PETER ROACH

CHAPTER 18 FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION 1 :

INTONATION makes it easier for a listener to understand what a speaker is trying to convey.

FUNCTIONS:

 ATTITUDINAL FUNCTION: Intonation enables us to express emotions and attitudes when we speak, and this
adds a special kind of meaning to spoken language.

 ACCENTUAL FUNCTION: Intonation helps us to produce the effect of prominence on syllables that need to be
perceived as stressed. In particular, the placing of tonic stress on a particular syllable marks out the word which it
belongs as the most important in the tone-unit.

 GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION: The listener is able to recognize the grammar and syntactic structure what is being
said by using the information contained in the intonation. For example, the difference between questions and
statements and the use of grammatical subordination.

 DISCOURSE FUNCTION: Looking at the act of speaking, we can see that intonation can signal to the listener
what is to be taken as “new” information and what is already “given”, can suggest when the speaker is indicating
some sort of contrast or link with material in another tone-unit and, in conversation, can convey to the listener the
kind of response is expected.

THE ATTITUDINAL FUNCTION OF INTONATION

Many writers have expressed the view that intonation is used to convey our attitudes and feelings. However, it has
also been observed that the form of intonation is different in different languages. Also, it has been said that foreign
learners of English need to learn English intonation.
Some have claimed that, unless foreign learners learn the appropriate way to use intonation in a given situation,
there is a risk that he or she may unintentionally give offence.

WHY IS SO IMPORTANT THAT FOREIG LEARNERS LEARN TO USE INTONATION IN AN APPROPIATE WAY? WHAT`S
THE AUTHOR OPINION ABOUT THIS TRADITIONAL SPEECH?

- Intonation is an important feature that should be learned by foreign speakers. By using intonation properly,
the listener is more likely to avoid misunderstanding related with the attitudes within a message that he/she is
trying to convey, since a sentences can have several meanings when it is said in different ways.
- The author concludes that, even though features of intonation should be taken into account when conveying
information, they are not important for speakers to understand one another. In addition, the complexity of the
different components of intonation make them difficult to teach.
WHAT ARE THE FACTORS THAT THE AUTHOR CONSIDERED TOGETHER WITH INTONATION?

The author believes that expressing an emotion or attitude through intonation is quite complex.

 Firstly, because an emotion may be expressed involuntarily or voluntarily; for example, if I say something in a
happy way, this may be because I feel happy or because I want to convey you the impression that I`m happy.

 Secondly, the author says that an emotion that is expressed could be an attitude towards the listeners (for
example, if I say something in a friendly way); towards what is being said (for example if I say something in a
skeptical way) or towards some external event or situation (for example, disapproving)

In addition, the author believes that when we pronounce a sentence, factors such as variation in loudness and
speech, different voice qualities, pitch range and movements, different keys, and different body expressions will be
of great importance in conveying attitudes and emotions.

You can use different voice qualities for different attitudes. You can use your pitch range in different ways: in a
narrow pitch range, or using the full range between high and low (wide pitch range) but if you don’t use wide pitch
range, you use different keys: high key (using the upper part of your pitch range) mid (using the middle part of range)
or low key (the lower part). It’s likely that you use different facial expressions and even gestures and body
movements.

FACTORS: SEQUENTIAL, PROSODIC AND PARALINGUISTIC

SEQUENTIAL: these components of intonation are found as elements in sequences of other such elements occurring
one after another (never simultaneously) these are:

√ Pre-heads, heads, tonic syllables and tails

√ Pauses
√ Tone-unit boundaries

PROSODIC: these components are characteristics of speech which are constantly present and observable while
speech is going on. The most important are:

√ Width of pitch range: tends to be used in excited or enthusiastic speaking

√ Key
√ Loudness : someone who is bored or tired
√ Speed
√ Voice quality
PARALINGUISTIC: it has to do with facial expressions, gestures and body movements. People who study human
behavior often use the term body language for such activity. (Explained at the beginning

1. Fall
- Finality, definiteness: this is the end of the ,news
I’m absolutely ,certain
Stop ,taking

2. Rise
- General questions: can you ,help me // Is it ,over
- Listing: ,red ,brown or ,blue
- Encouraging: it won’t ,hurt
- “More to follow”: you must write it a,gain
- Encouraging: it wont , hurt

3. Fall-rise
- Uncertainly, doubt: it’s possible
- Requesting: Can I buy it?

4. Rise-fall
- Surprising: you were first.
- Being impressed
 CHAPTER 19: FUNCTIONS OF INTONATION:

1) HOW´S THE ACCENTUAL FUNCTION OF INTONATION EXPLAINED?

The term accentual is derived from “accent”; a word used by some writers to refer to what in this course is called
stress. When writers say that intonation has accentual function they imply that the placement of stress is something
that is determined by intonation.

The placing of stress is independent of and prior to the choice of intonation. However, one particular aspect of stress
could be regarded as part of intonation: this is the placement of the tonic stress within the tone-unit.
The most common position of the tonic syllable is on the last lexical word (e.g. noun, verb, and adverb) but may be
placed earlier in the tone-unit if there is a word there with greater importance to what is being said.

It´s frequently said that the placement of the tonic-syllable indicates the focus of information.

The author suggests that the location of the tonic syllable has linguistic importance. Thus, depending on its location,
the meaning of the sentence is likely to be different. The tonic syllable tends to occur on the last word in the tone
unit, but may be placed earlier if there is a word that is important and closely linked to intonation.

2) HOW´S THE GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION RELATED TO TONE UNITS BOUNDARIES?

 Tone-unit placement can indicate grammatical structure to the listener. For instance, it is very common to find
a tone-unit boundary at a sentence boundary. For example, I `wont have any `tea. I don’t like it.

 In more complex sentences, tone- unit boundaries are found at a phrase and clause boundaries. For example:
in France/ where farms tend to be smaller / the subsidies are more im, portant.

However, it is unusual to find a tone-unit boundary, for example, between an article and noun.

3) WHY CAN THE CHOICE OF TONE HAVE GRAMMATICAL SIGNIFICANCE?

The choice of tone has grammatical significance. For example, questions are generally said with a rising tone.
However, not always a rising tone is used in a question. Wh-questions are usually said with a falling tone.

A change in tone from falling to rising allows us to change from a statement to a question and vice versa-

Moreover, intonation in question-tags produces different meanings depending whether we choose a falling or a
rising tone. The former indicates that speaker expects agreement, while the latter is used to ask for information.
When a question-tag has a falling tone (did you park the car?), the implication is said to be that the speaker is
comparatively certain that the information is correct. And simply expects the listener to provide information, whil e
rising tone is said to indicate degree of certainty, so that the question-tag functions more like a request for
information (where did you park the car?)
4) ATTENTION FOCUSING IS ONE THE MAIN AREA OF STUDY WHEN WE CONSIDER INTONATION IN RELATION TO
DISCOURSE THE TEXT. WHICH ARE THEY

The study of discourse attempts to look at the larger contexts in which sentences occur. If we consider how
intonation may be studied in relation to discourse, we can identify two main areas: one of them is the use of
intonation to focus the listener´s attention on aspects of the message that are most important, and the other is
concerned with the regulation of conversational behavior

In the case of ATTENTION FOCUSING: this is the placing of tonic stress on the appropriate syllable of one particular
word in the tone unit. In many cases it´s easy to demonstrate that the tonic stress is placed on the word that is in
some sense the most important.
Sometimes it seems more appropriate to describe tonic stress placement in terms of information content:

√ tonic stress will tend to be placed on words with high information content
√ Tone itself: proclaiming or referring to present new information or to refer to information which is felt to be
possessed by speaker and hearer. The falling tone indicates new information while rising or falling-rising tones
indicate shared or given information
√ intonational subordination: we can signal that a particular tone-unit is of low importance and as a result give
greater importance to adjacent tone units.

5) THE OTHER MAIN AREA IS REGULATION OF CONVERSATIONAL BEHAVIOUR. WHAT DOES THE AUTHOR SAY
ABOUT IT

Intonation is also important in the conversational interaction of two or more speakers. Most of the research on this
has been on conversational interaction- such as between doctor and patient, teacher and pupil or between the
various speakers in court cases.

In a more general way, it can be seen that speakers use various prosodic components to indicate to others that they
have finished speaking, that another person is expected to speak, that a particular response is required and so on.

The difference between falling and rising intonation on question-tag is supposed to indicate to the listener what sort
of response is expected. It seems that key (the part of the pitch range used) is important in signaling information
about conversational interaction.

Intonation in conjunction with body language is used for similar purposes in speech, as well as for establishing or
confirming the status of the participants in a conversation.

STUDYING INTONATION IN RELATION TO DISCOURSE MAKES IT POSSIBLE TO EXPLAIN MUCH MORE

COMPREHENSIVELY THE USES THAT SPEAKERS MAKE OF INTONATION.