Intonation

Introducing letters and sounds

1) In this story, there are 12 incorrect words. The correct word is pronounced the same as the incorrect one, but the spelling is different. Correct them using words from the box.

Son some meat way threw pears sent week buy piece road two
week
Last weak, I cent my sun Jamie to the shops to bye sum food. He got a peace of meet and too pairs. On the weigh home, the bag broke. The food fell onto the rode and got dirty. In the end, Jamie through the food in the bin.

2) How many sounds are there in each word? Write the order of consonant sounds (C) and vowel sounds (V).
Example: Night cvc
(Three sounds: first a consonant, then a vowel and finally another consonant)

i. Dog ____________
ii. Rabbit ____________
iii. Frog ____________
iv. Gorilla ___________
v. Snake ____________
vi. Bee ____________

3) Read these names of cartoon animals. Do they have the same first sounds? (Write A) Do they rhyme (write B)
Example: Sam the Lamb B

a. Phil the fox _________
b. Mary the Canary _________
c. Ida the spider __________
d. Claire the bear __________
e. Polly the parrot __________
f. Deborah the zebra __________
g. Myrtle the turtle ____________
h. Kitty the cat ____________


4) Read the sounds. Do you have a similar sound in your language? If you
do, write a tick.

i. / ∫ / (shoe) _________
ii. / з: / (girl) ___________
iii. / æ / (hat) ___________
iv. / z / (zoo) ___________
v. / d / (June) ___________
vi. / ∂U / (soap) __________
vii. / θ / (thing) ___________
viii. / l / (life) ____________


The consonant sounds /b/ and /p/

1) First read this conversation to the end, and then write the letter ‘b’ or ‘p’ in each gap. Read and check your answers.
Sid: Where are the __p ears?
Joe: ___ears?!! Did you say ___ears?
Sid: No, ____ears, you know, fruit!
Joe: Oh, I see ____ears with a P! They are in the __ack.
Sid: What, in the ___ack of the truck?
Joe: No, in the ___ack, you know, with a P!
Sid: Oh, I see ____ack with a P! Would you like one?
Joe: No, I’ll have a ____each, please.
Sid: A beach?!!!

2) The word ape contains the two sounds /eI/ and /p/. If you reverse the sounds, you get the word pay /peI/. Reverse the sounds in these words
and write the new word.
Example: tops spot
1. peach ________
2. cab _________
3. lip __________
4. step __________
5. keeps _________



3) In one word in each group, the ‘b’ or ‘p’ is not pronounced. Circle the
word.
Example: double doubt Dublin

i) lamb lable climb
ii) crab robbed climb
iii) cup cupboard copy
iv) photo potato paper
v) recipe repeat receipt
vi) possibly psychology special
vii) Cambridge combine combing

Intonation

Voiced sounds are produced when the vocal cords are kept loosely together to vibrate. The vibration of the vocal cords produces a musical note called voice. During normal speech, for an adult male, the vocal cords vibrate between 80 and 120 times per second and between 150 to 200 times a second in the case of an adult female. The rate at which the vocal cords vibrate is called the frequency of vibration and this determines the pitch of the voice. The more rapidly the vocal cords vibrate, the higher will be the pitch.
When we hear someone speak, we realize that he doesn’t always speak on the same note. We hear consonant vibrations in the level at which his voice is pitched. That is to say, sometimes the pitch rises and sometimes it falls. At other times, it remains level, high or low. The pattern of vibration of the pitch of the voice (i.e., the way in which the pitch varies) constitutes the intonation of a language.

A syllable on which a pitch change takes place is usually marked with one of the following signs.
1) [ \ ] the pitch falls from very high to very low
(The tone is called a high fall)

2) [ \ ] the pitch falls from mid to very low
(The tone is called a low fall)

3) [ / ] the pitch rises from very low to very high.
(The tone is called high rise)

4) [ / the pitch rises from low to mid.
(The tone is called low rise)

5) [ v ] the pitch falls from about mid to low and then
rises again to mid. (The tone is called fall-rise)

6) [ ^ ] the pitch rises from low to about mid and then
falls again to low. (The tone is called rise-fall)


An accented syllable can be said with a changing pitch or on a level pitch, high or low. If it is said on a high level pitch, it is marked [ ׀ ] with a vertical bar above and before the syllable. If it is said on a low level pitch, it is marked [ ׀ ] with a vertical bar below and before the syllable.

SYMBOLS

Ex:
1. I’ve ׀just ׀bought a \car. ([ \ ] - high falling tone)
2. ׀George is a \tall ׀boy ([ \ ] – high falling tone)
3. I trust you found him well ([ ] – low rising)
4. Did you say snake? ([ ] – high rising tone)
5. I saw it ten times. ([ ] – low falling tone)
6. The door is shut. ([ ] – falling rising tone)
7. I met him last night. ( [ ] –rising falling tone)

In the above examples, the syllables marked [ ] or [ ] are said on level tones, high and low respectively and the syllables marked with the sign [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] [ ] or [ ] are those during the pronunciation of which some sort of pitch movement takes place. A syllable which is said on a level tone, high or low, is said to have a ‘static tone’ and one on which there is a pitch change is said to have a ‘kinetic tone’.

To study English Intonation, one has to consider three important factors. They are:
a) The division of an utterance into groups.
b) The choice of a syllable on which the pitch- movement has to be initiated, and
c) The choice of a tone.

a) The division of an utterance into groups
We divide long utterances into small groups while speaking. In other words, we pause here and there in the middle of an utterance. The stretch of speech between any two pauses constitutes a group.

Ex:
Sentences without any pauses.
1. I’m going.
2. Can we go there?
3. Where do you think you are going?

Sentences divide into two groups. (So there will be one pause in the middle of each sentence)
1. When you go out, / shut the door.
2. If it rains, / stay back in the office.
3. Prices are coming down / inspite of the recent floods.
4. All those who have gone before you / have submitted to death.
5. When the cat is away/ the mice play.

Each group is called a breath group, indicating that the break up is physiological. We pause in the middle to breathe. These groups are also called sense-groups, as pause cannot be made at arbitrarily chosen places but it should be made in such a way that the sense of the utterances is not lost. These are also called tone- groups as each group forms a compact unit and must be said with a particular intonation.
Very often, punctuation gives a clue to the division of an utterance into tone groups, though it is not a sure guide. A full-stop always indicates the end of a tone group and a comma does it at times.

b) The choice of a syllable on which the pitch- movement
has to be initiated
Having divided an utterance into tone-groups, the speaker will have to choose a syllable, on which to initiate a pitch movement during speech. In connected speech as learnt, content words receive the accent and form words do not.
Ex: John and George are friends.
John, George and friends will receive the accent and and are will not. The speakers will decide on which of the three syllables John, George or friends to initiate the pitch movement. The syllable on which a pitch movement begins is called the nucleus of the tone group or the tonic syllable. Usually the choice of the nucleus will depend upon the meaning the speaker wants to convey.
Ex:
1. I want you to take the dog for a walk in the park.
( park – tonic)
2. I want you to take the dog for a walk in the park.
( walk – not to make the dog run)
3. I want you to take the dog for a walk in the park.
( dog – dog and not any other animal for a walk)

In the above sentences, prominence was given to all the content words and made one of the content words stand out from the rest by initiating a pitch movement.

4. I want you to take the dog for a walk in the park.
(You is the nucleus – the addressee but not anyone else)

5. I want you to take the dog for a walk in the park.
(I is the nucleus – he and no one else, is giving the order)

If the content does not demand that a particular syllable be made specially prominent, the last prominent syllable in a tone group will be the nucleus.

The first accented syllable in a tone-group is called the head, the most prominent syllable in a tone–group on which a pitch movement takes place is called the nucleus; the syllable between the head and the nucleus constitute the body of the tone-group, the syllables after the nucleus, if any, constitute the tail of the tone-group. The syllable before the first accented syllable, if any, constitutes the pre-head.

Ex:
Pre-head Head Body Nucleus Tail
1) It looks as if it’s rain now.
2) I’m going to mad ras to mor row.
3) - Go and get me some wa ter.
4) - Shut - up. -
5) That girl’s very beau tiful.
6) - - - Thanks -
7) It’s - - John. -

c) The choice of a tone
After dividing a sentence into tone-groups and having chosen the nucleus, the speaker has to choose one of the various tones.
Intonation in English serves a grammatical function and an attitudinal function. With the help of intonation the listeners can make out whether a particular utterance is a statement or question, a command or a request.


Examples
1) Looking for something (falling tone – a statement)
2) Looking for something? (Rising tone a question)
3) Going to Bom bay. (Falling tone – a statement)
4) Going to Bombay? ( Rising tone – a question)
5) Shut the door ( Falling tone – a command)
6) Shut the door. (Rising tone – a request)


Secondly, with the help of intonation one can find-out the attitude or mood of the speaker – whether he is bored, annoyed, interested in the subject of conversation, sarcastic, etc.

a) The falling tone may be used in
i. Ordinary statements made with no implication.
ii. Wh – questions asked neutrally.
iii. Commands.
iv. Exclamations.

b) The raising tone may be used in
i. Incomplete utterance, often the first of the two clauses in a complex statement.
ii. Yes/ No questions.
iii. Wh- questions asked in a warm, friendly way.
iv. Polite requests and encouraging invitations.

c) The falling – rising tone may be used in
i. Special implications not verbally expressed.

The intonation of a foreign language is an extremely difficult aspect of the language to master. From the numerous examples given in this chapter you may perhaps get a theoretical knowledge of English intonation. It is perhaps necessary to listen to a native speaker of English for a considerable length of time to gain mastery over this extremely complex aspect of spoken English.