1.0 Introduction
In this unit, you are going to study variations of pitch in natural languages, how the variations result in tone and intonation, as well as the different types of intonation and accentual patterns in English.
3.0 Variations of Pitch in Natural Languages
It has generally, (indeed universally) been observed that natural languages are never spoken at one level of voice pitch for a considerable length of time. When people speak (or read aloud), the voice pitch is always falling or rising, rising or falling, falling and then rising, rising and then falling and only occasionally level for a specific effect.
In some languages, the variations indicated here are generally noticed in relation to the sentence, the clause, the group or even the word. In other languages, the variations indicated above are usually noticed in relation to the word only. When the variations relate to items higher than the word, they are normally said to signal intonation, the patterns of which occur at the ends of specific utterances. Languages which use pitch variation in this way are generally said to be intonational. English, German and Russian are examples of intonational languages. When variations in pitch relate to the word, they are usually said to signal tone. The variations in that case, feature within the words. The languages which use pitch variation in this way are usually classified as tonal. Chinese, Spanish, Italian and the majority of African and Nigerian languages like Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba and Ibibio are in this class.
So, we can talk about intonation patterns in English for instance, and tone patterns in Ibibio, for example.
The two variations in pitch shown above create melody in natural languages. But as hinted here, they create melody (musical effect) in different ways and with different results. As we are concerned in this unit mainly with intonation, we shall restrict our discussion to intonation in English.
Self-assessment Exercise 18 -Pls number previous assessments (which I deleted)
18. Briefly discuss the term “variability of pitch in natural languages.”
3.1 Intonation in English: Key Notions and Variability
It is now commonly known that there are many speakers of English who, in their
performances, have exploited the rich, variable and almost inexhaustible possibilities within intonation in English. People in this group are essentially those who speak
English as a first language (L 1) and those nonnative speakers (L2 or foreign) who are appropriately educated in the language. The users of English in this second group (most probably only a few), have generally employed intonation patterns for two main purposes – to distinguish meanings and to show various forms of attitude and emotion. Even for such users of the language, complete agreement on intonation usage has never been achieved. Indeed, while it is quite possible, (even easy), to reach agreement on one aspect of functional use of identifying meanings of utterances, it is not so possible and not so easy to reach agreement on one functional level, namely that of indicating attitude or emotion. It is for this latter purpose that intonation has been described as being largely idiosyncratic, conventional to a group and generally variable from one individual to the other.
There are also some groups of English speakers who have never managed to get near to exhausting the full range of possibilities offered by intonation in English.
Various groups within L2 speakers and users of English as a foreign language are in this category. Probably the most easily identifiable in this group are the nonstandard speakers of the new Englishes in particular. Indeed one can see why the intonation of a large number of speakers of the new Englishes is often said to be colourless; for a large number, there is hardly any variation beyond the fall and the rise, with the former dominating.
Nevertheless, it is worth emphasizing, as in O’Connor (1970: 137-138), that intonation is a major source of meaning variation in English. Let us illustrate with the words “Yes” and “No”. These words are common for speakers of English. However, they can be said in a great variety of ways to bring out various shades of meaning in
English. The morphological shapes of the words may remain the same, but their word “Yes” can be said with a falling tune, .( \ ). In that case, the word would suggest .
agreement on an issue stated or argued. It can be said with a rising tune, (/ ). In that
case it could suggest a doubt in the mind of the speaker. On a different occasion, a rising tune could be used to show that the speaker did not understand what was said. The intonation options shown here in respect of “Yes” are also possible in respect of “No” .
In a similar way, the words “thank you” may be said on a falling tune, when they are intended to express gratitude; they may be said on a rising tune when they are intended to demonstrate casual acknowledgement of something said or done.
Again, the words “good morning” could be said on different tunes. When said with a falling tune, it suggests formal greeting, which, ordinarily, would need a reply.
When said with a rising pattern, it tends towards causal exchange of pleasantries often referred to as “phatic communion” which maybe replied to in an equally causal manner. The greetings could even be ignored without creating a problem for the speakers. Tone, tune, - so what’s the difference? Used confusingly here.
Self-assessment Exercise 19
19. Briefly illustrate variability with regard to intonation usage.
3.2 Types of Intonation and Their Functions in English
Put very simply, intonation in English may be classified into two groups in the first instance:
i) those with pitch movement involving no change of direction on the tonic syllable;
ii) those with pitch movement involving change of direction on the tonic syllable.
Intonation in the first group maybe said to be simple or undirectional;
intonation in the second case is said to be complex or bidirectional. The fall, the rise, the level tunes are undirectional. The fall-rise, the rise-fall are bidirectional.
You can appreciate these points by going through the following intonation patterns.
i) The Falling Pattern
Statements without implication, mild commands, wh-questions are generally known to be realized on a falling intonation. The following are examples:
1(a) Statements without implication
(a) Peter is in London.
(b) Mary played the piano.
1(b) Mild Commands
(a) Take your feet off the chair.
(b) Put the book on the table.
1(c) Wh-questions
(a) Which is the correct answer?
(b) What is your name?
ii) The Rising Pattern
When the pitch of the voice rises at the end of an utterance or at a tonic syllable, we have a rising intonation. A rise of that nature generally signals none finality such as
we notice in none final coordinates, none final subordinates, first parts of enumerations, the second parts of some tags.
The rising intonation pattern is also generally noticed in questions requiring the answer “Yes” or “No”, in requests as well as in statements with implication.
You should note carefully that we are dealing with two types of rises: the unidirectional rise as in questions requiring the answer “Yes” or “No”, and the bidirectional rise as in utterances involving a majority of none finality and
statements with implication. The following are examples:
i) None final Coordinates . .
(a) I wanted to go to London; my wife preferred going to Canada
. .
(b) Peter got on a bus; Alice went by sea
In each of the above examples, the falling-rising pattern of intonation occurs at the tonic syllable of the nonfinal coordinates, namely, London, and bus, while the falling pattern of intonation occurs at the second coordinate which marks the end of each sentence.
ii) Nonfinal subordinates- MAKE BOLD/CLEAR PLS. The tones= [\ / v ^] (a) A year ago, I studied Mathematics
.
.
(b) Without further explanation, the case ended
.
In the two examples above, we see that the falling-rising pattern is at the nonfinal
。 。
subordinates marked by both ago and explanation.
iii) First parts of enumerations
For first parts of enumerations, there are two patterns: either the fall throughout or the rises plus a final fall. So, we can have either
. . . .
a) Peter bought a book a pen a pencil and a ruler
or
.
b) Peter bought a vbook, a vpen a vpencil and a \ruler . . .
iv) Requests
With regard to requests, we often notice the bidirectional rise: the falling- rising. Examples here include:
a) Could I have your ˅pen?.
b) Come over now, please!.
v) Questions requiring the answer “Yes” or “No” Examples here include:
a) Should we start off at six?.
b) Was Alice at home?
What you have so far studied here are the more common, regular, objective,
grammatical or even routine functions of intonation. There are other functions
which tend to be situational, depending on attitude of the speaker to his audience and to the general context of utterance, to the speaker’s emotion or changes in
situations. For instance, we can say
i) routinely:
‘This is my book’
.
. .
ii) We can say enthusiastically: ‘This is my book’
.
. . .
iii) We can say this same sentence with a shift of the tonic syllable as in the three examples below here
(a) ‘This is my ‘book
(tonic on my)
(b) ‘This is my ‘book
. . . (tonic on this)
(c) ‘This is my ‘book
.
. . . (tonic on is)
These last three examples are sometimes referred to as contrastive stress. So, we move on from here to our next focus: accentuation (stress).
Self-assessment Exercise 20
20. Listen to the voice on the audio tapes and practice the intonation patterns.
4.0 Conclusion
You have, in this unit, been exposed to the melody of language through your study of tone and intonation. You have also studied various functions of intonation in English.
5.0 Summary
In this unit, you have defined the term intonation and have contrasted it with tone. You have isolated the various uses of intonation patterns such as the falling pattern, the rising pattern, the fall-rise pattern (the commoner patterns). You have also learnt that in real life, intonation patterns are much more varied than we have seen here.
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assessment 11
11. Briefly discuss the functions of intonation in English.
7.0 References and Recommended Texts
Eka. D. (1996). Phonological Foundations: English; Uyo, Scholars Press (Nig) Ltd.
Gimson, A. C. (1977) A Practical Course of English Pronunciation: A Perceptual Approach; London, William Clowes and Sons Ltd.
O’Connor, J. D. (1970). Better English Pronunciation; Cambridge; Cambridge University Press.
Leave a comment behind