The intonation structure of english sentences

Intonation

from English Grammar Today

Intonation describeshow the voice rises and falls in speech. The three main patterns of intonation in English are: falling intonation, rising intonation and fall-rise intonation.

Falling intonation Falling intonation describes how the voice falls on the final stressed syllable of a phrase or a group of words. A falling intonation is very common in wh-questions.

Where’s the nearest p↘ost-office?

What time does the film f↘inish?

We also use falling intonation when we say something definite, or when we want to be very clear about something:

I think we are completely l↘ost.

OK, here’s the magaz↘ine you wanted

Rising intonation

Rising intonation describes how the voice rises at the end of a sentence. Rising intonation is common in yes-no questions:

I hear the Health Centre is expanding. So, is that the new d↗octor?

Are you th↗irsty?

Fall-rise intonation

Fall-rise intonation describes how the voice falls and then rises. We use fall-rise intonation at the end of statements when we want to say that we are not sure, or when we may have more to add:

I do↘n’t support any football team at the m↘om↗ent. (but I may change my mind in future).

It rained every day in the firs↘t w↗eek. (but things improved after that).

We use fall-rise intonation with questions, especially when we request information or invite somebody to do or to have something. The intonation pattern makes the questions sound more polite:

Is this your cam↘er↗a?

Would you like another co↘ff↗ee?

Intonation as a complex unity of speech melody

Intonation is a complex unity of variations of pitch, stress, tempo, timbre and rhythm. It serves:

- to form sen-ces, int. groups or sense groups,

- to define the communicative type,

- to express the speaker’s thoughts,

- to convey the attitudinal meaning.

Int. cares important information that can not be rended (разорвана) by any other meanings.

Int. possesses definite phonetic features, which are closely connected with the meaning of the utterance. These features are:

1. Pauses between sen-ces and between sense group

2. Fluctuations of pitch of the voice. They are called speech melody (falls and rises)

3. Stress, the word that is most important in the sen-ce is usually stressed. It is also emphasized by a special moving tone – the pitch (falls and rises, or changes its movement first in one direction then in another one (fall rise, rise fall)

4. Other words are also stressed but the pitch of these words remains unchanged (static tones)

5. Structural words are usually unstressed and pronounced in the weak forms

6. Connected English speech comes as a series of closely-knit groups of words, each group containing only one stressed syllable. The stressed syllables occur at approximately equal intervals of time. The result of this interrelationship is a peculiar rhythm.

7. The rate of the speech is not constant. It is made to suit the semantic importance of each sen-ce of sense group of the utterance.

8. The timbre of the voice changes in accordance with the emotions of the speaker.

Conclusion: the most imp. features are speech melody, sen-ce stress and melody.

The communicative function is the main function of intonation. One of the aims of communication is the exchange of information between people.

The subject of lexicology links with other branches of linguistics

A language is a hierarchy, a system of units and rules according to which these units can combine. Speech is the act of using a language. A text (oral or written) is the result of speech.

The system of any language includes several levels: phonetic, morphemic, lexical, syntactical (+ suprasyntactical level). Each level comprises units of its own order:

- phonemes (realized in speech as sounds)

- morphemes (realized as morphs)

- lexemes (realized as word forms)

- sentences (realized as utterances)

And each level is studied by a separate branch of linguistics:

- phonetics, phonology

- morphemics, word-building

- lexicology

- grammar

The lexical level can be described as the central level of language and words as the basic units of language: on the one hand, words are made up of phonemes and morphemes; on the other hand, they themselves make up bigger units of speech - sentences and texts.

The term lexicology is of Greek origin (from lexis – word and logos - science). Lexicology is the part of linguistics which deals with the vocabulary and characteristic features of words and word-groups.

The term v o c a b u l a-r y (словарный состав)denotes the system formed by all the words and word equivalents that the language possesses. A word is the smallest unit of a language which can stand alone as a complete utterance. The term word-group, or word combination, denotes a group of words which exists in the language as a ready-made unit, has the unity of meaning and syntacticalfunction.It is the largest two-facet lexical unit comprising more than one word.

Lexicology can be general and special. Generallexicology is the lexicology of any language, part of General Linguistics. Special lexicology is the lexicology of a particular language (English, German, Russian, etc.). General L. studies language universals – linguistic phenomena and properties common to all languages. Special L. studies the development of the vocabulary of a specific language, the origin of words and word-groups, their semantic relations and the development of their sound form and meaning. We also differentiate between synchronic and diachroniclexicology. Synchronic study is the study of language units at the given stage of language development; diachronical study is concerned with the development of language over time, throughout history.

Branches of lexicology are: Lexical phonetics; semasiology, onomasiology, etymology, phraseology, lexicography, lexical morphology, word-formation. Find out what these disciplines are and what they study!