Intonation (Lecture)

Suprasegmental Aspects - Tone & Intonation

By KHO CHUNG WEI

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• ​pɪʧ

• təʊn

• ˌɪn.tə.ˈneɪ.ʃn̩

To be successful in this topic, I can:

• Analyse the intonation in utterances

• Explain the functions of intonation​

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

• Pitch = the property of the sound related to frequency (speed of vibration of the vocal folds) which enables a listener to perceive it as high or low - The higher the frequency, the higher the perceived pitch.

• Tone = ​individual pitch pattern associated with a word or syllable

• Intonation = pitch variation over larger structure​s like phrases/sentences

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Multiple Choice

Functions of Pitch

In some languages, pitch differences are used to distinguish the lexical (dictionary) meaning of words. Such languages are termed "tone languages". Is English a tone language? Is Malay a tone language? Is Mandarin Chinese a tone language?

• English, Malay, and Mandarin Chinese are tone languages.

• English is a tone language, but Malay and Mandarin Chinese are not.

• Malay is a tone language, but English and Mandarin Chinese are not.

• Mandarin Chinese is a tone language, but English and Malay are not.

• English, Malay, and Mandarin Chinese are not tone languages.

Forms of Intonation

Marking systems for intonation

1. ​​Interlinear

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2. ​In-text: He inˈsisted on ˈcooking an \omelette || ˈWill it be ˈready by /Friday ||

• ​Symbols for in-text marking system:

  | intonation phrase boundary || sentence boundary

  ˈ primary stress

  underline : tonic syllable, i.e. syllable that carries the tone

  \ fall ∕ rise v fall-rise Ʌ rise-fall

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

Structure of the tone unit/intonation phrase

• ​​Tone unit = a unit generally greater in size than the syllable for the purpose of analyzing intonation

• Tonic syllable (TS) = (intonation) nucleus = a syllable that carries the tone

• Head (H) = from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the TS

• Pre-head (PH) = all the unstressed syllable preceding the head

• Tail (T) = all the syllables after the TS (follow the pitch pattern of the TS)

• Tone unit structure: ​(PH) (H) TS (T)

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

Structure of the tone unit/intonation phrase

• Tone unit structure: ​(PH) (H) TS (T)

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

​Falls

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

​Rises

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

Fall-Rise

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Rise-Fall​

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

Fall-rise and rise-fall followed by a tail

• Fall-rise and rise-fall tones can extend over tails, since their characteristic pitch movements are often broken up or distorted by the structure of the syllables they occur on.

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Forms of Intonation

High heads and low heads

• High head = the stressed syllable which begins the head is in high pitch

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• Low head = ​the stressed syllable which begins the head is in low pitch

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Multiple Choice

Watch this part of the video (2:48) and match the tones to the attitudes.

• Excited: Rise-fall

  Sarcastic: Low fall

  Not interested: High rise

• Excited: Low rise

  Sarcastic: High fall

  Not interested: Fall-rise

• Excited: High rise

  Sarcastic: Rise-fall

  Not interested: Low fall

• Excited: Low fall

  Sarcastic: High rise

  Not interested: Rise-fall

• Excited: High fall

  Sarcastic: Fall-rise

  Not interested: Low rise

Functions of Intonation

​1. Attitudinal function

• ​allows speakers to constantly superimpose an attitude on top of the bare semantic content of what is being said

• the most important function of intonation

• attitudinally marked tones:

  • fall-rise: doubt, correction, reservation, appealing to the listener to reconsider

  • rise-fall: ​impressed, arrogant, confident, self-satisfied, mocking, putting down

• high fall, low rise: neutral

• low fall, high rise: strengthening function - emphasis, exaggerate basic attitude

  • low fall: boredom, resignation, surliness ​

  • high rise: excitement, curiosity

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​2. Accentual function / Focusing function

• allows speakers to focus on the most significant information by means of the location of the tonic syllable

• typical location of TS = at the end of the tone unit

• shift to an earlier syllable = to highlight some information elsewhere​

• ​(a) normal placement; (b) contrastive

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​2. Accentual function / Focusing function

• ​(a) non-emphatic; (b) emphatic

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• ​​when there is an earlier word with greater importance than the default

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• when the last part of the tone unit has already been mentioned or is completely predictable​

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Multiple Choice

Articulate the utterances. Match the utterances to the sentences.

• (i) The Conservatives, who like the proposal, are pleased.

  (ii) The Conservatives, who like the proposal, are pleased.

• (i) The Conservatives who like the proposal are pleased.

  (ii) The Conservatives who like the proposal are pleased.

• (i) The Conservatives, who like the proposal, are pleased.

  (ii) The Conservatives who like the proposal are pleased.

• (i) The Conservatives who like the proposal are pleased.

  (ii) The Conservatives, who like the proposal, are pleased.

Multiple Choice

Articulate the utterances. Match the utterances to their paraphrases.

• (i) A profit was made by those who sold quickly.

  (ii) A profit was made by those who sold quickly.

• (i) A profit was made by those who sold quickly.

  (ii) A profit was quickly made by those who sold.

• (i) A profit was quickly made by those who sold.

  (ii) A profit was quickly made by those who sold.

• (i) A profit was quickly made by those who sold.

  (ii) A profit was made by those who sold quickly.

Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • phrase and clause boundaries

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • statements (default pattern)

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English Phonetics and Phonology

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Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • statements (non-finality)

  • statements (reservation, doubt, disagreement - politely contradicting/ correcting the speaker)

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • commands

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • Wh- questions

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • Yes/no questions

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​3. Grammatical function

• allows speakers to distinguish certain syntactic relationships:

  • Tag-questions

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Multiple Choice

Which is a request for confirmation of statement?

Multiple Choice

Match the tag-type response below to their tones:

a. (Rebecca said she’s moving in with David.) Did she?

b. (Mrs Craddock’s a silly old fool.) Is she?

c. (The neighbours will look after your hamsters.) Will they?

• a. low rise

  b. low fall

  c. fall-rise

• a. fall-rise

  b. high fall

  c. low rise

• a. high fall

  b. low rise

  c. low fall

• a. low fall

  b. fall-rise

  c. high fall

Functions of Intonation

​4. Discourse function

• covers the organisation of conversation between two or more speakers (e.g. signals for turn-taking), the indication of speaker/listener relationship (e.g. in relation to power and authority) and the indication of new vs old information

• Falling tones (high fall, low fall, rise-fall): finality, unloading of information

• Rising tones (high rise, low rise, fall-rise): non-finality, ​information is sought

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Functions of Intonation

​4. Discourse function​

• Falling tones (high fall, low fall, rise-fall): finality, unloading of information

• Rising tones (high rise, low rise, fall-rise): non-finality, ​information is sought

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English Phonetics and Phonology

Poll

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Open Ended

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