INTONATION AND INTONATION STRUCTURES

1. Intonation

A. Definition - in linguistics, intonation is variation of spoken pitch that is not used to distinguish words; instead it is used for a range of functions such as indicating the attitudes and emotions of the speaker, signalling the difference between statements and questions, and between different types of questions, focusing attention on important elements of the spoken message and also helping to regulate conversational interaction. 
It contrasts with tone, in which pitch variation in some languages does distinguish words, either lexically or grammatically. The term tone is used by some British writers in their descriptions of intonation, but this is to refer to the pitch movement found on the nucleus or tonic syllable in an intonation unit.

Although intonation is primarily a matter of pitch variation, it is important to be aware that functions attributed to intonation such as the expression of attitudes and emotions, or highlighting aspects of grammatical structure, almost always involve concomitant variation in other prosodic features. Crystal for example says that "...intonation is not a single system of contours and levels, but the product of the interaction of features from different prosodic systems – tone, pitch-range, loudness, rhythmicality and tempo in particular.”

B. Transcription of intonation - most transcription conventions have been devised for describing one particular accent or language, and the specific conventions therefore need to be explained in the context of what is being described. However, for general purposes the International Phonetic Alphabet offers the two intonation marks shown in the box at the head of this article. Global rising and falling intonation are marked with a diagonal arrow rising left-to-right [↗] and falling left-to-right [↘], respectively. These may be written as part of a syllable, or separated with a space when they have a broader scope:

He found it on the street?

[ hiː ˈfaʊnd ɪt | ɒn ðə ↗ˈˈstɹiːt ‖ ]

Here the rising pitch on street indicates that the question hinges on that word, on where he found it, not whether he found it.

Yes, he found it on the street.

[↘ˈjɛs ‖ hi ˈfaʊnd ɪt | ɒn ðə ↘ˈstɹiːt ‖ ]

How did you ever escape?

[↗ˈˈhaʊ dɪdjuː | ˈɛvɚ | ə↘ˈˈskeɪp ‖ ]

Here, as is common with wh- questions, there is a rising intonation on the question word, and a falling intonation at the end of the question.

In many descriptions of English, the following intonation patterns are distinguished:

Rising Intonation means the pitch of the voice rises over time [↗];

Falling Intonation means that the pitch falls with time [↘];

Dipping or Fall-rise Intonation falls and then rises [↘↗];

Peaking or Rise-fall Intonation rises and then falls [↗↘].

C. Functions of intonation - all vocal languages use pitch pragmatically in intonation — for instance for emphasis, to convey surprise or irony, or to pose a question. Tonal languages such as Chinese and Hausa use intonation in addition to using pitch for distinguishing words.

Many writers have attempted to produce a list of distinct functions of intonation. J.C. Wells and E.Couper-Kuhlen both put forward six functions. Wells's list is given below:

1. attitudinal function - for expressing emotions and attitudes.

example: a fall from a high pitch on the 'mor' syllable of "good morning" suggests more excitement than a fall from a low pitch

2. grammatical function  - to identify grammatical structure.

example: it is claimed that in English a falling pitch movement is associated with statements, but a rising pitch turns a statement into a yes–no question, as in He's going ↗home?. This use of intonation is more typical of American English than of British. It is claimed that some languages, like Chickasaw and Kalaallisut, have the opposite pattern from English: rising for statements and falling with questions.

3. focusing - to show what information in the utterance is new and what is already known.

example: in English I saw a ↘man in the garden answers "Whom did you see?" or "What happened?", while I ↘saw a man in the garden answers "Did you hear a man in the garden?"

4. discourse function - to show how clauses and sentences go together in spoken discourse.

example: subordinate clauses often have lower pitch, faster tempo and narrower pitch range than their main clause, as in the case of the material in parentheses in "The Red Planet (as it's known) is fourth from the sun"

5. psychological function - to organize speech into units that are easy to perceive, memorize and perform.

example: the utterance "You can have it in red blue green yellow or ↘black" is more difficult to understand and remember than the same utterance divided into tone units as in "You can have it in ↗red | ↗blue | ↗green | ↗yellow | or ↘black"

6. indexical function - to act as a marker of personal or social identity.

example: group membership can be indicated by the use of intonation patterns adopted specifically by that group, such as street vendors or preachers. The so-called high rising terminal, where a statement ends with a high rising pitch movement, is said to be typical of younger speakers of English, and possibly to be more widely found among young female speakers.

It is not known whether such a list would apply to other languages without alteration.

2. Intonation in English 

A. General characteristics - the description of English intonation has developed along different lines in the USA and in Europe.

American approaches to English intonation - the dominant framework used for American English from the 1940s to the 1990s was based on the idea of pitch phonemes, or tonemes. In the work of Trager and Smith there are four contrastive levels of pitch: low (1), middle (2), high (3), and very high (4). 
Normal conversation is usually at middle or high pitch; low pitch occurs at the end of utterances other than yes–no questions, while high pitch occurs at the end of yes–no questions. Very high pitch is for strong emotion or emphasis. 

B. The tones used in an English unemphatic sentence are falling tone, rising tone and level tone.

The falling tone expresses finality and is definite in character.

The rising tone expresses non-finality and it is indefinite.

The falling tone - is used in the following communicative types of sentences:

1. CATEGORIC STATEMENTS – It is time to get up.

2. SPECIAL QUESTIONS - Who is on duty today ?

3. COMMANDS- Stand up !

4. EXCLAMATIONS - Good evening

5. OFFERS - Let’s go home.

The rising tone - is used in the following sentences

1. GENERAL QUESTIONS - Is anyone absent today?

2. REQUESTS - Come in.

3. NON-CATEGORIC STATEMENTS - I think he is busy.

4. SPECIAL QUESTIONS expressing special interest in the hearer- What is the matter? 

The level tone - is used when the speaker hesitates when he pronounces the sentence with indifference and when he doesn’t know what to say. Ex: Perhaps he is right.