Intonation 1

What is Stress?
Stress and intonation are important parts of
suprasegmental phonology, but they are different
from each other.
Stress is added on syllables to make them louder,
longer and have a higher pitch than other syllables.
In fact, adding stress on specific words in
utterances can give different messages.
Look at the following Example:
 Stress and Intonation
1 sentence, 7 different meanings
Maybe someone else said she stole my money
Not even once I said she stole my money
But I have been thinking she stole my money
But maybe someone else stole my money
Yes, she borrowed my money
Maybe she stole someone else’s money
I meant she stole something
What is intonation?

Stress and intonation come together in

connected speech. What we mean by
intonation is that when we speak , the pitch
of our voice is constantly changing.
For example, one-syllable utterances such as
‘yes’ and ‘no’ can be said in different tones:
a) A level tone (with the pitch remaining at a
constant level / having a steady note).
The ‘level tone’ is represented with a
horizontal line __
Example: A teacher uses a level tone on each
name when calling the names of students
from a register.
b) A moving tone ( with the pitch changing
from one level to another) which can be
either a falling tone (descending from a
higher to a lower pitch) or a rising tone ( a
movement from a lower pitch to a higher
one).
The ‘fall tone’ is represented by a slanted line to
the left
This tone shows finality, a final or definite feeling.
Example: “Did you bring your book?” “
Yes”
The ‘rise tone’ is represented by a slanted line to
the left
This tone shows continuity or it suggests a
question.
Example: “Excuse me.” “/ Yes”
c) Other complex tones:
The ‘fall-rise tone’ : in this tone, the pitch descends
and then rises again, suggesting uncertainty or
hesitation.
This tone is represented by the symbol
Examples:
1. per haps
2. calling someone’s name
3. “I’ve heard that it’s a good school.” “ yes”
The ‘rise-fall tone’: in this tone, the pitch rises
then descends, suggesting being surprised or
impressed.

This tone is represented by the symbol

Examples: 1. oh
2. “ isn’t she lovely?” “ Yes”
Important notice: Syllables which carry a tone are
usually underlined in intonation transcription.
 Exercises

Write a tone mark in front of each syllables.

Chapter 16: Intonation 2

Many of the world’s languages are tone

languages because changing the tone of a
word or a morpheme in a word in these
languages changes the lexical meaning of the
word.
However, English does not have this function
and is called an intonation language because
it does not look at the syllable as an
independently variable item.
A syllable which carries a tone is called a tonic
syllable (nucleus). It has a high degree of
prominence as it has tonic stress (nuclear stress).
Example: is it / you (all of it is a tone-unit but the
last syllable carries the tone)

A tone-unit starts after a tonic syllable and

ends
in a tonic syllable.
How are the boundaries of tone-units usually
indicated? ( a single vertical line, double vertical lines)
How are the divisions between tone-unit components
usually indicated? ( a dotted single vertical line)
 The boundaries of tone-units are usually
indicated as follows:

1. Pause boundaries are indicated (i.e. shown) by

double vertical lines (II).
2. Non-pause boundaries are indicated by a
single vertical line (I).
3. Divisions between tone-unit components can
be marked by vertical dotted lines (we use
them only for the sake of clarity) (¦) . Look at
page 132 in the book.
Look at the following examples:
II She 'wanted to 'visit her 'father on ' Sunday.
II
IIHe 'felt un'easy II but the 'others were
en'joying them'selves. II
II I 'didn't really 'want to 'come II but 'here I
'am. II
II 'No 'way! II
II At 'five o’'clock. II
II 'No II, 'only at the 'meeting. II
Placing the tone-unit within other phonological
units:
- Speech consists of utterances
- Each utterance consists of one or more tone-
units

- Each tone-unit consists of one or more feet

- Each foot consists of one or more syllables
- Each syllable consists of one or more phonemes
The structure of a tone-unit:
Each simple tone-unit has the following
components:

1. one tonic syllable Example: \those

2. one head (all of the parts of the tone-unit
extending from the first stressed syllable up to the
tonic syllable). Examples:

\
'give me those (head: give me)

' Bill 'called to 'give me \ these (head: Bill called to

give me)
3. If there is no stressed syllable before the tonic syllable, then
there is no head but the unstressed syllable(s) are called the
pre-head.

Example: \
in an hour (pre-head: in an)
4. Any syllables between the tonic syllable and the end of the
tone-unit are called the tail.

Examples: \ look at it

/what did you say

The stress in a tail is shown with a raised dot. Example:

/What did you •say (see page 142)

Summary of tone-unit structure:

(pre-head) (head) tonic syllable (tail)

(PH) (H) TS (T)

Example:
II and then ‘nearer to the V front II on the /left
PH H TS PH TS
theres a ‘bit of \for est. II
PH H Ts T

Look at the example in full on page 143 in the book.

If there are other syllables following the tonic

syllable (i.e. there is a tail), the pitch movement of

the tone starts at the tonic syllable and is extended

to the following syllables in the tail. These

syllables will move up or down progressively for

that tone. They all complete the tone which

started on the TS. (see p. 133)

_______________
Exercises
INTONATION 3
Chapter 17
?What is intonation
Intonation is a term used to refer to the use of
different patterns of pitch that carry meaningful
information.
What is pitch?
Pitch is the rate of vibration of the vocal folds. When we speak,
normally the pitch of our voice is constantly changing. We
describe pitch in terms of high and low.

Show me the money

H L H L

0 0.892948
Time (s)
• We now know that if the same utterance is
produced with different intonation patterns,
the meaning conveyed will be different.
This difference is signaled by intonation
patterns.
• We also know that in English, such
different intonation patterns have different
syntactic functions. By changing the
intonation of a sentence, it can have
different meanings:
-It can be a declarative statement: Sara
travelled.(there is a fall in pitch)
- It can be a question: Sara
travelled? (the pitch is rising)
- It can be an expression of
surprise: Sara travelled!
- It can be an expression of doubt:
Sara travelled! Maybe.
Sketching the pitch of different tone levels:
1. Falling tone: neutral statement, finality or
conclusion
• Did you study well for your exam?
• Yes. (Falling intonation indicates: ‘I have
answered your question and do not intend to
add anything else’)
______________________

______________________
2. Rising tone: questioning, doubt, desire to
continue conversation
• Do you know Sara Brown?
• Yes. (Rising intonation indicates: ‘I want to
continue the conversation, I am curious’)
___________________

_________________________
3. Fall-Rise tone: limited agreement,response with
reservations, hesitation, or scepticism
• They said that there will be no school
tomorrow, didn’t they?
• Yes
___________________

___________________
 4. Rise-Fall tone: emphatic statements, approval, disapproval, or surprise

• Are all the chapters included in the exam?

• Yes!
___________________

___________________
5. Level: boredom, lack of interest
• Do you understand the chapter on intonation?
The teacher will include it in the next quiz.
• Yes.
___________________

___________________
Remember that

• the shape of the tone is decided by content words

(words that carry the meaning).
• Starting at the first stressed content word, we draw
the starting point of the tone.
The falling tone consists of a fall in the voice from a fairly
high pitch to a very low one on the final content word in
the utterance.
In the example below, there is a high pitch on the head
(told) as it is stressed. Notice how the intonation rises from
the pre-head (I). And how it falls at the tonic syllable.

Head tonic
syllable
Here we have added syllables after the tonic syllable.
This is called the tail. Note how it tends to follow the
intonation pattern of the tonic syllable.

tonic tail
head
syllable
Notice that:
• On a single syllable the voice falls within the syllable. (Erick
\
builds flutes) flutes
• On more than one syllable, the voice either falls within the
stressed syllable or jumps down from that syllable to the other.
(He began building flutes after college.) —\ college
• Unstressed syllables at the end are all low.
 Intonation of Wh-questions

• Decide whether the questions are all played with

the same intonation.
 Exercise
• Divide the following utterances into tone-units and decide
where the tonic syllable might fall in each tone-unit:
1. The first student to finish can go early.
2. Sadly, Maurice has gone away.
3. The person who was watching me left a ticket behind.
4. Alan couldn't make it so Ken took his place.
 Functions of Intonation
1. The attitudinal function: Intonation allows us to express
emotions: finality, confidence, interest, surprise, doubt, joy,
pain, irony, etc.
Look at examples on pp 147-8.
2. The accentual function:
It is the placement of tonic stress (not the word stress)
which is usually placed on the last lexical word (i.e.,
noun, adjective, verb, or adverb).
Example:

\
She was wearing a red dress

She was wearing a \ red •dress

(See more examples on page 153&154)
3. The grammatical function:
The listener should be able to recognize the grammar
and syntax structure of what is being said by using
the information contained in the intonation. This
function is found in two situations:
a) The placement of boundaries between phrases,
clauses and sentences.
‘The girl who arrived quickly took the book
The boundaries can be placed in two ways:

The girl who arrived I quickly took the book

The girl who arrived quickly I took the book
b) The difference between questions and
statements (rising and falling tones).
The following example illustrates how the grammatical function of
intonation is used:

\
You are studying now. You have an exam.

/
You are studying now. You have an exam?
In the first utterance the falling tone indicates a sentence: You have
\
an exam.
But in the second utterance the rising tone indicates a question: You
/
have an exam?
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