Lecturer: Mohammed Kheider University

Mr. Aounali
LEVEL
English Department
Module: English Phonetics & Phonology
Lecture 9: Intonation Patterns

Objective: By the end of this course youll be able to:

1- Identify intonation
2- Recognise intonation patterns
3- Know intonation functions and its relevance to feelings and attitudes
4- Intonation & emphasis

5- Pronounce utterances in speech with correct and natural intonation

Introduction:
Sentence stress and intonation are interrelated, wherein intonation organizes words into sentences,
distinguishes between different types of sentences, and adds emotional coloring to utterances. English
intonation is quite difficult for EFL learners. Yet, developing the ability to understand and reproduce
sentence stress and intonation is a necessity to be fluent in English language.
1. What is intonation?
In linguistics, intonation is the variation of pitch when speaking. Tone differences or pitch changes are
used in English to mark off larger phonological and grammatical units (suprasegmentals) such as
phrases and clauses, and to distinguish between different types of such units rather than the word
(segmentals) syllables. The variations in pitch (tone) mainly do not affect the lexical meaning of the
utterances, but convey other types of information such as questioning, anger, affection, politeness, etc.

For a concrete example consider the difference between: You're going. (statement)
You're going? (question)
2. Graphic Representation of Tones:
The meaning of a pitch accent will be strongly affected by the context in which it appears.
But some generalizations can be made about the meanings of basic accent types:
Neutral, disagree
Bored, impatient
Non-conclusive, ask for more info
Total refusal, anger
Surprise, question
Question Answer
2. Graphic Representation of Tones:
There are four simple moving tones in English according to the behavior of the speaker:

The Low Fall The pitch of the voice falls from a medium to a very low level
E.g.: How are you. (Statement)

The High Fall The pitch of the voice falls from a high to a medium level
E.g.: Peter: Would you like one ticket, or two?
John: Two

The Low Rise The pitch of the voice rises from a very low to a medium level
E.g.: Isn't he nice? Yes
No
The High Rise The pitch of the voice rises from a medium to a high level
E.g.: She passed her driving test. She passed? (disbelief)

In complex moving tones, there is a change of the pitch movement as follows:

The Fall-Rise The pitch of the voice first falls from a high to a low pitch,

and then, still with the sentence, rises to a medium pitch.

E.g.: A quick tour of the city. Would be NICE. (dependency)

The Rise-Fall The pitch of the voice rises first from a low to a high pitch,

and then, still within the sentence, falls to a low pitch.

E.g.: Will you come with me. Yes, of course. (showing enthusiastic agreement)
3. The Functions of English Tones:
English speakers produce melodies of different kinds with the voice rising and falling in order
to convey several emotions, feelings, and attitudes or even his mood. The main functions are:
1. The attitudinal function:
Intonation enables the speaker to express emotions and attitudes, anger, boredom, and this
adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language.
Stop talking (anger) It can be true (doubt) Its impossible (surprise)
2. The accentual function:
Intonation helps to produce the effect of prominence on the syllables that need to be
perceived as stressed, and in particular, the placement of tonic stress on a particular syllable
marks the most important word in the utterance. i.e: the focus word.
Paul is very tall. Paul is very tall. (Paul and not another one)
3. The grammatical function:
The listener is better able to recognise the grammar and syntax of what is being said using the
information enclosed in intonation. For instance, the difference between questions &
statements and the use of grammatical subordination.
She dressed / and fed the baby. ( She dressed herself and then fed the baby)
4. The discourse function:
We can see that intonation can indicate to the hearer what is the new information and what
is the given/old information which represents shared knowledge between the speaker & the
hearer. In can also convey to the expected response.
My name is Bond. James Bond. (new is accented )
 INTONATION PATTERNS AND RULES
3.1. The Attitudinal Function of Falling Tones:
We will now move on to look at the attitudinal function of the falling tones in English
3.1.1. The high-fall:
The High-Fall intonation generally indicates finality and completeness, and the
speaker has delivered a complete message; the speaker does not show an intention
to continue speaking, a belief in the content of the utterance.
Statement: We are leaving.
Replies to questions: I think its next Monday.
Commands/ orders: if the speaker expects the hearer to perform the command
Please, close the window
Stop that machine

3.1.2. The low-fall:

The Low-Fall intonation can be expected as almost finality. This tone differs
from the high-fall in probability and abrupt termination on the part of the speaker.
The impression of abruptness, impatience, and lack of concern, is shown by the
speaker in conversation.
A: Do you like Shakespeare?
B: Yes (low-fall). Speaker B seems uninterested.
3.1.3. The rise-fall:
The Rise-Fall adds emphasis to what would be communicated by the Rise-Fall tone
speaker. It usually denotes strong feelings and emotions of approval, disapproval or
surprise. This tone is used rarely in English.
Shes really wonderful, I like it. How nice!
He studied at Cambridge!
A- Isnt the view lovely! B- Yes
3.2. The Attitudinal Function of Rising Tones:
This time, we will tackle the attitudinal function of the rising tones in English:
3.2.1. the high-rise:
The High-Rise is the opposite of the High-Fall: it is non-final, not conclusive.
-In a statement: when the message is uncommon or contradicts what was said before.
Hes learning Chinese! (its incredible!) Hes a mechanic? (not an engineer as you said)
-To ask for a repetition of what was said before, because the hearer hasnt heard properly
or he cant believe what he has heard. Expressing strong surprise.
1. Can I have some beef soup? The waiter answers: What? (Restaurant is vegetarian)
2. A:Where are you spending your holiday? B:Probably in Bra zil. A:Where did you say?
-Yes-no questions, this sort of questions do not begin with a question word like (how, why)
1. Are you ready? 2. Wont you come a long with us?
3.2.2. the low-rise:
The Low-Rise tone can be a call for attention or a signal that the speaker is listening and
expects the conversation to go on. Low-rise tone could be taken as showing of interest.
1.A: Ex cuse me. (wishing to attract Bs attention) B: Yes (Bs interested and reply go on)
3.2.3. the fall-rise:
The Fall-Rise tone can be just a variation of the high-rise tone, another way of asking a Yes/
No question or signaling that the statement is unusual. The fall-rise is used to convey a
limited agreement or response with reservations and hesitation. It states something that
implies that more can be said about the subject.
A- Ive heard that its a good school. B- Yes (A probably expects B to explain more)
- Frequently, the fall-rise tone connects what the speaker is saying with what has just been
said and limits the remark to one part of the topic.
1. A: Do you like sports? B: I love skating. (not sport in general but skating only)
The fall-rise tone is also used to express warnings, advice, or to sound reassuring.
1. Be careful. Dont come back late. Dont worry. It wont be long.
4. Intonation with questions:
- A high-rising tone or pitch sequence often indicates a yes-no question.
1. Is John from Los Angeles? 2. Was it expensive?
- When in a Yes/No question there is a choice between two items, the first item takes a
high-rise whereas the last item has a high-fall tone.
1. Did you come by bike, or did you come on foot. 2. Is it Turkish or Persian?
- Wh-questions (who, what, how) are generally pronounced with a falling tone (high-fall):
Where is my pencil? Who told you that? How did you spend your holiday?
In tag questions, the tone is going down because the speaker expects agreement. So high-
fall tone is used a lot in tags to create agreement and rapport between the speakers.
1. He couldn't cook, could he? 2. They would like sugar, wouldn't they?
Sometimes the tone goes up because the speaker is not sure and asks the listener to check it
A: The football match was on Thursday, wasnt it? B: No, it was on Tuesday.
Intonation in a list:
The intonation goes up on the last strongly stressed word in each phrase, and
then down at the end.
e.g.: He bought a cup, some nuts, some honey and a brush.

Intonation exclamations:
We often show the feeling of surprise in an exclamation where the intonation
goes a long way up and then down (rise-fall).
What a fast car! How good she is?
Intonation suggestions and commands:
Intonation is the voice going up or down. Sometimes this shows whether the
speaker is more polite and friendly or less friendly.
Intonation goes up in a suggestion, or Intonation goes down in a command,
an advice which is polite and friendly: and this sounds less friendly:
Have a holiday, Mr Smith. Have a holiday, Mrs Bloggs.
Stop washing, Mr Wong. Stop washing, Mr Wong.
Dont drop that pot, Ms Morris. Dont drop that pot, Ms Morris.
Put it on the box, Miss Johnson. Put it on the box, Miss Johnson.
Intonation is the voice going up or down. We can show a feeling of
surprise with an intonation that goes a long way up then down.
I saw Victoria at the airport. Response: At the airport?
A: They changed the timetable. B: Changed it?
 Time For Practice:
Exercise: Draw an arrow up or down in the space before the strongly stressed word:

1. Thats Lesley, isnt it?

2. He bought a cup, some nuts, some honey and a brush.
3. Put it on the box, Miss Johnson.
4. Go and see the doctor.
5. Dont drop that pot, Ms Morris.
6. What a fast car!
7. I saw Victoria at the airport.
Response: At the airport?
Thanks for your attention
1- Ladefoged, Peter. (1982). A course in phonetics,
New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, p. 225.
2 Martin, Hewings (2003). English Pronunciation in
Use, Advanced Level. Cambridge University Press.
3 Cruttenden, A. (1997). Intonation. Cambridge
University Press.
4 Lehistle, I. (1970). Suprasegmentals. Cambridge.
Massachussets. MIT Press.
5- Kreidler, C, W. (1989) The Pronunciation of
English . Blackwell
6- Giegerich, A.C. (1992) English Phonology. CUP.