Intonation. Its features and Functions

       The main unit of speech is a sentence. It can perform its function because it possesses definite phonetic features. Without them it cannot exists. These phonetic features are closely connected with a meaning of the utterance as a whole, as they carry important information that the words of the utterance do not express. Each feature performs a definite task. All of them work simultaneously:

1. Sentences are usually separated from each other by pauses. If possible, the sentence is subdivided into shorter word groups, or syntagms.

2. The pitch of the voice doesn’t stay on the same level while the sentence is pronounced. It rises and falls on the vowels and voiced consonants. These falls and rises form definite patterns typical of English which are called speech melody.

3. The word which is most important for the meaning of the sentence is made prominent by stress and a special moving tone. This special tone is the result of changes in the pitch, which either falls or rises or changes its movement.

4. Connected English speech comes as a series of group words. Each group contains only one stressed syllable.

5. Stressed syllables occur at approximately equal intervals of time. The result of this interrelation of stress and time a peculiar rhythm. It resembles the drum beat.

6. The rate of speech is not constant. It depends on the semantic value of each sentence or syntagms in an utterance.

7. The timber of the voice changes according to the emotions which the speaker experiences at the moment.

All these features (pauses, speech melody, sentence stress, rhythm, tempo) form a unity which is called intonation. They’re closely interconnected and none of them can be separated in speech.

       The description of intonation is problematic, though intonation is a language universal. There are no languages spoken without it. Every language has its own intonation and system of intonation. All linguists agree that intonation is a unity formed by variations of pitch, loudness and tempo. These three components are united into prosody.

       Each syllable in speech has its own pitch coloring. By that we mean certain loudness and movings of tone up and down. Together with the tempo these characteristics form an intonation pattern which is considered to be the basic unit of intonation.

Intonation pattern contains one nucleus and may contain other stressed and unstressed syllables which can precede or follow the nucleus. The boundaries of intonation pattern are usually marked by pauses. Intonation pattern serves to actualize syntagms in speech. Such actualized syntagms are called intonation groups (sense groups; tone groups). The intonation group may have the length of a whole sentence, and the sentence itself may contain more than one intonation group. It depends on the length of the sentence.

In the sentence the syllable on which the moving tone is performed is called the nucleus of the utterance. It is a strongly stressed syllable. Stressed syllables preceding the nucleus together with the unstressed syllables form the head of the pattern. Initial unstressed syllables make a pre-head. Stressed and unstressed syllables following the nucleus are called the tail. In longer utterances the intonation pattern and contour become complex because of the length of the utterance.

e. g. And ‘what was `that I ¸wonder

It’s possible to produce a great variety of moving tones, but practically we distinguish six of them:

1) low fall (starts in the middle of the voice range and gradually descends to a very low pitch);

2) low rise (starts at a very low pitch and gradually ascends to the middle of the voice range);

3) high fall (starts at a high pitch and then falls to a very low pitch);

4) high rise (starts in the middle of the voice range and then rises to a very high pitch);

5) fall-rise (starts in the middle of the voice range, falls into a very low pitch and then rises again);

6) rise-fall (starts in the middle of the voice range, rises to a very high pitch and then falls to a very low pitch).

Types of heads:

1) stepping (it’s a head which begins on a high pitch and then gradually descends in level pitches of the stressed syllables. It’s a typical feature of unemphatic English intonation)

e. g. ‘Mary hasn’t ·heard from him ¸since `May.

2) low (it’s a head which begins on a low pitch which remains there or gradually rises towards the nucleus)

e. g. ,How ·did you `do ,that?

3) sliding (it’s a head which presents a fall in pitch which isn’t gradual, but rather jumpy)

e. g. You could at `least ,try.

Types of pre-heads:

1) a low pre-head consists of unstressed syllables pronounced at a low pitch or gradually ascending in pitch towards the head of the nucleus;

2) a high pre-head consists of unstressed syllables which are pronounced at a high pitch

e. g. ꞌDo it your`self ¸then.

       Types of tails:

1) a low tail is a tail in which everything is pronounced at a low pitch

e. g. I ꞌknow `no,thing about it

2) a rising tail is a tail in which all the syllables rise in pitch

       Different types of heads, pre-heads and tails don’t affect the grammatical meaning of the sentence, but they convey the speaker’s attitude together with the nuclear tones.

       The meaning of the intonation group is the combination of the meaning of the nucleus, the pre-nucleus parts and tails. The number of combinations is very high, but the varieties of patterns can be reduced to six intonation contours based on the six main tones which are used in the nucleus:

1. The first intonation contour is based on a low fall in the nucleus. The low fall is preceded by the stepping head. The pre-head may be low or high, the tail is always low pitched

e. g. Isn’t it `wonderful?

2. The second intonation contour is based on a low rise in the nucleus. The low rise is preceded by the stepping head. The pre-head may be high or low, the tail rises gradually to a medium pitch

3. The third intonation contour is based on a high fall in its nucleus. The high fall is preceded by the stepping head. The pre-head may be low or high, the tail is low pitched

e. g. It’s ꞌnot as ꞌfar as you i`magined.

4. The fourth intonation contour has a high rise for its nucleus. It may have a stepping head, a low pre-head and a rising tail

5. The fifth intonation contour has a fall-rise for its nucleus, low pre-head, stepping head. The voice gradually rises to a medium pitch.

e. g. ᵛPlease.

6. The sixth intonation contour has a rise-fall for its nucleus, the stepping head. The pre-head is low, the tail is also low pitched.

e. g. I ,simply ˆhated it.

       Meanings conveyed by the intonation contours:

1. The first intonation contour sounds matter-of-fact, but rather interested. As a variant, rather unemotional and even cold.

2. The second intonation contour sounds interested, friendly and conversational.

3. The third intonation contour sounds interested, lively and emotional.

4. The fourth intonation contour sounds light, casual, and sometimes interrogated.

5. The fifth intonation contour sounds implicatory.

6. The sixth intonation contour sounds highly emotional, sometimes challenging.

Tempo

       The tempo of speech is the rate of the utterance and pausation. The rate of speech can be normal, slow and fast. It depends upon the styles, individual characteristics of the speaker and purposes of communication.

       By pauses we mean a complete stop of phonation. There may be three kinds of pausation:

1) short pauses (they separate intonation groups within a phrase);

2) long pauses (they mark the end of the phrase);

3) very long pauses (they are used to separate phonetic wholes).

Pauses have certain functions in an utterance:

1) syntactic;

2) emphatic;

3) hesitation.

Syntactic pauses separate phrases and intonation groups. Emphatic pauses make prominent certain parts of the utterance. Hesitation pauses are often used in spontaneous speech for the speaker to have some time to think over what to say next and for the listener to respond.

Functions of Intonation

The main function of intonation is the communicative one. It is realized in various ways:

1) as sentence-forming;

2) as sentence-deliminating;

3) distinctive;

4) attitudinal.

The first way of realization means that intonation together with words and grammatical structure is an obligatory feature of the sentence. To be more exact, a definite contour determines communicative character of the utterance. The second way of realization means that the intonation deliminates texts into smaller units: phrases, intonation groups. On the other hand, it unites these units into a complete text. The third way of realization means that the intonation serves to differentiate the meaning of the units of the same grammatical structure and the same lexical composition.

e. g. She likes it. She likes it? She likes it!

The fourth way of realization means that the intonation conveys different attitudes, such as surprise, indifference, etc.

       Intonation also fulfills a stylistic function to characterize a particular style of speech.