.What is key?

Utterances are made up of many features- tonic syllables, which are the site of the main pitch
movement of the whole utterance; onset syllables, which is the “decide” and maintain the same pitch
until the point where the tonic syllable begins.This maintained pitch until the tonic syllables
beginning is called key. Sometimes, the pitch may go up or down very slightly at the beginning of an
utterance before the onset. This varies from speaker to speaker depending on their baseline
pronunciation habits.
Kelly, 2000 uses a good example to show this:

(//she’s LIVED in LONdon//)

2. What are some of the functions of a fall tone?

Intonation is used for a variety of different functions, one of them being that we can indicate through
intonation what is new or older (usually shared) information.
What time does your train leave? (said key maintained throughout, until a fall tone on “train leave”)
This question has a fall tone, and it indicates that the speaker is asking for unknown and new
information.

If the speaker had already been told when the train is leaving, but needed reminding, their intonation
pattern might look different, with a fall-rise “train leave?” at the end.

Falling tones are also used for other functions, such as giving instructions, making statements (like
“She lives in London” from the 1st example) and asking for clarifying or new information.

3. Why is intonation important for learners?

Intonation is important both for production and reception. It helps us to express our thoughts and
perhaps attitudes towards those thoughts, as well as understand those of others as we listen to them.
(Kelly, 2000, p. 86)
As it is something that is done largely unconsciously, it is important for learners to train their
awareness of intonation. Learners should also be made aware that languages can use intonation
differently, making it a possibility that speakers from other L1s may project their L1s intonation
patterns onto the target language.
(Kelly, 2000, p. 86)