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Definition
In phonetics, intonation is the melodic pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice, but in such languages as English, stress and rhythm are also involved. Intonation conveys differences of expressive meaning (e.g., surprise, anger, wariness)5.
1. Pitch
To understand intonation, it is first necessary to define pitch, the relative highness or lowness of the voice. It is important to note that the phonetic notion of pitch is relative, referring to the differentiated pitch levels of a given speaker - not to the lower versus higher pitches of men’s and women’s voices or the differing pitch variations of different speakers.
In fact, pitch in its phonetic meaning corresponds quite closely to the definition of pitch in music. For example, ascending do, re, and mi represent progressively higher tones, or musical pitch. We distinguish four levels of phonetic pitch in English:
4 = extra high
3 = high
2 = middle
1 = low
Normal conversation moves between middle and high pitch, with low pitch typically signaling the end of an utterance. The extra high level is generally used to express a strong emotion such as surprise, great enthusiasm, or disbelief, and is the pitch level often used in contrastive or emphatic stress. English makes use of pitch variation over the length of an entire utterance rather than within one word.
If pitch represents the individual tones of speech, then intonation can be thought of as the entire melodic line. Intonation involves the rising and falling of the voice to various pitch levels during the articulation of an utterance. It performs several unique functions. First, intonation reflects the grammatical function of an utterance. For example:
If the utterance is pronounced with a rising - falling intonation, then it signals speaker certainty, which often corresponds to a declarative statement. However, pronounced with rising intonation, the same sequence of phonemes signals uncertainty and corresponds to a special type of yes/no question with statement word order but rising intonation.
Intonation also performs the function of conveying an attitude or emotion. For example, the simple utterance “Great” can be used to express three different shades of meaning:
Clearly, the attitude of the speaker will vary in these three instances, with intonation conveying a great deal of the difference. Thus in statement 1, the overall effect of the slightly falling intonation is that the speaker's comment is neutral or perfunctory, whereas in statement 2, the broader movement from high to low signifies that the speaker is genuinely enthusiastic. In contrast, the flatter intonation of the last statement signifies lack of enthusiasm or sarcasm on the part of the speaker.
The movement of pitch within an intonation unit is referred to as the intonation contour of that unit. Such contours span the range of extra high pitch to low pitch. These levels are highly dependent on discourse meaning and prominence, with rises in intonation co-occurring with the highlighted or more important words that receive prominence within the sentence. Thus pitch and prominence can be said to have a symbiotic relationship with each other in English, and the interrelationship of these phenomena determines the intonation contour of a given utterance. The next three sections summarize the most common intonation contours in English.
2. Most common intonation contours
2.1. Rising - falling intonation
One of the most common patterns is the rising-falling contour. In this pattern, the intonation typically begins at a neutral middle level (2) and then rises to a high level (3) on the main stressed element of the utterance. The intonation then falls to either the low level (1) - a terminal fall, signaling certainty and generally corresponding to the end of the utterance - or to the middle level (2) - a non-terminal fall, signaling a weaker degree of certainty and usually corresponding to an unfinished statement, an incomplete thought, or a mood of suspense. If the prominent syllable is the last syllable in the thought group, the fall is a glide:
(glide)
If, on the other hand, the stressed syllable is part of a multisyllabic word with other unstressed syllables after it, then the fall occurs on the unstressed element immediately following the main stressed syllable and is called a step:
Rising-falling intonation patterns of the 2-3-1 "certainly” type (i.e., the utterance begins at level 2, rises to level 3, and then falls to level 1) typically signal the following types of utterances: declarative statements, wh- questions (questions with the interrogative pronouns where, when, what, who, why, how much), and commands or directives
Two further types of utterances can use rising-falling intonation contours. However, in these cases the pitch levels also vary from the 2- 3-1 pattern. The first of these utterances uses a 2- 3- 2 non-terminal fall with a slight rise at the end, indicating that the utterance is an unfinished statement in which the speaker has left something unsaid it implied:
In some unfinished statements, the speaker uses the 2- 3- 2 pattern with a slight rise at the end to create suspense:
The other utterance using a rising-falling intonation occurs after a 2-3-1 contour and employs a 3- 1 contour. This contour occurs in tag question eliciting agreement, in which the speaker is requesting confirmation from the interlocutor. Functioning almost kike a statement, the typically signal certainty:
2.2 Rising intonation
Another common intonation pattern in English is the rise. Rise in intonation usually begins at the syllable with discourse prominence and continues slightly until the and of the phrase:
There are two different rise contours: one that moves from middle to high level (2-3 or 2-4), depending on the amount of emotion being expressed, and another that rises from low to midlevel (1-2). The middle - to - high rise (2-3 or 2-4) signals uncertainty. The following utterance types tend to follow this pattern: yes/no questions using question word order, open choice alternative questions, yes/no questions using statement word order, unfinished statements creating suspense, echo question, repetition questions, and tag questions signaling uncertainty.
In the first of these, yes/ no questions, the speaker asks a question, phrased in question word order, to which the expected answer is yes or no.
In the next pattern, open-choice alternative questions, the listener has a free choice of a alternatives being offered. It is unclear whether other options are available, but the listener is given the chance to reject all of the alternatives.
The next category involves utterances that look like statements in terms of their syntax but function as questions. Such statements are unlike normal yes/no questions in that speaker already has some evidence to confirm the statement. Both 2-3 and 2-4 rise patterns are possible - the latter if surprise or disbelief is being expressed:
Repetition questions ask for repetition usually because the speaker could not hear what was said or the speakers could not believe what was said. These types of questions can follow statements, yes/no questions, or wh-questions.
In the case of a 2 -3 pitch contour, the question means "Could you repeat what you said? I didn’t hear you.” Suppose that Speaker A asks, “What are you doing this weekend?” to which Speaker B replies, "I'm going skiing” If Speaker A has not understood, a repetition question is asked:
With a more exaggerated pitch rise, on the other hand, the question means “I can’t believe what I just hear. Tell me a gain.” Assuming for example, that Speaker B’s answer to question “What are you doing this weekend?” is “I’m doing skydiving ,” Speaker A might signal disbelief through a rise to level 4:
Unlike the category of tag questions eliciting agreement, tag questions signaling uncertainty are more like true yes/no questions. The speaker may have some prior assumption but allows for the possibility of either a ”yes” or “no” response:
2.3 Other paterns
As noted previously, there are two basic options for sentence - final intonation in English - rising-falling and rising patterns. However, internal to a given sentence, there may also be a series of rises or falls that occur as a result of the syntax.
In the first combination, elements occur in a series, with each item in the series receiving rising intonation (usually 2-3) until the final item, which receives rising - falling intonation (2-3- 1).
The identical pattern is found in closed-choice alternative questions. Again, each alternative receives rising intonation until the final one - signaling that no other options are available and the speaker is expected to select from the closed set of choices presented.
This pattern of closed-choice alternative questions contrasts both in intonation contour and meaning with the open choice alternative questions described earlier. Compare:
(Closed choice: Which credit card are you going to pay with: Master Card or Visa)
In appositive constructions, defined as a phrase or clause that follows and modifies a noun giving added information, the 1- 2 -1 contour signals that the clarifying appositive information is uttered as an aside.
A related construction is the parenthetical expression. Similar to appositives, these expressions are often uttered as asides, signaled through the intonation contour used by the speaker. Parentheticals include utterances such as direct address (John, Dr. Martin), polite expressions (please, thank you), adverbials (unfortunately, one in a while), expressions of opinion (I’m afraid, you know), and epithets or expletives (that jerk, damn). These parenthetical elements, when they appear sentence initially, can be signaled either through a rising falling pattern:
A second pattern used with middle-sentence and sentence-final parenthetical moves from low to middle level (1-2), with the rise in intonation coinciding with the main stressed syllable of the parenthetical:
In compound or complex sentences, each clause has its own intonation pattern, which more or less corresponds to the rules given previously. In other words, each clause may terminate in rising intonation or rising-falling intonation, depending on its particular syntax. However, in the case of falling intonation patterns with non-final clauses, the fall usually terminates at level 2.
As we mentioned previously, certain basic principles governing English prominence exist: however, the speaker’s intentions may override typical patterns in order to assign special prominence to a different element in the utterance. This is also true for intonation. In fact, as we have seen, intonation contours are directly connected to the prominent syllable. Therefore it is logical that if the prominent element shifts according to discourse context, then the intonation pattern will also change.