Session 1: INTRODUCTION

 Voicing

- Voiceless consonants: in the production of voiceless consonants, the 2

vocal cords are apart, and the air stream passes freely at the glottis into the
supraglottal cavity.
- Voice consonants: in the production of voice consonants, the 2 vocal cords
are together and the air has to force its way through, making the 2 vocal
cords to vibrate.
 Session 2: CONSONANTS

Place of articulation:
 Bilabial consonants: the two lips are involved.
Labio-dental consonants: the lower lip approaches or touches the upper
upp er
teeth.
Dental consonants: the tip or blade of the tongue approaches or touches the
upper teeth
 Alveolar consonants:
consonants: the tongue tip approaches the alveolar bridge.
 Palato-alveolar
Palato-alveolar consonants: the tongue tip is between alveolar ridge and
hard palate.
Palatal consonants: the body of the tongue approaches or touches the hard
palate.
 Velar consonants: the back of the tongue is raised to touch the soft palate or
velum.
Glottal consonants: the glottis is the opening between the vocal folds and is
used as the main articulator.
Manner of articulations:
 How airstream affected as it travels from lung;
 Complete closure, partial closure, approximation.

 Plosive/Stop consonants: because in the production, the air is completely

blocked, and then suddenly released follow by some kind of explosion.
 Fricat
Fricative
ive conson
consonant
ants:
s: because in the production, the air is blocked and
escapes through or between the articulator, making some kindk ind of friction.
 Affricate consonants: Aff Affric
ricate
ate con
conson
sonant
ant sou
sounds
nds are made by sta starti
rting
ng
with a plosive (full block of air) and immediately blending into a fricative
(partial block).
 Nasal consonants: because in the production, the air escapes through the
nose but not through the mouth, as it is blocked (occluded) by the lips or
tongue. The oral cavity still acts as a resonance chamber for the sound.
 Lateral consonants: because in the production, the air is blocked at the
tongue tip, touching the alveolar bridge and so can only escape along the 2
sides of the tongue.
 The ‘l’ is also called liquid consonant (am long) because it’s produced in a
liquid manner.
 Approximant
Approxima nt consonants: because in the production, the articulators come
close to but do not touch each other.
 The ‘w’ & ‘j’ are called glide, because in the production is just like a
combination of one vowel moving to another vowel.
I. Based on tongue heigh
ghtt:

Based on tongue height, vowels are divided into 3 groups (high, low, middle).
Thee vowe
Th vowels
ls in red
red circ
circle
le are ca
callled high
high/clo
/close
se vowels
vowels beca
becaus
usee in th
thee
production, the tongue is raised so high in the mouth (in the oral cavity) that it
nearly touches the root of the mouth.

Thee vowe
Th vowels
ls in the
the red
red circ
circle
le ar
aree ca
called low
lled low/op
/open
en vowels
vowels because in the
production, the tongue is lower, just below the rest position in the oral cavity.
 The vowels in the red circle are called mid vowels because in the production,
the tongue is neither high nor low but in its rest position.

II. Based on frontness/back

frontness/backness:
ness:

Based
Based on frontne
frontness/
ss/bac
backne
kness
ss the vowel
vowelss are divid
divided
ed int
into
o 3 groups (front,
central, back).

The vowels in the red circle are called front vowels because the front part of
the tongue is used in the production.
The vowels in the red circle are called back vowels because the back part of
the tongue is used in the production.

The vowels in the red circle are called cent

central
ral vowels
vowels because the tongue
blade is used in the production.
III. Based on tenseness/laxness:
- Tense vowels are produced with extra muscle tension (beat, boot, bought).
- Lax vowels are produced without muscle tension (bit, bet, but).
IV. Lip rounding: Rounded (boot, book, bought); neutral (but, birth) & spread
(beat, bed, bat).
V. Length: Long (beat, Luke) & short (look, bit).

- Sounds that include a movement or a glide from one vowel to another (a

nucleus & a glide).
- There are 8 diphthongs, 12 vowels and 24 consonants.
 Classiied diphthongs:

 Triphthongs:
- Sounds that include a rapid gli
glide
de from one vowel to another and then to a third

vowel.
- Triph
Triphthongs
thongs are compos
composed
ed of 5 closing diphthongs with the 'ə' added on the
closing
end.
Session 4: PHONENMES
GIẢI THÍCH:

Ba
Ba ng chữ ca ca i tie
tieng
ng Anh (Alph (Alphabet)abet) co
co 26 chữ
chữ ca
ca i (lette
(letters),
rs), trong đo đo co
co 5 chữ cái
nguyên âm (vowel letters: A, E, I, O, U) va va 21 chữ cái phụ âm (consonant letters: B, C,
D, F, G, H, J, K, L, L , M, N, P, Q, R, S, T, V, W, X, Y, Z). Kho Kh ong gio giong nhữ
n hữ ca
ca ch pha
pha t aa m tie
tieng
Vie t – ca
ca c chữ ca ca i vie
viet the
the na
na o thì phien a m nhữ va
vay,
 y, ca
c ach pha
pha t a m tie
tieng Anh phữ c
ta p hơn nhie
ta nhi eu, u, nha
nhat lala đo
đoi vơ
vơ i ca
ca c chữ cái nguyên âm.

Trong tie
Trong tieng
ng Anh, chữ ca ca i A co co the
the đữơ c đo la /a:/ [đoc nhữ am a trong tieng
đo c la
Vie t]
t] trong chữ “far”, đo la /ei/ [nhữ am ây] tro
đo c la trong
ng chữ “la “late”
te”,, đo la /ɔɪ/ [nhữ
đo c la
am oi] trong
trong chữ “lawye
“lawyer”,r”, đo la /æ/ [nhữ am giữa a và e] trong
đo c la trong chữ
chữ “mad”, hay
thamm chì đo la /i:/ [nhữ am i] trong chữ “teach
đo c la “teacher”.
er”. Ca
Ca c chữ cái nguyên âm con
la i cu
la cu ng co
co nhie
nhie u ca
ca ch đo
đo c phữc ta ta p tữơng tữ
tữ …

Khi chuchu ng ta phi phieen a m ca ca c chữ ca

ca i nguy
nguyeen a m hay chữ ca ca i phu
phu a m, ta thu đữơc
cac âm vị (phonemes). Thữơ Thữơ ng thì ta đe ca ca c am vi giữ dau “ /” đe phan bie t vơ i
giữ a hai da
ca c chữ
ca chữ ca
ca i trong trữơ
trữơ ng hơ
hơ p chữ
chữ ca
ca i va
va /a
/a m vi/ viet giong nhau (nhat la mo t so
so phu
phu
a m)
m).. Ke
Kett ququaa la
la , ta co
co ca
ca c âm vị nguyên âm (vo (vowel
wel pho
phonem nemes)
es) va va âm vị phụ
âm (consonant phonemes). Âm vị nguyên âm có thể chỉ là nguyên âm đơn, hay
nguyên âmâmkép, thậm sound)
chí nguyên âm vị Cho du
ba.được du nhữ vay,
y,
dạng đơn (single , do âm coi la đơn tất cả các
vị nhỏ âm(smallest
nhất vị đềulest
(smal là
unit) cấu thành phiên âm!
 Different phonetic realizations of a phoneme;
 Choice of allophones not random but rule-governed (e.g., nasalized
allophones of V only occur before a nasal C: seem, bin, sing).
 ASSIMILATION RULES (QUY TẮC ĐỒNG HÓA ÂM):
Assimilation (đo
(đo ng hoho a aa m) la
la 1 trong nhữnhữ ng hình thức kết nối 2 hay nhiều âm
khác nhau (tữơng tữ tữ nhữ no noi am , nuo
nuot a m,...) kh
khii ma
ma mo
mo t aa m tie
tiet thuo
thuo c 1 tữ ga
ga y ra
sữ thay đo
đoi cho 1 aa m cu
cu a 1 tữ
tữ kha
kha c.
 DELETION RULES (QUY TẮC DỊ HÓA ÂM):

Deletion
co cấu âm(di
gần honhau
a am):coDimột
hoaâm
la hie
 n đổi
biến tữơ
tữơ đi
ngđể
giữ
giữcho
 a hai nguye
nguye
chúng trở n nên
aa m hoa
hoa
c
khác c nhau
hai phu
phu
.  a m
OTHER RULES:
 Session 5: THE ENGLISH SYLLABLE

 A consonant at the beginning of a syllable (before the vowel) is an onset;

 A consonant at the final of a syllable (after the vowel) is a coda;
 The center of a syllable is a vowel.
 Syllabic consonants:
 Stand at center of syllable in absence of a V;
 /l, r, m, n, ŋ/ can all be syllabic;
 Transcribed with a diacritic [ˌ]: settle [ˈsetl̩];
]; sudden [ˈsʌdn̩ ];
 Two syllabic C’s can stand next to each other: national [ˈnæʃn̩ l̩ ]; visionary

[ˈvɪʒn̩ r̩ i]
 Syllabic /l/:
 Occurs after alveolars /t, d, s, z, n/: settle,
s ettle, pedal, castle, sizzle, panel;
 Occurs after plosives /p, b, k, g/: people, gabble, tackle, struggle;
 Remains syllabic even when a sufix with a V is added: struggle [ˈstrʌgl̩] vs.
struggling [ˈstrʌglɪŋ]
 Syllabic /n/:
 Occurs after plosives & fricatives in weak syllables, but not in word-initial
position: cotton, mission, trodden… but contain /kənˈteɪn/
 Acceptable after bilabials: happen[ˈhæp(ə)n̩
happen[ˈhæp(ə)n̩ ], ribbon [ˈrɪb(ə)n
[ˈrɪb(ə)n̩̩ ];
 More common than /ən/ after /f, v/ in word-inal position: seven, often.
 Syllabic /m, ŋ/:
 Only occur
Only occur as a res
result
ult of assimi
assimilat
lation
ion & elisio
elision:
n: upperm
uppermost
ost [ˈʌ
[ˈʌpm
pm̩əʊs
əʊst];
t];
thicken [ˈθɪkŋ̩ ].
].
 Syllabic /r/:
 Common in most American accents: Hungary [ˈhʌŋgr
[ˈhʌŋgr̩̩ i].
i].

Strong vs. weak syllables:

Weak syllables:
Have a shorter
shorter V, produc
produced
ed with lower intensi
intensity;
ty; represented by /i, u, ə/ in
represented
transcription: happy /ˈhæpi/; inluence /ˈɪnlʊəns/;
Strong syllables:
Have a V as its peak & always have a coda even if V is short: commit /kə
ˈmɪt/; defence /dɪˈfɛns/.
 Both strong & weak forms used in spoken English;

 Weak forms differ from contracted forms (shortened words);

 ‘All-strong
‘All-strong form’ pronu
pronunciati
nciation
on sounds foreign-acce
foreign-accented
nted  deprecated or
ignored by native English speakers;
 Familiarity with use of weak forms enhances mutual understanding in oral
communication;
 Most words (roughly 40 in English) having both strong & weak forms are
function words (auxiliaries, prepositions, conjunctions, etc.);
 Depends on context & communicative purposes.

The strong form used:

 In sentence-inal position:
He’s fond of Jane. vs. Jane’s who he’s fond of.
/hiːz fɒnd əv ʤeɪn/ /ʤeɪnz huː hiːz fɒnd ɒv/;
 When weak form word contrasted with another
anot her word:
The email is from Jane, not for Jane.
/ði ˈiːmeɪl iz frəm ʤeɪn nɒt fɔːr ʤeɪn/
 When weak-form word given stress for emphasis:
They must give you a pay rise.
/ðeɪ mʌst gɪv jʊ ə peɪ raɪz/;
 When weak form word quoted:
You shouldn’t use ‘can’ in this case.
/jʊ ʃʊdnt juːz kæn ɪn ðɪs keɪs/.
The 40 English weak form
fo rm words:
 a /ə/; an /ən/; the /ðə/ (before C) /ði/ (before V);

 /ən/; but /bət/; than /ðən/; that /ðət/;

and /ju/;
 you we /wi/; he /i/; she /i/;
 them /ðəm/; us /əs/; him /im/;
 his /iz/; her /ə/; your /jə/;
 at /ət/; for /fə/; from /frəm/;
 of /əv/; to /tə/ (after C) /tu/ (after V);
 as /əs/; some /səm/; there /ðə/;
 can /kən/; could /kəd/; have /əv/; has /əs/; had /əd/;
 shall /ʃəl/; should /ʃəd/; must /məst/;
 do /də/ (before C) /du/ (before V); does /dəz/;
 am /əm/; are /ə/; was /wəs/; were /wə/.
 Session 6: Word Stress

 Deinition:
 Syllable of a word standing out from the remainder, also referred to as
prominence/ accent.

 /iː/ / uː/ /ɑː/ /ɔː/ /ɝː/ and diphthongs more prominent than short Vs but still
appear in unstressed syllables: phoneme /ˈfəʊniːm/; railway /ˈreɪlweɪ/;
 Varies across words.

Acoustic signals:
 Pitch change (most important): commission /kəˈmɪʃn/;
 Syllable length (most important): happy /ˈhæpi/; cargo /ˈkɑːɡoʊ/;
 Loudness: hard to increase without changing pitch level;

V qua
qualit
lity:
y: stress
stressed
ed syl
syllab
lables
les have a ful
fulll V but unstres
unstressed
sed typic
typicall
allyy hav
havee a
reduced V of /i, u, ə/.

Levels of stress
 Primary stress: indicated by a high mark [ ʹ]
correspond/ˌkɒrɪsˈpɒnd/;
 Secondary stress: indicated by a low mark [ˌ]
commissionaire/kəˌmɪʃ.ənˈer/;
 Incorre
Incorrect
ct str
stress
ess place
placemen
mentt  misu
misundersta
nderstandings
ndings and/or breakdowns
breakdowns in

communication.
 Stress placement: depends on
 Whether a word is morphologically simple or complex or compound;
 Grammatical category (V, N) of a word;
 The number of syllables;
 Phonological structure of syllables (e.g., inal syllables with short Vs, one
inal C, or /ə/ unstressed).

Stress in simple words:

Two syllable words:
 Noun:
 Most (e
Most (espe
speci
cial
ally
ly prop
proper
er Ns)
Ns) have
have stre
stress
ss on the
the i
irs
rstt syl
sylla
labl
ble:
e: Pe
Pete
ter,
r,
Christmas, coffee, basket, ladder…;
 If the second syllable strong (has a long V/ diphthong or ends in two Cs),
stress goes on the second syllable: career, design…;
 St
Stre
ress
ss on the
the seseco
cond
nd syl
sylla
labl
blee qu
quit
itee rare
rare in Engl
Englis
ish,
h, ofte
often
n rela
relate
ted
d to
borrowed words: lagoon, saloon…;

Verbs:
 Most have stress on 2nd syllable: apply, allow, divide, decide, invite…;
 If 2 nd syllable weak (has a short V or / ə/ and has no of a single inal C, or
contains /əʊ/), stress go on the 1 st syllable: open, visit, borrow, carry…;
 Two syllable adjectives tend to follow same pattern as nouns (with some
exceptions): pretty, open, single, lovely, correct...;

Three syllable words:

 Stress goes towards end of words for verbs;
 If last
last sylla
syllablblee of ve
verb
rbss stro
strong,
ng, it’s
it’s stre
stresse
ssed:
d: en terrtain, understand,
ente
represent…;
 If last syllable weak, stress moves to preceding syllable if it’s strong:
develop
lop,, examine
mine…;…;
 Stress goes towards front of word for nouns: ns: customer, cinema
nema,,
quantity
tity...;
...;
 For both verbs and nouns, stress tends to go on strong syllable: di saster ster,,
magazine, entertain, encounter ter,, direction
tion…;
…;

Stress in complex words:

 Words with afixes (preixes and sufixes): Afixes may have one of three
possible effects on word stress
 Afix stressed: cigar  cigarette, Japan  Japanese…;
 Words having > 2 syllables: stem/ root may carry secondary stress:
mountain  mountaineer
 Singl
Single-s
e-syl
ylla
labl
blee pre
preix
ixes
es not us usua
uall
llyy stres
stresse
sed
d (m isplace, disagree,
(mis
disappear…) but longer preixes can carry secondary stress: semi circle,
anticlockwise…;
 Af
Afi
ixx ha
hass no effe
effect
ct:: un
unde
ders
rsta
tand
nd  un unde
ders
rsta
tanda
ndable
ble// cove
coverr  coverage/
wonder  wonderful…;
 Afix no
nott stressed but
but stre
tress on stem/ root move vess: advanta
ntage 

advantageous/ economy  economic/ history  historic/ historical…;

Stress in compound words:
 Made of 2 nouns  st strres
esss on the ir
irst
st no un ( suitcase, whiteboard,
noun
greenhouse, sunrise…);
 (bad--tempered, ill-treat, down-
Function as a verb, adj, adv  stress on 2nd (bad
grade);
 Someti
Som etimes
mes differ
differenti
entiate
atedd by word
word str
stress
ess:: green house (a house that is
green
en) vs. greenhouse (a glass house used for gardening);
green)
gre gardening ); white house vs.
White house (a house where US president resides).
 SESSION 7: FEATURES OF CONNECTED SPEECH

Rhythm:
 Syllab
Syllableless no
nott eq
equa
uall in du
dura
rati on  reg
tion regula
ular,
r, pat
patter
terned
ned bea
beatt of stresse
stressedd &
unstressed syllables & pauses
 Clo
Closel
selyy rel
relate
atedd to dis
distri
tributi
bution
on of str
strong
ong (st
(stres
ressed
sed)) & wea
weakk (un
(unstr
stress
essed)
ed)
syllables
 Can be divided into units of rhythm (feet)
 Ea
Eachch uniunitt star
startt wi
with
th a stre
stress
ssed
ed sylla
syllabl
bles
es and
and all
all foll
follow
owin
ingg un
unst
stre
resse
ssed
d
syllables up to (but not including) following stressed syllables
Eg: Walk/down the/ street to the/ end of the/ premises
 Some units stronger than others, producing strong-weak patterns in larger
speech chunks
S W S W S W S
T hi r ty e mails ev e ry day

Assimilation:
read these
 Can be progressive (rare): Ci of second word affected by Cf of preceding
word (common
(common in rapid,
rapid, informal spee
speech:
ch: will there /wìl leər/; read these
/ri:d di:z/
 Assimilation of voice: voiced Cs => voiceless
I have to be there /ɑì hæf
hæf tə bi: ɗeər/
 Assimilation of place: /t, d/ + /j/ => /tʃ, ʤ/
Did you /did jə/ => /diʤə/; what you /wɒt jə/ => wɒtʃə/
light blue
 Can be regressive (m (mosostt co
comm
mmon
on):
): Cf of iirs
rstt wo
wordrd assu
assume
mess phphon
onet
etic
ic
/laìtt blu:/ => /laì
characteristics of Ci of following word (light blue /laì /laìpp blu:/
 regressive assimilation: involve alveolar /t,d,n,s,z/ assimilating to place of
/ìn
articulation of following Ci (in case /ì n keìs/ => /ìŋ
/ìŋ keìs/ ; that person /ðæ/ðætt
‘pɜ:sən/ => /ðæ p ‘pɜ:sən/; this shop /ðìs ʃɒp/ => /ðìʃ ʃɒp/

 /t, d/ => /p, b/ before /m, b, p/ (that ballon, bad people)

 /t, d/ => /k, g/ before /k, g, d/ (that glass, good kid)
 /n/ => /m/ before bilabials/p, b/ (in public) /i /im
m ‘pʌblik/
 /n/ => /ŋ/ before velars /k, g/ (in case)
  /s/ => /ʃ/ before / ʃ, tʃ, ʤ/ (this ship)
six jobs
 /z/ => /Ʒ/ before / ʃ, tʃ, ʤ, j/ (has she?)
She hasn’t been there, has she?

Elision:
 Loss of phoneme in connected speech (sound pronounced if word occurs in
isolation)
 Phonemes tend to disappear in unstressed syllables
 Of four main types:
1. Loss of weak Vs (in unstressed syllables):
Perhaps /p’ræps/
/p’ræps/;; excuse me /’skju:z mi/;
I am afraid so /’freì səʊ/;
2. Loss of medial C in clusters of three Cs:
He looked back /hi: lʊk(t) bæk/
bæk/;; next week /neks(t) wi:k/;
3. Elision of /h/ in weak forms of pronouns:
Leave him alone /li:v (h) (h)ìm
ìm ə’ləʊn/;
Is he here yet? /iz (h)
(h)ìì ‘hìər ‘jet/;
4. Contraction of verb forms (auxiliaries & modal auxiliaries):
I’ll do it then.; He’s
He’s got a pay rise.; I don’t know.

Linking:
 C-to-V links:
Drink
Drin k_a cu
cupp_of tea.; Don’t think
think_abou boutt_it.
 C-to-C links:
He opened a bibigg_company.; Take a dee deep
p_breath irst.
 V-to-V links: add/j/
add/j/ after /i:, ɪ, aì
aì,, eì, ɔì/ & /w/ after /u:, ʊ, əʊ, aʊ/
He cares about mymy_eaearnings.;
rnings.; Show Show__it to me, please.
 Session 8: INTONATION

Intonation: relevant terminology

Pitch: relative highness or lowness of voice

Tone: High/ change of pit related to pronunciation of syllables

/words/ utterances

Stress: Vs of syllable in utterances make longer and louder

Stress – timed rythms: time of each stressed syllable to the next

st
stay
ay sa
same
me (r
(reega
garrdl
dles
esss of nu
numb
mber
er of un
unst
strres
esse
sed
d sy
syllla
labl
blees in
between)

Syllable-timed rhythms ( Vietnamese): all syllables occur at regular

time-intervals, times b/t stressed syllables shorter/ longer depends
on number of unstressed syllables.

Kids like sweets

The kids like the sweets

The kids will have liked the sweets

Sentence stress:
 + Cont
Conten
entt le
lexi
xica
cal/
l/ wo
word rdss ( nonoun
uns,
s, main
main ve verb
rbs,
s, ad
adve
verb
rbs,
s, adje
adject
ctiv
ives
es,,
demonstrative, wh- question words…) usually stressed
 +Funct
+Fu nctio
ion
n woword
rdss ( ararti
ticl
cles
es,, prep
prepos
osititio
ions,
ns, auxi
auxili
liar
aryy verb
verbs,
s, pr
pron
onou
ouns,
ns,
conjunc
conjunctio
tions,
ns, and rel
relati
ative
ve pronou
pronouns)
ns):: usu
usuall
allyy uns
unstre
tresse
ssed
d , unl
unless
ess give
given
n
special attention.
 Major sentence stress:
  One content word in utterance receives greater stress than all other;
 Falls on last content word in most utterance;
He’s got a new job; I had an interview yesterday.
 Except when speaker directs hearer’s attention to another content word
in utterance (info focus):
He was at a conference yesterday (not at work).
 Except when speaker contrasts information (contrasted info):
He was there with a new girlfriend (not the one we know).
Prominence:
 Stressed word speaker wishes to highlight;
 Placement governed by three circumstances:
 New info: He’s got a JOB. It’s a NEW job. A new job at CREEDS.;
Emphatic stress: I’m NEver eating clams again.;
 Contrastive stress: It’s an adVANCED not introDUCtory course.

Intonation:
 “Entire melodic line […which] involves the rising and falling of the voice to
various pitch levels during the articulation of an utterance” (Celce-Murcia et al,
2010, p.231);
 Conveys over and above what expressed by words in utterances;
 Not random but has deinite patterns.
Prosody:
 “Combined force of intonation, volume, tempo, and rhythm” (Celce-Murcia et al,

2010, p.231);
 Speci
Spec iic
ical
ally
ly us
used
ed by in
indi
divid
vidua
uall spea
speake
kers
rs to conve
conveyy me
mean
anin
ingg in spok
spoken
en
discourse.

Tone languages vs. Intonation languages:

 Tone languages (Mandarin & Vietnamese): use pitch to distinguish word
meanings;

Intonation languages (English): pitch changes contribute signiicantly to
meaning of utterance (different pitch patterns signal very different meanings
for same utterance).
 Tone languages use tone to differentiate words:
  Ma (low-broken) = rice seeding  Ma (high-broken) = horse
Ma
 Ma (low-falling) = but
Ma  Ma (high-rising) = cheek,
 Ma (mid-level) = ghost mother
 Ma (low-rising) = tomb
Intonation unit (thought group/ tone unit):
 “a melodic unit made up of a speciic pitch contour segmenting the stretch of
discourse into thought groups of message blocks” (Rogerson-Revell, 2017, p.180);
 Mostt pro
Mos promin
minent
ent syllable
syllable in tho
though
ughtt gro
group
up cal led tonic/ nuclear syllable
called
marking most important info in thought group;
 Placement of tonic/ nuclear syllable called tonicity (unpredictable & vary in
context & speaker’s intention);
 Pitch pattern starting on tonic/ nuclear syllable & going through rest of
thought group called nuclear tone;
 Upper & lower limits of speaker’s vocal pitch called pitch range.
Intonation pattern (intonation contour/ tone/ tune):
 Movement of pitch within an intonation unit;
 A signiicant change in pitch affecting meaning & function of utterances in
discourse;
 Number of patterns controversial among linguists.

English intonation patterns: ive basic tones common to most studies

Fall:
 Most common in all styles of English speech, especially in conversations;
 Includes High-fall & Low-fall:

ˋ yes; ˋ well (voice falls high pitch to low)

ˏ yes; ˏwell  (voice falls from mid-pitch to low).

Rise:
+ less common than falling tones
+ includes: low-rise and high- rise:
//, yes// ; //, well// (voice rises from low pitch to mid)
//’ yes// ; //’ well// ( voice rises from mid-pitch to high)

Level:
 Less frequent in English, produced in middle of pitch range;
  Expresses lack of interest or boredom at routine events;
 _ yes; _ well.
Fall-rise: voice falls from mid low then rise back to mid
 ˇyes;  ˇwell (indicating partial agreement or reservation).
Rise-fall: voice rises from mid to high then falls back to mid, often associate with
empathetic statements

Interpretation:
Fall (high fall, low fall, rise-fall): inality, giving info.
Rise (low rise, high rise, fall-rise): non-inality, incompleteness, sharing/ seeking
info.
Level: boredom, lack of interest.
Fall-rise: reservation, doubt, correction.
Rise-fall: conidence, being impressed, arrogance.
Functions of intonation:
Attitudinal functions:
functions: Great (perfunctory)

Great (enthusiasm)

Great (sarcasm)

Grammar functions:
 Help listeners recognize grammar & syntactic structure of what being said
(sentence types):
The interview’s over vs. The interview’s over;
 Not easy with decontextualized syntactic phrases.
Discourse functions:
 Focuss liste
Focu listene
ners
rs’’ at
atte
tenti
ntion
on on im
impo
porta
rtant
nt info
info (i.e
(i.e.,., ne
new
w vs
vs.. give
given
n in
info
fo,,
contrasted info):
 It’s introductory not advanced course.
 Regulate interactive behaviors (when to take moves).