INTONATION

Intonation is the melody of what we

say. It is the combination of all the
speech sound we make and the
phonemes of stress, pitch levels and
terminal contours used with them.
Three types of intonational patterns
are used in American English:

 The rising-falling intonational pattern

 The rising intonational pattern
 The non-final intonational pattern
The Rising – falling Intonational
Pattern

 This intonational is indicated numerically as

/231 /. It starts with pitch level /2/ and rises to
pitch level /3/ at the last sentence stress and
goes down to pitch level /1/ at the end of the
sentence and finish with the falling terminal
contour. This intonation may end with a shift or
an inflection. A shift is the rise and fall of the
voice in two different syllables. Inflection is the
rise and fall of the voice in one syllable.
 Example:
 We are in college.

 It’s good to be here.

 You will note that in college the voice rises in

col and falls in lege. In the second sentence
the voice rises and falls in here.
 In an inflection there is a tendency to
dipthongize the vowel because of the time it
takes to slide from one note to another.
Dipthongization is similar to lengthening.
Uses of Rising-falling Intonation

The rising-falling intonation is used for three

purposes:
1. In simple statement of fact.
 I’m taking commerce.

2. In commands of requests.
 Please report to the dean
Uses of Rising-falling Intonation

3. In question which begin with interrogative

words (what, how, where, when, etc.)
 What is the matter?

 When did he leave?

 Why has he forgotten?

The Rising Intonation

The Rising Intonation is numerically represented

by /233 /. It means that we begin the sentence
with normal pitch level /2/, the rise the high pith
level /3/ in the last sentence stress and continues
with pitch level /3/ up to the end of the sentence
and finish with a rising terminal contour.
The Rising Intonation

The only use of the rising intonation is at the end

of questions answerable by yes or no.
Example:

 Are you coming?

 Will you give it to me?

Practice:

1. Read the following questions:

 Is this were you live?
 Have you studied your lesson?
 Won’t you see her?
 Will the program be long?
 Is there a check for them?
 Aren’t the goods expected today?
 Practice:

2. Copy the following sentence and mark them

with intonational lines.
 Are there any disadvantages with partnerships?
 Can corporation open subsidiaries?
 Has the government given support to farmers?
 Has the advance in technology lessened uncertainty?
 Does lower supply necessarily mean higher price?
Practice:

 Conversation Drill:
1. Were you present at the meeting?
2. Yes, I was. I was present at the meeting.
3. Won’t you see her?
4. Will the program be long?
5. Is there a check for them?
6. Aren’t the goods expected today?
 The difficulty of Filipino students learning
English intonation is that they do not rise pitch
level /3/ in the last sentence stress, nor they go
down to pitch level /1/ at the end of the
sentence. This is because in the Filipino
language – Visayan Tagalog, or any of the
dialects – there is no appreciable rise in pitch
within the sentence nor a lowering of the pitch
at the end of the sentence.
Thanks!