Functions of Intonation

FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION
Phonetics
&
Phonology

SOME BASIC CONCEPTS
REGARDING INTONATIOIN
 1-Tone unit
 2-Tone boundaries
 3-Tonic syllable
 4-Pre-head
 5-Head
6-Tail

DIFFERENT INTONATION
SYMBOLS
 Falling tone yes
 Rising tone yes
 Fall-rise tone yes
 Rise-fall tone yes
 Level tone yes

PHONOLOGY AND INTONATION
 We define phonology as the production,
transmission and reception of speech sounds.
That is why it includes not only the study of
phonemes but also
 1-Stress
 2-Intonation

SEGMENTAL AND
SUPRASEGMENTAL PHONOLOGY
 1-Study of phonemes is something related to
individual segmental phonemes, it is therefore
a part of segmental phonology.
 2-Intonation and stress are not related to
individual segmental phonemes but are applied
to syllables and are therefore part of
suprasegmental phonology.

Function of intonation
 Without intonation speech will be as though
produced by a mechanical speech device.

Functions of intonation
 Attitudinal functions
 Accentual functions
 Grammatical functions
 Discourse functions

Attitudinal functions
 Expresses our feeling, attitudes, emotions
 For example
 Anger
 Boredom
 Gratefulness and so on

Analysis of attitudinal functions
 Five alternative approaches are proposal by
the analysts to analyze attitudinal functions and
formulate some basic functions of intonation for
the English language learners.

How to express a certain attitude
 1-Different voice qualities for different attitudes
 2-Different pitch range in different ways
 3-Different keys: high key, mid key or low key
 4-One may use different facial expressions,
gestures and body movements

Four Types of Attitudinal Intonation
 1- Fall Intonation
 2- Rise Intonation
 3- Fall-rise intonation
 4- Rise-fall intonation

Falling Intonation
 This is the tone that is usually regarded as
more or less neutral. If someone is asked a
question and the reply is yes or no, it will be
understood that the question is now answered
and that there is nothing more to be said. Thus
the falling tone gives an impression of finality.

ACCENTUAL FUNCTIONS
The term accentual refers to accent. Some
writers attach the word accent to stress. When
it is said that intonation has accentual function,
it implies that the placement of stress is
somewhat determined by intonation.

1-FUNCTIONS OF ACCENTUAL
INTONATION
 1-The most common position for the placement
of tonic syllable is the last lexical word (nouns,
adjectives, words, adverbs) and not the
functional words. For contrastive purpose,
however any word may become the bearer of
tonic syllable.

3-Functions of Accentual Intonation
Intonation is used to clear out the ambiguities.
a-|I have plans to leave|
(I am planning to leave)
b-|I have plans to leave|
(I have some plans/diagrams/drawings that I have to
leave|

GRAMMATICAL FUNCTIONS
The listener is better able to recognize
the grammar and syntax structure of what
is being said by using the information
contained in the intonation. For example
such things as
a- The placement of boundaries between
phrases, clauses and sentences.
b- The difference between questions and
statements.

Grammatical function performed by
tone boundaries
Grammatical intonation is used in those sentences
which when written are ambiguous, and whose
ambiguities can only be removed by using differences
of intonation. In the following example the difference
caused by the placement of tone-unit boundaries
causes two different interpretations of sentence.
 a- |Those who sold quickly| made a profit|
(a profit was made by those who sold quickly)
 B-|Those who sold| quickly made a profit|
(a profit was quickly made by those who sold)

2-Choice of Tone
 Another grammatical function of intonation is the
choice of tone on the tonic syllable. For example rising
tone is used with questions. Simply by changing the
tone from falling to raising the possibility of changing a
statement to question is created.
a-|The price is going up|
(Statement with a falling tone)
b-|The price is going up|
(Question with a rising tone)

3-Question-tags and Intonation
Still another grammatical function of intonation is
related with the use of question-tags. Difference in
falling and rising intonation can cause difference in
meanings.
a- |They are coming tomorrow| aren’t they|
(The falling tone indicates that the speaker is certain
that the information is correct and simply expects the
listener to provide confirmation)
b- |They are coming tomorrow| aren’t they|
(The rising tone indicates a lesser degree of certainty
and the question-tag functions more like a request for
information)

THE DISCOURSE FUNCTIONS OF
INTONATION
Intonation can signal to the listener what is to
be taken as “new” information and what is
already “given”. It can indicate when the
speaker is indicating some sort of contrast or
link with material in another tone unit. In
conversation it can convey to the listener what
kind of response is being expected from him.

1-Attention focusing
In case of attention focusing tonic stress
is placed on the appropriate syllable of
one particular word in the tone unit. The
tonic stress is placed on the word that is
the most important
a-|She went to Scotland|
b-|He went to the drawing-room|

2-Information Content
Sometimes the stress is placed on syllables in
terms of “information content”. The more
predictable a words occurrence in a given
sentence, the lower its information content will
be. Tonic stress will be placed on words with
high information content.
a- |I have to take the dog for a walk|
b- |I have to take the dog to the vet|

Exceptions
In many cases it is still difficult to explain the
tonic placement in terms of “importance” or
“information”. For example in the following
sentences
a- | Your coat is on fire|
b- | The wing is breaking up|

CONCLUSION
The mentioned outlined intonation patterns are certainly
not obligatory. The risk with these approaches is that
one might end up making generalizations that are too
broad and will have little power to predict with accuracy
the intonation that a speaker will use in a particular
context. Moreover generalizations like these are very
broad and foreign learners do not find it easy to learn
to use intonation through studying them. An intonation
function is perhaps the most controversial topic relating
phonetics and so it is not possible to draw any definite
sketch regarding it.

Functions of Intonation

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