Rising and Falling Intonation

Some functions of English intonation:

Do you like phonetics? Yes (falling intonation) neutral, final, end of conversation

Excuse me. Yes (rising intonation)
Do you know Mrs. Jones? Yes (rising intonation)
continuation, (go on), "what about Mrs. Jones?"

Iíve heard that school is good. Yes (falling-rising)
Limited agreement

Isnít this a lot of fun. Yes (rising-falling)
Strong agreement

Mary. Yes. John. Yes. Sam Yes. Joy. Yes. (level)
Only used in routine (boring) context
Tone group a phrase with one prominent syllable
(note, does not necessarily = sentence)
Tonic syllable (*)The prominent syllable in the tone group (note, must be a stressed syllable)

You did the *homework
*You did the homework
You *did the homework

There is a small pitch rise on each stressed syllable and a large one the tonic syllable

Default pattern: Tonic syllable is the last stressed syllable in the tone group

Otherwise, the stressed syllable of an emphasized word or new information will be the tonic

Peter 'Ladefoged is a phone*tician

Peter *Ladefoged is a phone'tician
Bjorn *Lindblom is a phone'tician
Gunnar *Fant is a phone'tician

Statements
Rise on the tonic syllable with falling intonation for the rest of the phrase, except for the accented syllables, which have slight rise


I 'study lin*guistics at the 'University of 'Oregon.


I 'study lin'guistics at the *University of 'Oregon.


Yes-No questions
Rising intonation after tonic syllable


Do you 'like lin*guistics?


Do you *like lin'guistics?


Tone group mid sentence

Rising intonation
We were 'studying for the*test || When the *lights went 'out


A new default intonation?

Rise at the end of a statement?


There are 'some young *people


Who 'talk like *this


Surprise intonation
Falling-rising-intonation.

You 'mean you *like lin'guistics?

On the following phrases please mark:

Stressed syllables ( ' )
Tonic syllables ( * )
Breaks in the tone group ( || ) Contour lines



What was the name of the place?


We had to get dressed, eat breakfast and then brush our teeth.


Would you rather be at the cafÈ now? Yes!


There was a frog in his bed last night.


After we had studied a while, we went out for coffee.


Teaching English pronunciation is really fun.