REVIEW

Intonation

Intonation is the melody of speech. In studying intonation we study how the pitch of the voice rises and falls, and
how spe akers use this pitch variation to convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning.

If we had no intonation, our speech would be monotonous.

Assimilation

Assimilation occurs when a phoneme change its quality due to the influence of a neighboring sound. It changes
to become more like the neighboring sound, or even identical to it.

Alveolar consonants /t/,/d /and /n/ at the end of a word often assimilate to the place of articulation of the
consonant at the beginning of the next word. Before p-b -m they can become bilabial.

Elision

Elision occurs when a sound which would be present in a word spoken in isolation is omitted in connected
speech.

It is mainly /t/ and /d/ that are elided in English, particularly when they are between two other consonants
(consonant cluster)

Liaison

Refers to the smooth linking or joining together of words in connected speech

Linking /r/

In RP the letter /r/ in the spelling of a word is not pronounced unless it is followed by a vowel sound.

Her English

Car engine

Intrusive /r/

This refers to the /r/sound an English speaker may insert between two words where the first ends in /e/ or /o:/
and the following word begins with a vowel sound.

Intrusive /w/

Intrusive /w/ follows a final /u: / or a diphthong ending in /u/ where the next word begins with a vowel sound.
This is because /u:/and /u/ have lip rounding and form the starting point for the bilabial semi-vowel /w/.

Intrusive /j/

Intrusive /j/ follows a final /i: / or a diphthong ending in /i/ where the next word begins with a vowel sound. This
is because /i:/and /i/ form the starting point for the semi-vowel /j/.

FUNCTION OF INTONATION
The Three T´S
Tonality:

The division of the spoken material into meaningful chunks

.
Tonicity:

Speakers use intonation to highlight some words as important for the meaning they wish to convey. These are the
words on which the speaker focuses the hearer’s attention. To highlight an important word we accent it. That is to
say, we add pitch prominence to the rhythmic prominence that a stressed syllable bears. The accents are also the
‘hooks’ on which the intonation pattern is hung.
The nucleus is the most important accent in the I(ntonation) P(hrase). It indicates the end of the focused part of
the material.

Tone:

Having decided the tonicity, we decide on which pitch movement we are going to associate the IP with.
(from WELLS, J. (2006) English Intonation. An Introduction. CUP Cambridge)

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