Intonation

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1. Definition of intonation

Intonation is the topic of particular theoretical and practical interest. It is the sphere of suprasegmental phonetics. The flow of speech does not consist only of segmental units (speech sounds), there are also other phonetic means that characterize a sequence of speech sounds. They are called suprasegmental or prosodic means.

Intonation is a language universal. There are no languages which are spoken as a monotone, i. e. without any change of prosodic parameters. But intonation functions in various languages in different ways. Intonation is indispensable in communication, because it is instrumental in conveying meaning. No sentence can exist without a particular intonation. No meaning can be expressed without it.

Intonation can be described on the acoustic level (in terms of its acoustic characteristics), on the perceptions level (in terms of the characteristics perceived by human ear) and on the linguistic level (in terms of meanings expressed by intonation).

In Macmillan`s dictionary intonation is considered as the way in which the voice rises or falls when someone speaks. But it is the layman`s definition. According to most Russian linguists on the perception level intonation is defined as a complex, a whole, formed by significant variations of pitch, loudness and tempo (the rate of speech and pausation) closely related. Some definitions also include timbre (voice quality), which sometimes is sometimes regarded as the fourth component of intonation.

In British and American tradition intonation is restricted to the pitch (tone) changes only. Intonation is identified with pitch movements (or melody), because pitch has the greatest linguistic value.

2. Accentual and integral components of intonation

Different kinds of meanings are expressed by different sound means. Lexical and grammatical meanings are made using sound segments and rhythmic patterns that form the shell of morphemes and words. Syntactic structure is expressed primarily by grammar linking words and their order.

But the utterance also has other functional characteristics. Main ones define its purpose (statement, question and motivation) and its communicative structure (rheme, which is the semantic focus, and theme). Modal assessments of the content of the statement, such as its prominence, are less important and optional. These functional characteristics are expressed in several linguistics means but intonation is the most significant.

There are two types of intonation means: phrasal accents usually placed on the stressed syllables of words, and integral (non-accent) characteristics relating to the certain phrase or to the whole sentence. The most important functions of intonation are performed by the accents.

A remarkable feature of major intonation components (pitch, loudness, tempo) is that each of them can be used both locally (in the phrasal accents) and integrally as a general description of the intonation group, grammatically expressed by phrase or by the whole sentence. Possible dual use of prosodic attributes of different types is presented in the table below.

Two ways of using of prosodic attributes

As it has already been said, the components of intonation, or suprasegmental features that form intonation can be viewed on the acoustic level. Each of them has its own acoustic correlate and can be objectively measured. The acoustic correlate of pinch is fundamental frequency of the vibrations of the vocal cords; loudness correlates with intensity, tempo correlates with time (duration) during which a speech unit lasts.

It is generally acknowledged that each component of intonation is linguistically relevant and can be described as a system. Pitch is described as a system of tones (fall, rise, fall-rise and so on), pitch levels (keys), which can be high, medium and low, and pitch rangers (wide, medium and narrow).

Variations in voice pitch occur within the normal range of the human voice, i. e. within the interval between its upper and lower limits. Three pitch levels (keys, registers) are generally distinguished: high, medium and low.

The pitch range is the interval between two pitch levels. When we speak about the pitch ranges of the whole intonation unit we mean the interval between the highest-pinched and the lowest-pitched syllables. Pitch rangers may be normal, wide and narrow.

Loudness is described as normal, increased (forte) or low (piano).

Tempo includes rate of speech and pausation.

The rate of speech can be normal, slow and fast. Generally, the parts of the utterance which are particularly important are pronounced at a slower rate, while in less important parts the rate of speech tends to be faster.

Any stretch of speech can be split into smaller segments by means of pause. A pause is a complete stop of phonation. Pauses are classified according to their length, their position in the utterance (final - non-final) and their function.

It is sufficient to distinguish the following types of pauses:

- short pauses which may be used to separate intonation groups within a phrase;

- longer pauses which normally manifest the end of the phrase;

- very long pauses which are used to separate bigger phonetic units (phonopassages).

Functionally, there may be distinguished syntactic, emphatic and hesitation pauses.

Syntactic pauses separate phonopassages, phrases, intonation groups.

Emphatic pauses serve to make some parts of the utterance especially prominent.

She is the most | charming girl I`ve ever seen. ||

The subject of this talk is | intonation. ||

Hesitation pauses are mainly used in spontaneous speech to gain some time to think over what to say next. They may be silent (unfilled) or filled.

She is rather a | good student. ||

Where does she live? - Um, not far from here. ||

Pauses can perform various functions. Besides the segmentation of the speech continuum, pauses contribute to the temporal and rhythmical organization of speech.

Pauses are easily perceived when there is a stop of phonation. However there are cases when we perceive a pause when there is no stop of phonation. It happens because a stop of phonation is not an only factor indicating an intonation group boundary. Thus, the impression of the boundary between speech segments may be created by perceivable pitch change, either stepping down or stepping up, depending on the direction of the nuclear tone movement.

3. Intonation Pattern

Each syllable in the speech chain has a special pinch colouring. Some of the syllables are characterized by significant moves of tone up and down. Each syllable bears a definite amount of loudness. Together with the tempo of speech they form an intonation pattern which is the basic unit of intonation.

An intonation pattern has one nuclear tone (nucleus) and may contain other stressed or unstressed syllables preceding or following the nuclear tone. The boundaries of an intonation pattern may be marked by stops of phonation, i. e. temporal pauses.

Intonation patterns serve to actualize syntagms in oral speech. A syntagm is a group of words which is semantically and syntactically complete. In phonetics actualized syntagms are called intonation groups (tone groups). Each intonation group may consist of one or more potential syntagms. For example, the sentence I hope the weather will be fine has two potential syntagms: I hope and the weather will be fine. In oral speech its normally actualized as one intonation group.

A phrase (a sentence actualized in oral speech) may contain one or several intonation groups. The number of intonation groups depends on the length of the phrase and the semantic importance given to various parts of the phrase:

This bed was not slept in. ||

This bed | was not slept in. ||

An additional nuclear tone on this contrasts “this bed” to “other beds”. Here is another example:

Next holiday | I will spend with my boyfriend in Brazil. ||

Next holiday | I will spend with my boyfriend | in Brazil. ||

The phrase above can be pronounced with either two or three intonation groups.

The intonation pattern may include the following components: the nuclear tone (nucleus), the head, the pre-head and the tail.

Intonation pattern and its component

Intonation pattern

Pre-head head nuclear tone tail

The nuclear tones

Not all the stressed syllables in the intonation group are of equal prominence. To highlight the most important word the speaker accents it, adding pitch prominence. One of the syllables has greater prominence than the others. It is the nucleus or the focal point (focus). The nucleus may be described as a syllable which is marked by a significant change in pitch direction, i. e. where the pitch goes distinctly up or down. The nuclear tone is the most important part of the intonation pattern. The intonation pattern can not exist without it. At the same time the intonation pattern may consist of one syllable, which will be its nucleus.

The nuclear tones are generally grouped into simple (low fall, low rise etc), complex (fall-rise, rise-fall) and compound (rise + fall + rise).

- The falling tone of any level and range expresses: finality, completeness, certainty, independence.

What is the weather? - It is \ cold.

- A rising tone of any level and range expresses: incompleteness, dependence, uncertainty. This tone conveys the impression that the conversation is not finished yet and something else is to follow. The rising tone is used when the speaker wants to encourage further conversation.

We can miss the train. - Are you / ready?

The rising tone is frequently used in polite requests, invitations, greetings, farewell and other strategies of social interaction.

What shall I do now? - Do go / on.

- The fall-rise is often used in English and conveys a variety of meanings. When used at the end of the phrase it expresses reservation, that is it asserts something and at the same time suggests that there is something else to be said.

Do you fond of sports? - \/ Sometimes.

The fall-rise can also be used in non- final intonation groups. It expresses non-finality and indicates that another point is to follow.

When I return \/ home | we will think of it.

The fall-rise is also chosen by speakers when they want to refer to something already mentioned in the conversation or to the information shared by the speakers and the hearers.

This necklace is brilliant. - It is \/ brilliant, but very expensive.

The falling-rising tone consists of a fall in pitch followed by a rise. If the nucleus is the last syllable of the intonation group the fall and rise both take place on one syllable - the nuclear syllable. Otherwise the rise occurs in the remainder of the tone unit.

Do you remember her? - \/ Yes/

What can I do to mend matters? - You could ap \ ologize to / her.

- Level tone is used in short utterances to convey a feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting and boring. It is frequently used at intonation group boundaries conveying non-finality.

- Mid- level tone is particularly common in spontaneous speech replacing low rise.

- Such nuclear tones as rise-fall and rise-fall-rise add refinement to speech.

The pre-nuclear tones

The head and the pre-head form the pre-nuclear part of the intonation pattern. The head contains the syllables beginning with the first stressed syllable up to, but not including, the nucleus. The pre-head consists of unstressed or half-stressed syllables preceding the head.

The pre-nuclear part can take a variety of pitch patterns. Such variations do not usually affect the grammatical meaning of the utterance, but they often convey attitudinal or stylistic meanings. The character of pitch movements in the pre-nuclear part is often quite complex and heterogeneous. Generally three common types of pre-nuclears are distinguished: a descending type in which the pitch gradually descends to the nucleus; an ascending type in which the syllables form an ascending sequence and a level type when all the syllables are more or less on the same level.

Why are you making such a mess of it?

Why are you making such a mess of it?

Why are you making such a mess of it?

These examples show that different types of pre-nuclear patterns do not affect the grammatical meaning of the sentence but they can convey speaker's attitude.

To sum up it can be said that minimally an intonation pattern consists of one syllable, which is nucleus. Maximally it may include three other elements: the head, the pre-head and the tail (the tone of a nucleus determines the pitch of the rest of the intonation pattern following it).

The combinations of the tones

The meaning of the intonation group is the combination of the meaning conveyed by the terminal, pre-nuclear part, pitch level and pitch range. Obviously the elements of the intonation pattern can be combined in various ways and express a variety of meanings.

Not at all. (Encouraging, friendly)

Not at all. (Questioning)

Not at all. (Surprised)

The number of possible combinations is more than a hundred, but not all of them are of equal importance.

intonation prosodic attribute tone

4. Functions of intonation

Communicative function as the basic function of intonation

Intonation is functional, i.e. it is used in a language for particular purposes and is never merely decorative. Within any language intonation is systemic: different speakers tend to use the same patterns for the same purposes. If the speaker uses wrong intonation he can easily slip in accent or can ever be misunderstood.

Intonation is a powerful means of human communication. It has a great value for expressing ideas and emotions and contributes to mutual understanding between people. One of the aims of communications is the exchange of information between people. The meaning of the English utterance, i. e. the information it conveys to a listener, derives not only from the grammatical structure, the lexical composition and the sound pattern. It also derives from variations of intonation, in other words the prosodic parameters of the utterance.

It can be argued that since intonation is viewed as a powerful means of communication, its basic function is communicative. It follows from this that it is impossible to divorce any function of intonation from that of communication. Now matter how many functions are named, all of them may be regarded as the realization of the communicative function.

The communicative function of intonation embraces its numerous uses, which can be grouped in the following way: the use of intonation to distinguish meanings and the use of intonation to organize, or structure the oral text.

Intonation in discourse

A comparatively new area of studying is becoming increasingly important in the description of natural speech. If we think of linguistic analysis as usually being linked to the sentence as the maximum unit of grammar, then the study of discourse attempts to look at the larger context in which sentences occur. For example, consider the four sentences in the following:

A: Have you got any free time this morning?

B: I might have later on if that meeting is off.

A: They were talking about putting it later.

B: You can not be sure.

Each sentence could be studied in isolation and be analyzed in terms of grammatical construction, lexical content and so on. But it is obvious that the sentences form part of some larger act of conversational interaction between two speakers; the sentences contain several references that presuppose shared knowledge (e. g. “that meeting” implies that both speakers know which meeting is being spoken about), and in some cases the meaning of a sentence can only be correctly interpreted in the light of knowledge of what has preceded it in the conversation (e. g. “You can not be sure”).

If we consider how intonation may be studied in relation to discourse, we can identify two main areas: one of them is the use of intonation to focus the listener's attention on aspects of the message that are most important, and the other is concerned with the regulation of conversational behavior.

In the case of “attention focusing”, it is placing of tonic stress on the appropriate syllable of one particular word in the tone-unit. Sometimes it seems more appropriate to describe tonic stress placement in terms of “information content”: the more predictable the word's occurrence is in a given context, the lower its information content is, and tonic stress will tend to be placed on words with high information content.

Another use of intonation connected with the focusing of attention is intonational subordination; we can signal that a particular tone-unit is of comparatively low importance and as a result give correspondingly greater importance to adjacent tone-units.

Organizing function

Intonation serves to structure the text. On the one hand, it delimitates the text into smaller units, on the other hand, it ties together smaller units into bigger ones. These two processes take place simultaneously.

When we speak about delimitation (or segmentation) we mean that intonation can divide the text into phonopassages (or dialogue blocks), phrases, intonation groups. In spoken English the smallest piece of information is associated with an intonation group, that is, a unit of intonation containing a nuclear tone. There is no exact match between punctuation in writing and intonation groups in speech. Segmentation of speech into intonation groups depends on a number of factors, such as the length of syntactical units, the intention of the speaker to give emphasis to particular parts of the message, the degree of formality of discourse, the tempo of speech etc. A single phrase may contain just one intonation group, but when its length goes beyond the certain point, it is difficult not to split it into two or more chunks of intonation.

The man told us we could park it here. ||

The man told us | we could park it at the railway station. ||

The man told us | we could park the car | in front of the pub | in the street over there. ||

Intonation also serves to combine smaller units and organize them into bigger ones: Intonation groups - phrases - phonopassages - texts.

Intonation shows what things belong more closely together than others. It also shows what is subordinate to what. Thus, intonation conncts textual units with other textual units and contributes to the cohesion of the spoken text, thus performing the integrative function. Admittedly, integration and delimitation are not formal things, these processes are the realization of the information content of the text.

Intonation highlights the most important information in an utterance, which helps to distinguish which information is new (the rheme) and which information is known to the listener (the theme).

New information is the most important part of the message. It is concentrated in the information centre, which may consist of a single word or be spread over a number of words. The nuclear tone marks the nucleus of the information centre, i. e. the information focus.

Chester went to Paris.

The position of the nuclear tone on the last notional word of the intonation group (end-focus position) is viewed as the basic, neutral, and unmarked.

In actual speech the rheme and the nuclear tone may be placed differently. Such position of the nuclear tone is called marked.

Did Chester go to Paris? - No, Bob went to Paris.

An important conclusion to be made here is that intonation plays a very important role in structuring the discourse: it organizes words into a meaningful phrase, it ties phrases together within the text, showing in the process where divisions comes, which things are more prominent and so on. In other words, intonation signals how phrases go together in a spoken discourse. At the same time intonation reflects the influence of the context, both verbal and extralinguisnics, on the speech realization.

Pragmatic function

According to contemporary ideas in pragmatics speech communication is effective when people follow special rules which govern speech interaction and which are recognized by all members of the language community. Our choice of language means, and prosodic means in particular, is determined by the rules of speech behavior in a particular speech situation. For example, if a person asks a question he or she expects to get an answer, or if a person wants to engage you in a small talk and makes a comment about the weather, you are supposed to react in a similar way. And by choosing concrete means we can produce different kinds of influence on the listeners.

As regards the pragmatic function of intonation, it consists in the use of intonation with a specific purpose. In other words, when used in discourse, intonation serves to actualize the speaker's pragmatic aim.

Thus, the choice of the nuclear tone can be the result of the pragmatics of discourse, i.e. what the speaker wants to achieve in the course of speech interaction. It should be mentioned that the pragmatic use of intonation is also associated with its ability to affect the intellect and emotions of the listener.

Rhetorical function

In rhetorical discourse the main goal of the speaker is persuasion. The public speech is planned, structured and delivered as an oral text aimed at influencing the intellect, the emotions of the listeners or both. Naturally, when presenting the speech in public the speaker chooses the prosodic means which will contribute to the implementation of his or her goals and objectives and mare the speech effective.

In rhetorical discourse prosodic parameters are frequently radically changed, which contributes to the pragmatic effect. When the speaker wants to convey important information the tempo is slowed down and the length of pauses increases.

English has never been a syllable-timed language. ||| Until now. ||

Another technique is the use of repetitions, when prosodic parallelism often accompanies syntactic parallel constructions.

I could have given a quick account of the history | I could have said what it was like to be a student here a hundred years ago | I could have told you about the great museums | and libraries | and college chapels. ||

Besides conveying information intonation is used to impress, affect the listeners and thus it performs the pragmatic or rhetorical function.

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