
uncertainty, doubt, or tentativeness; a positive face conveys
encouragement or urgency.
9. Rise-fall. Strong emotional involvement; depending on the face, the
attitude might be delighted, challenging, or complacent.
The nucleus and the tail form what is called
terminal tone. The two other sections of the
intonation pattern are the head and the pre-head
which form the pre-nuclear part of the
intonation pattern and, like the tail, they may be
looked upon as optional elements.
The pre-nuclear part can take a variety of pitch
patterns. Variation within the prе-nucleus does
not usually affect the grammatical meaning of
the utterance, though it often conveys meanings
associated with attitude or phonetic styles.
Scales can be:
descending,
ascending and
level.

According to the direction of pitch movement

within and between syllables, descending and
ascending scales can be:
stepping,
sliding and
scandent.
 Sentence stress is a greater
prominence of words, which are made
more or less prominent in an
intonation group. The special
prominence of accented words is
achieved through the greater force of
utterance and changes in the direction
of voice pitch, constituting the nuclear
tone.
The difference between stress and accent is based on
the fact that in the case of stress the dominant
perceptual component is loudness, in the case of accent
it is pitch. Nuclear stress is the strongest – it carries
the most important information. Non-nuclear stresses
are subdivided into full and partial. Full stress occurs
only in the head of an intonation group. Partial stress
occurs also in the pre-head and the tail. Partial stresses
in the pre-head are most frequently of a low variety.
Words given partial stress do not lose prominence
completely, they may retain the whole quality of their
vowels. In tone-groups stress may undergo alterations
under the influence of rhythm, but there are some rules
concerning words that are usually stressed or unstressed
in an utterance.
The words that are usually stressed:
 nouns
 adjective
 numerals
 interjections
 demonstrative pronouns
 possessive pronouns (absolute form)
 notional verbs
The words that are usually unstressed:
 personal pronouns
 articles
 particles
 modal verbs.
Stresses in an utterance provide the
basis for identification and
understanding of the content, they
help to perform constitutive,
distinctive and identificatory function
of intonation. These functions are
performed jointly with the pitch
component of intonation.
The tempo of speech is the third
component of intonation. The term
tempo implies the rate of the utterance
and pausation. The rate of speech can
be normal, slow and fast. The parts of
the utterance which are particularly
important sound slower. Unimportant
parts are commonly pronounced at a
greater speed than normal.
Some intonation patterns may be completely colourless
in meaning: they give to the listener no implication of
the speaker's attitude or feeling. They serve a
mechanical function — they provide a mold into which
all sentences may be poured so that they achieve
utterance. Such intonation patterns represent the
intonational minimum of speech. The number of
possible combinations is more than a hundred but not
all of them ate equally important. Some of them do not
differ much in meaning, others are very rarely used.
That is why in teaching it is necessary to deal only with
a very limited number of intonation patterns, which are
the result of a careful choice.
Rhythm is a regular alteration of stressed and
unstressed syllables. The phenomenon of
rhythm is closely connected with the phonetic
nature of stress.
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