RHYTHM & INTONATION

Areej Fatima , Naseem Rehman

 RHYTHM

 Rhythm is made by the strong and weak syllables.

 In English syllables can be reduced by rhythm.

 For example, “ham and eggs” is squeezed into two

words: ham’n eggs: “I want to be” into I wanna be; “got
you” … gotcha. The five words “I will see you tomorrow”
may be pronounced “I’llseeya t’morrow”.

 Every language has its own natural rhythm, some

patterned way of modulating the pulse of the airstream
that comes from the diaphragm.
 RHYTHM CONT…

 The unit that manages the rhythm of spoken English is

called Foot.

 The strong syllables of content words tend to occur at

regular intervals of roughly the same duration weather
they are separated by un stress syllables or not.

 Roach (2009) suggests, “The regularity of

occurrence is only relative”

 The notation of regularity in English speech is called

stress timing and the intervals between stressed
 STRESS TIMING EXAMPLE

Stress timing as described by Kelly (2002).

they LIVE in a NICE OLD HOUSE
they LIVE in a LOVELy OLD HOUSE
they”ve been LIVing in a deLIGHTful OLD HOUSE
they”ve been LIVing in a deLIGHTful OLD COTTage

“The speaker starts with a simple sentence and starts

adding syllables to each line, but the time it takes to say an
utterance remains the same”
(Kelly 2002 p.71)
 INTONATION

 Intonation is a term used to refer to the distinctive use of

different patterns of pitch that carry meaningful
information.

 Intonation can be described as the movements or

variations in pitch to which we attach familiar labels
describing levels (e.g. high / low) and tones (e.g.
falling /rising), etc. (Ranalli, 2002)
 INTONATION CONT…

 Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what

we say. Without intonation, it's impossible to understand
the expressions and thoughts that go with words.

 Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to

the words: the 'melody' you hear is the intonation.

 Crystal says:
 “Intonation is not a single system of counters and levels,
but the product of the interaction of features from
different prosodic system __ Tone, Pitch, Range,
Loudness and tempo in particular.”
 CONTINUE…

Articulatory Acoustics Auditory

Phonetics Phonetics Phonetics

• Rate of vocal • Fundamental • Pitch

folds frequency
• The higher • The higher
• The quicker the
vocal folds Frequency the pitch the
vibrate. • (higher number sensation.
of cycles per
second)
 DEVELOPMENT OF
INTONATION

 The study of intonation went through many changes in

the twentieth century.
 British linguistics Daniel Jones & (1926)

 The most intensive development began during the 1940.

 In United States the theory that evolved was based on

‘pitch phonemes’ (Pike. 1945).

 It was developed in 1951 and then by Halliday (1967)

 TONE

Tone is the major pitch movement within the tone unit. The
overall behavior of pitch is “tone”
Choice of pitch movement:
• The meaning component deriving from tone does not
attach to the word level only but to the complete tone
unit.
• The prominent words are the sub-classes of the tonic
syllabus.
• The communication value of prominence and tone choice
depends on interaction between listener and speaker.
• When is the meeting?
• On Saturday afterNOON
• On SATurday afternoon
 PITCH

 Pitch is the psychoacoustic property of sound in that it

represents our human perception of low and high
frequency.
 It mainly depends on frequency of sound.
 It distinguish between shriller and flatter sound.
 Intonation is formed by certain pitch changes,
characteristic of a given language.
 FUNCTIONS OF
INTONATION

1.Attitudinal functions
2.Accentual functions
3.Grammatical functions
4.Discourse functions
5.Psychological function
 ATTITUDINAL FUNCTIONS

Allow us to express emotions: finality, confidence,

interest, surprise, doubt, joy, pain, irony, etc.

Example:
A fall from a high pitch on the ‘mor’ syllable of
“good morning” suggest more excitement than a
fall from a low pitch.
 ACCENTUAL FUNCTIONS

When it is said that intonation has accentual

function, it implies that the placement of stress is
somewhat determined by intonation.

GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS:
The listener is better able to recognize the
grammar and syntax structure of what is being
said by using the information contained in the
intonation.
For Example:
The difference between questions and statements.
 DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS

o Intonation can signal to the listener what is to be taken

as “new” information and what is already “given”.

o It can indicate when the speaker is indicating some sort

of contrast or link with material in another tone unit.

o In conversation it can convey to the listener what kind of

response is being expected from him.
 PSYCHOLOGICAL
FUNCTION

Psychological functions organize speech into units

that are easy to perceive, memorize and perform.

For Example:
The utterance “You can have it in red blue green
yellow and black is more difficult to understand
and remember than the same utterance divided
into tone units as in “You can have it in red| blue|
green| yellow| or black”
THANKS FOR YOUR
ATTENTION