Lecture 7

Tones
• Tones and tone languages
• Tones and functions of tones in English
• Tone units

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 Tones and tone languages
• When we speak, we constantly vary the pitch of our
voice. Tone is the overall behaviour of pitch in a
syllable.
• Although in English, a word such as ‘yes’ and ‘no’ can
be spoken with different tones, no English speakers
would say that the meaning of the word is different with
different tones.
• English is one of those languages that do not use tone
to distinguish the meanings of words, though tones or
pitch differences are used for other purposes. Such
languages are called intonation languages.
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 Tone languages
• A tone language is one in which the tone can
determine the meaning of a word and a
change from one tone to another can
completely change the meaning of a word. In
other words, substituting one distinctive tone
for another on a particular word can cause a
change in lexical meaning of that word.
• E.g. Vietnamese, Chinese
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 Tones
Tones

Simple tones Complex tones

Level tones Fall-rise Rise-fall

Moving tones tone Tone
(_)
(v) (^)

Falling tone Rising tone

(\) (/) 4
 Description of tones
• The level tone is one in which the pitch remains at a
constant level
• The falling tone is one which descends from a higher
to a lower pitch
• The rising tone is a movement from a lower pitch to a
higher one
• The fall-rise tone is one in which the pitch falls and
then rises
• The rise-fall tone is one in which the pitch rises and
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then falls
 Functions of English tones
1. The level tone.
• This tone almost always conveys a feeling of saying
something routine, uninteresting or boring. E.g.
• A teacher’s calling the names of the students from a
register and the students respond the teacher with
‘Yes’.
• Respondents answer surveys or questionnaires.

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2. The falling tone.
• This tone is usually regarded as more or less neutral.
It is said to give an impression of ‘finality’.
• If someone is asked a question and replies ‘yes’ or
‘no’ with a falling tone, it will be understood that the
question is now answered and there is nothing more
to be said.
• How many dogs have you got? Two
• What was the weather like? Wet
• Have you finished? Yes

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3. The rising tone
• This tone conveys an impression that something
more is to follow or an invitation to continue.
• Excuse me. Yes?
• Have you talked to her? Yes? No?
• Hello, is that John? Yes?
• First you type in your user name. Yes?
Then you type in your password Yes?
and finally click “Log in”

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4. The fall-rise
• This tone is usually used to show ‘limited agreement’
or response with reservations.
• Isn’t he handsome?
Yes, (but he is not very manly)
• She looks beautiful
Yes, (thanks to her make-up)
• It’s not very difficult, is it?
No, (but remember that I’m just a beginner)

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5. The rise-fall
• This tone is used to convey rather strong feelings of
approval, disapproval or surprise.
• Isn’t he intelligent? Yes.
• Have you ever heard such a story? No.
• She has won the contest. Great.

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 Tone units
• A tone unit is a group of syllables over which a tone
extends. It is also referred to as an ‘intonation group’ or
a ‘tone group’.
Is it you?
You have sold your car?
• In its smallest form, the tone unit may consist of only
one syllable
James? Four?
• The syllable which carries the tone in a tone unit is
called the ‘tonic syllable’.
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Tone-unit with more than one syllable
Is it /you
• The third syllable
• is more prominent than the other two
• carries a level tone
• is a tonic syllable
• The other two syllables
• are less prominent
• said on a level pitch
• “is it you” is an utterance of three syllables, consisting
of one tone unit. The only syllable that carries a tone is
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“you”.
 Structure of tone unit

Tone unit

Pre-head Head Tonic syllable Tail

(PH) (H) TS (T)

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 Tonic syllable
• is the syllable which carries the tone in a
tone-unit

• Each tone-unit has one and only one tonic

syllable. This means that the tonic syllable is
an obligatory component of the tone unit.

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 The head
• The head (H) is all that part of a tone-unit that
extends from the first stressed syllable up to but not
including the tonic syllable.
Æ If there is no stressed syllable before the tonic
syllable, there cannot be a head.
e.g. lgive me \those

lin an \hour

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 The pre-head
• The pre-head (PH) is composed of all the unstressed
syllables in a tone-unit preceding the first stressed
syllable.
• Pre-heads are found in two main environments:

• When there is no head: in an \hour

PH
• When there is a head: in a ’little ’less than an hour
PH H
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 The tail

• Any syllables between the tonic syllable and the

end of the tone unit are called the tail
• e.g. \look at it
T

/what did you say

T

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