Intonation ANP301
Intonation refers to the melodic movement of the voice that helps produce
discursive meaning by combining with the lexical content of the
proposition and grammatical structure (word order, Subject-Aux
inversion, extraposition).
Units of Intonation
Since units of intonation are often also units of propositional content or
‘meaning’, it is perhaps not very surprising that they may to some extent
coincide with syntactic phrases, clauses or what we generally tend to
perceive as ‘sentences’. These units are often referred to as tone
groups/units or intonation groups, and their study is called tonality.
Tonality or finding tone unit boundaries:
This is the division of discourse into groups of meaning (Intonational
Phrase – IP, or Tone Unit –TU); each group or ‘chunk’ of discourse has a
distinctive intonation pattern or ‘tune’. These IPs or TUs generally
correspond to some grammatical unit, whether it be a sentence, a clause, a
phrase or a word. In longer sentences, the punctuation is often a good
clue to the limits of the TU, as each segment thus defined has a melodic
movement of its own. In rather formal language, like narrative, reports,
and lectures, the intonational phrasing will follow the syntax rather
closely; with informal speech or conversation however, the correlation
between the two is perturbed by hesitations, false starts, repetition and a
generally rapid rate of articulation. We can avoid many of these problems
by presenting language in both dialogic and oralized narrative texts. IPs,
even when they consist of just one syllable, are marked by diagonal
slashes (/ /). The following examples all have one nuclear syllable
underlined, whose importance will be explained in the following
paragraph.
Simple utterances = complete sentence
/ Come ↘here//
/ Won’t you have a ↗drink with us//
Complex sentences - Coordination
/ He braked quickly at the yellow ↗light / and skidded into the intersection //
- though a shorter sentence might only constitute one IP:
/ He braked quickly and ↘stopped //
Complex sentences - Subordination
/ After his car had come to a ↗stop / he got out and checked for ↘damage //
The correspondence between syntax and intonation has been referred to
elsewhere as the Tone Unit Rule (Deschamps et al. 2000) for greater
convenience in speaking of tonality, though it represents a mere tendency
- as no hard and fast rule can be applied to all cases.
Although TUs are variable in size and often correspond to one or more of
the syntactic categories named above, there are some criteria the may
help us to detect certain boundaries between them. Any of them may
constitute a discursive/intonation unit, and may be termed, for purposes
of linguistic analysis or commentary, an elementary component of the
“utterance”.
Intonation analysis – finding the nucleus
The last stressed syllable of a tone unit serves as the nucleus, and the
melody (rising or falling intonation contour ending the TU) is anchored at
this point. Notice that this essential part of the utterance, the nuclear
stress, is closely related to meaning; in utterances (1-3) the nucleus was
not literally the last word evening, but rather the syllable com- of coming,
which closes the crux of the statement and the question: come – or not
come?
1. He’s ↘coming this evening //
The form of the final melodic movement in the utterance orientates our
interpretation of the meaning. For example, a Fall in the ‘melody’ of the
above utterance along with canonic word order, indicates an assertion; a
contrario, a rise in the melody signals a question form, although the word
order is unchanged:
2. He’s ↗coming this evening // (asking for confirmation of [1])
This has nearly the same meaning as an interrogative syntactic form:
3. Is he ↗coming this evening //
which differs mainly in its context of occurrence; the difference in (2)
lies in the necessity of a first mention of (1) in which it is called into
question by the speaker. The specificity of (3) is only related to some
referent for the antecedent of he and a contextual or situational
justification of “some event here this evening” which may be as simple as
the mere presence of the speaker.
It is clear at least that the rise in (2) transforms the grammatical structure
of (1) as well as its discursive meaning.
Shifting the place of nuclear stress also has an effect on the local
meaning:
1a. He’s coming this ↘evening //
Shifting the nucleus to evening would constitute a contrastive focus (a
kind of emphatic stress) on this adjunct (circonstant) denoting the
temporal limit of the event.
In this sense, sentence (2a) has shifted its focus, and so is not identical to
sentence (2):
2a. He’s coming this ↗evening //
The question is no longer whether he is coming or not (it’s sure that he
is), but if the time of his arrival is certain. Similarly, the choice of lexical
term – implying an appreciation – often implies a shift of focus:
4. It was a good ↘party // (everyone would agree)
5. It was a fan↘ tastic party // (in my opinion)
The choice of a superlative term here attracts the nucleus placement.
This a complex and difficult area where much depends on the correct
interpretation of certain patterns – an interpretation which is often made
more difficult by the influence of specific segmental features, such as the
absence of voicing in consonants preceding a vowel, etc. Because of this
complexity, we will only be able to cover a relatively tiny part of what
there is to know about the topic.
Tone, or the shape of pitch movement:
This refers to the type of pitch movement that is associated with the
nucleus, often located towards the end of the IP (though not always, as
we have seen). These fall into 4 major default types which can be traced
on a modified musical staff comprising three discernible levels of pitch, a
Low level, a Medium level and a High level:
FALL – two variants
Low Fall: the most common, therefore often a “default” tone, where the
change in direction at the end of the utterance starts at a Mid or medium
level of the pitch range and falls to a low position in the range. Iconically
considered as a signal of closure, adapted to statements.
High Fall: a variant of the preceding “default” tone which conveys a
supplement of linguistic information, and where the change in direction at
the end of the utterance starts at a High level in the pitch range and falls
toward a low position in the range, signaling an exclamation .
Statements – Falling Intonation
6. The boy is sitting in the ↘cor ner //
This utterances is typical of statements, a categorical choice of one and
only one relation SVO (Adjunct) – notice how the nucleus is centered on
the locality effecting a kind of punishment in the completed predication.
Orders – Falling Intonation
These utterances are typical of orders, a categorical choice of one and
only one action – notice how the nucleus is centered on the verb in (7).
7. ↘Give it to him //
WH- or “Open-set” questions – Falling Intonation
The use of a falling intonation in these utterances is typical of a defaulttype question, based on the focusing of interest on a ‘circumstancial’ or
peripheral aspect of an event – whereas the event itself is considered to be
certain. There is a choice of one aspect which – notice how the nucleus is
centered on the verb in (8), the adequacy of the verbal expression do it to
some extra-linguistic referent being vouchsafed by the speaker.
8. How does he ↘do it // (he certainly does something)
RISE – two variants
Low Rise: the most commonly used tone for Yes/No questions, and
therefore often considered a “default” tone in discursive exchanges,
where the change in direction at the end of the utterance starts at a Low
level of the pitch range and rises to a Mid position in the range.
High Rise: a variant of the preceding “default” question or continuance
tone which conveys a supplement of linguistic information (emphasis,
contrast) and where the change in direction at the end of the utterance
starts at a Medium level in the pitch range and rises toward a High
position in the range, typical of reproaches and exclamations of
‘surprise’.
Yes/No or “Closed-set” questions – Rising Intonation
The use of a rising intonation in these utterances is typical of a defaulttype question that can be answered in the affirmative or in the negative by
one’s interlocutor. As the speaker is unable, or unwilling, to vouchsafe
the adequacy of the verbal expression to the extra-linguistic event to
which the predication refers, he chooses to defer to the judgement of the
interlocutor. There is a choice to place stress on the last lexical item (also
known as broad focus) in (9), as the verbal expression <he-answer-letter>
cannot be accepted as validated without the intervention of the
interlocutor, who is to decide between answered/not answered in regard
to the letter.
9. Have you answered his ↗let ter // (I don’t know)
10. Can you be ↗quiet //
In (10) the question form is rhetorical, and the effect is a reproach to
someone who won’t stop talking.
COMPOSITE TONES
Fall-Rise: a tone reserved for questions, implications, reservation and
anaphoric reference (sometimes also called “Referring Tone”) in
discursive exchanges, where the change in direction at the end of the
utterance starts at a High level of the pitch range, falls to Low then rises
to a Mid position in the range. It often tends to imply a non-stated
assumption or opposition between what is stated and what is implied.
Fall-Rise (evocation of implicit assumption)
Reserves:
11. - Isn’t Marilyn wonderful?
- She’s ˇ pretty… (though not intelligent, honest, tolerant, etc.)
Warning:
12. You’ll be ˇ late… (though you aren’t aware of it)
Correcting a statement without chafing:
13.
- Bruce Willis is fifty-two !
- He’s fifty-ˇ three… (no, you’re mistaken)
Rise-Fall: a tone reserved for exclamations, implications (conveying “an
appreciation”) in discursive context, where the change in direction at the
end of the utterance starts at a Mid level of the pitch range, rises to High
then falls to a Mid position in the range. This can function as a focalizing
tone independently of the phrase-final nuclear tone.
Rise-Fall (the speaker marks his astonishment or enthusiasm)
14.
- He got a hundred pounds for the painting…
- (wow!) a hundred ^ pounds //
15.
- Dave’s finished his thesis already…
- (so quickly?) that’s a ^ mazing //