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Introduction to intonation-Ali KAYA
- 1. INTRODUCTION TO INTONATION PREPARED BY ALI KAYA
- 2. INTRODUCTION TO INTONATION Intonation is the rising and falling pitch in ones voice. If youve already looked at our sections on thought groups and word stress, then youre already familiar with how intonation and stress are closely connected. If youve ever tried to mimic an English speakers intonation patterns and felt uncomfortable, it may be because the intonation patterns of your first language are either different and/or have a wider or lesser range.
- 3. RISING AND FALLING INTONATION As one example, listen to the following question and decide if you hear rising or falling pitch at the end of the question: While many learners may predict that all questions in English have a rising pitch, many questions actually have a falling pitch. In fact, if this same question were said with rising intonation, itd sound like this:
- 4. RISING AND FALLING INTONATION You can probably detect the difference, but more importantly, the underlying intent of each question is different. The first question is typical of introductions; the speaker wants to know a persons name. In the second question, the speaker probably misheard the name, or is surprised by the name in some way (e.g., the persons name is Harry Potter). Therefore, learning the intonation of English is more than trying to sound like an English speaker; narrow or improper intonation can actually negatively impact the meaning of your message!
- 5. ASKING QUESTIONS FOLLOWS TWO PATTERNS Rising Voice at the End of a Question If the question is a yes / no question, the voice rises at the end of a question. Do you like living in Portland? Have you lived here a long time? Did you visit your friends last month? Falling Voice at the End of a Question If the question is an information questionin other words, if you are asking a question with 'where,' 'when,' 'what,' 'which,' 'why,' 'what/which kind of..,' and questions with 'how'let your voice fall at the end of a question. Where are you going to stay on vacation? When did you arrive last night? How long have you lived in this country?
- 6. QUESTION TAGS Question tags are used to either confirm information or to ask for clarification. The intonation is different in each case. Question Tags to Confirm If you think you know something, but would like to confirm it, let the voice fall in the question tag. You live in Seattle, don't you? This is easy, isn't it? You aren't coming to the meeting, are you?
- 7. QUESTION TAGS TO ASK FOR CLARIFICATION When using a question tag to clarify, let the voice rise to let the listener know that you expect more information. Peter isn't going to be at the party, is he? You understand your role, don't you? We aren't expected to finish the report by Friday, are we?
- 8. END OF SENTENCES The voice usually falls at the end of sentences. However, when making a short statement with a word that is only one syllable the voice rises to express happiness, shock, approval, etc. That's great! I'm free! I bought a new car. When making a short statement with a word that is more than one syllable (multi-syllabic) the voice falls. Mary is happy. We're married. They're exhausted.
- 9. COMMAS We also use a specific type of intonation when using commas in a list. Let's take a look at an example: Peter enjoys playing tennis, swimming, hiking, and biking. In this example, the voice rises after each item in the list. For the final item, let the voice fall. In other words, 'tennis,' 'swimming,' and 'hiking' all rise in intonation. The final activity, 'biking,' falls in intonation. Practice with a few more examples: We bought some jeans, two shirts, a pair of shoes, and an umbrella. Steve wants to go to Paris, Berlin, Florence, and London.
- 10. PAUSE AFTER AN INTRODUCTORY SUBORDINATE CLAUSE Subordinate clauses begin with subordinating conjunctions. These include 'because,' 'though,' or time expressions such as 'when,' 'before,' 'by the time,' as well as others. You can use a subordinating conjunction to introduce a subordinate clause at the beginning of a sentence, or in the middle of a sentence. When beginning a sentence with a subordinating conjunction (as in this sentence), pause at the end of the introductory subordinating clause. When you read this letter, I will have left you forever. Because it's so expensive to travel in Europe, I have decided to go to Mexico for my vacation. Although the test was very hard, I got an A on it.