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Understanding Intonation in English

Intonation refers to variations in pitch used in speech to convey meaning. The document discusses intonation patterns in English including falling, rising, and fall-rising intonation. Falling intonation occurs with declarative statements and wh-questions, rising intonation with yes-no questions, and fall-rising intonation can indicate uncertainty. Correct intonation is important for effective communication while overusing some patterns like high rising tones can confuse or frustrate listeners.

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62 views8 pages

Understanding Intonation in English

Intonation refers to variations in pitch used in speech to convey meaning. The document discusses intonation patterns in English including falling, rising, and fall-rising intonation. Falling intonation occurs with declarative statements and wh-questions, rising intonation with yes-no questions, and fall-rising intonation can indicate uncertainty. Correct intonation is important for effective communication while overusing some patterns like high rising tones can confuse or frustrate listeners.

Uploaded by

Manil Gaifun
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Intonation

PD-215
In linguistics, intonation is variation in
pitch used to indicate the speaker's
attitudes and emotions, to highlight or
focus an expression, to signal the
illocutionary act performed by a
sentence, or to regulate the flow of
discourse.
Transcription
Most transcription conventions have been devised for
describing one particular accent or language, and the
specific conventions therefore need to be explained in the
context of what is being described. However, for general
purposes the International Phonetic Alphabet offers the two
intonation marks shown in the box at the head of this article.
Global rising and falling intonation are marked with a
↗︎
diagonal arrow rising left-to-right [ ] and falling left-to-
↘︎
right [ ], respectively. These may be written as part of a
syllable, or separated with a space when they have a broader
scope:
If you use intonation incorrectly, you can confuse or even
anger your listeners. One common example of inappropriate
intonation is the repeated use of high rising intonation at
the end of most speech passages and sentences. Although a
high rising intonation is common in casual conversation
(often indicating an "open" or friendly attitude), it should
not be overused.
Types
Intonation describes how the voice rises and falls in speech.
The three main patterns of intonation in English are: falling
intonation, rising intonation and fall-rise intonation.
1 Falling intonation
Falling intonation describes how the voice falls on
the final stressed syllable of a phrase or a group
of words. A falling intonation is very common in 2 Rising intonation
wh-questions.
Rising intonation describes how the voice rises at
the end of a sentence. Rising intonation is
common in yes-no questions

3 Fall-rise intonation
Fall-rise intonation describes how the voice falls
and then rises. We use fall-rise intonation at the
end of statements when we want to say that we
are not sure, or when we may have more to add
Examples
Falling Rising Fall-rise
intonation intonation intonation


Where’s the nearest post-office? I hear the Health Centre is expanding. Is this your camera?

So, is that the new doctor?

What time does the film finish?


Would you like another coffee?

Are you thirsty?

Thank You!

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