The Rising-Falling Tone-Pattern

Classifications of basic intonation patterns

The discrimination of the basic patterns relies primarily on the directional type of nuclear pitch change: the rising tone-pattern, the falling tone- pattern, the falling-rising tone-pattern and the rising-falling tone-pattern.

Within each of the four tone patterns there is a further division in accordance with the accepted functional variation of the nuclear tones.

The patterns are called contours to imply the shape formed by the movement of the pitch over the relevant points in an utterance.

The Rising Tone-Pattern

The Falling Tone-Pattern

The Falling-Rising Tone-Pattern

The Rising-Falling Tone-Pattern

Two points must be made clear in connection with the usage of the patterns.

1. The semantic effect of an intonation pattern depends to a degree on the type of the sentence it is used in: the inherent meaning of the intonation pattern may coincide with the communicative nature of the sentence-type (e.g. the finality and assertiveness of a fall with a statement; the incompleteness of a rise with a yes-no question). This is why the same pattern is regarded as 'normal' for some sentence-types, and 'not normal' for others, although in principle and in practice any of the patterns can be applied to any of the sentence-types. 'Not normal' here obviously means some additional effect, or connotation, leading to a modification of the communicative

The meaning of the sentence-type (e.g. implicatory statements, insistent or sceptical general questions). This additional effect is usually of a modal-emotional kind.

2. Intonation patterns differ in the expressiveness of their meaning, which is proportional to the expressiveness (vividness) of their form. Thus, an utterance with a Scandent Head in combination with any of the nuclear tones is more expressive than an utterance with a Stepping Head and is more suitable for a lively intimate conversation, while an utterance with a Stepping Head is more suitable for a businesslike talk. Again, utterances with the rising-falling nuclear tone are more colourful than those with a simple falling tone, etc.

According to this principle intonation patterns can be subdivided into emotionally neutral and emotionally coloured. However, this subdivision is but relative and is introduced, mainly, for practical convenience.

15. Division of utterances into Intonation-groups

Analysis of English utterances into intonation-groups shows that they are co-extensive with a stretch og speech of various grammatical nature: an independent sentence, a principal or a subordinate clause, 2 or even more clauses, a group of words or even 1 word. An intonation-group corresponding to a grammatical sentence is marked by specific characteristics of tone, stress and duration, serving to express semantic completeness and independence – the relevant features of an utterance. An intonation of this kind is defined as a simple tune. Utterances which are composed of more than 1 intonation-group form a combined tune.

Long sentences, most naturally, break up into smaller parts in spoken language. Their division is based both on physiological convenience and on the complexity of information being conveyed, e.g.:

For most of his life | he had been a keen driver.

We can’t afford to waste natural resources, | we ought to save them.

Through intonation division the speaker can make several items stand out as separate parcels of information in a short utterance, too, increasing thereby the general prominence of the utterance, e.g.:

Nobody |could deny it.

It’s quit natural for you | to feel proud.

Another major factor involved is the syntactic structure of an utterance. The number of intonation-groups in utterance of the same length may often vary precisely because of the peculiarities of their syntactic structure, which may either presuppose prosodic (intonation) division as an obligatory feature or, vice versa, “forbid” it, or else (a 3d and most frequently occurring variant) allow of 2 options: with or without an intonation boundary between the constituents of a sentence.

Prosodic division is typically optional in expanded simple sentences with adverbial modifiers of different kinds, complex sentences with object, relative or attributive clauses and some others. As a result, the same written sentence read aloud by different people may have a different number of intonation-groups. E.g.:

Many working mothers do not have time to cook.

Many working mothers | do not have time to cook.

An intonation boundary is obligatory, or, at any rate, highly probable in complex sentences with subordinate clauses of condition, cause, time (in pre-position to the principle clause), concession, result, comparison) particularly, when there is an adverbial modifier of manner in the principle clause) and some others. E.g.:

Since you refuse to help, | I must do it alone.

In spite of the rain and bitter cold | they all came in time.

The choice of the number of intonation-groups in an utterance also depends on the type and form of speech.

16. Basic types of Tone-Sequences in English

When analyzed for the nuclear tones in each of the component-parts, combined tunes may be described as sequences of tones, or tone-sequences.

The most general observation concerning this subject is that tone-sequences in English display relatively free combinability of nuclear tones. Even the simplest tone-sequences demonstrate a fairly wide range of possibilities.

Low Rise| High/mid Fall

If I re member cor rectly, | she’s living somewhere in Kent.

To make matters worse | the weather was terrible.

High/Mid Fall | High/Mid/Low Fall

We know the en voronment is threatened | but we over look it.

There’s no great hurry | so you can take your time over it.

Fall-Rise | High/Mid fall

First and foremost | we should concentrate on public transport.

Un fortunately | I won’t be able to at tend the club meeting.

Fall-Rise D | Mid/Low Fall

He wasn’t an interviewer | he was being interviewed.

Be fore you even book your holiday | make sure that your passport is valid.

All the senior staff | are on the ground floor.

High/Mid Fall | Low Rise

We’ll be there at about six | if the Baby-sitter doesn’t let us down.

You should come on Friday after noon | if you want to catch Tom in.

High/Mid Fall | Fall-Rise

You re member that friend of his, | the guy who came from Liverpool.

I’m planning to go there im mediatly | if nothing pre vents.

I’m rather busy | just at present.

Fall-Rise | Fall-Rise

More buses should be added during peak times | if they want to make the bus service more ef ficient.

Re cycling products is often cheaper | than making new ones.

Fall-Rise | Low Rise

Tuesday is his day in London, | as usual.

We are ex pected to finish it to night, | not to morrow.

Obviously, in longer sequences the number of possible combinations of nuclear tones is considerably increased.

There is a high probability of tonal reduplication, which means that if there is a fall (a rise or fall-rise) in the preceding group, there is a tendency to use the same or a similar kind of nuclear tone in the following one.

The use of varying nuclear tones in adjacent groups, on the other hand, serves to indicate a change in the speaker’s attitude.

Reduplication of tones is illustrated in the examples given below.

You should eat more fruit and vegetables | but keep off potatoes and bread.

She is very happy | and will be for years | I’m sure.

N17.Prosodic Co-ordination and Prosodic Subordination.Co-ordination relations. One of the specific features here is similarity of nuclear tones in both groups, i.e. tonal reduplication or synonymous tones. It must be stressed that similarity does not only concern the direction of the nuclear pitch-change. The nuclear tones must also coincide in the width of the pitch interval, e.g.: ` Yes, /` certainly. We must ` do it /without de`lay. A relevant feature of co-ordinative sequences is also similarity of prenuclear pattern, particularly, the pitch height of the head, e.g.: I couldn`t `see him/ as I was in a` great `hurry. Subordinativerelations. The most significant feature of prosodic subordination is inequality of the nuclear pitch intervals, i.e. the first interval is wider than the second, or vice versa. When the nuclear tones are of the same type(tonal reduplication) the difference in their width is very easy to recognize and reproduce. In the case of nuclear tones of an opposite direction, (e.g. a fall in the first group and a rise in the second, or vice versa) it is more difficult to catch. A point of importance here is that the effect of semantic prominence produced by particular nuclear tones may be different due to the specific inherent meaning of the kinetic tone. Thus a falling tone- final, decisive, complete - is generally associated with greater prominence than a rising tone, which implies incompleteness, non-finality or tentativeness, even though the pitch-change intervals themselves may be the same width. This seems to be an objective cue for the notion of prosodic subordination. Subordinative intonation-groups most frequently stand in post –positionto superordinate(major)groups, although the reverse order of intonation-groups- preposed subordination -is not infrequent either. Ex. The `next, thing/ was to `put the bet to the `test.

N18.Supraphrasal Unities (сверхразовоеединство). The higher units are formed by grouping utterances into complexes or sets, each occupying a certain `slot` in the semantic structure of the text, reflecting thereby the subdivision of the overall topic into a number of subtopics. The unit coming next to an utterance in the above-mentioned hierarchy is a Supraphrasal Unity(SPU). SPU is not unrestricted in length, which does not typically exceed 4 or 5 component phrases. The identification of a Supraphrasal Unity is spoken language is achieved primarily with the help of prosodic features. There are constant prosodic markers distinguishing initial median and final phrases in the unity. These are the features of pitch, loudness and tempo. An important feature marking the boundary of a Supraphrasal Unity is a pause which is considerably longer than any of the pauses separating the phrases within the unity. It is so- called three-unit pause, e.g..: College gets nicer and nicer, /I like the girls/and the teachers/ and the classes/ and the campus/ and the things to eat.//We have ice-cream twice a week/and we never have corn-meal mush.///(завершено SU)./Due to specific prosodic markers an utterance isolated from a supraphrasal unity is easily recognized as “contextual”.

19. Emphatic tones are used in speech for two main purposes: 1) to increase the semantic prominence of separate words in an utterance or that of an entire utterance; 2) to attach an emotional colouring to an utterance. The two functions are closely connected and are often performed simultaneously Indeed, utterances with increased semantic prominence do not always convey a specific emotional attitude. Emphasis applied to a tone increases the force of articulation on the syllable carrying the tone and, consequently, the effect of loudness. It also changes the pitch characteristics, moving the upper point of a kinetic tone upward and the lower point of it downward, thus widening the interval of the pitch-change. The Use of Emphatic Static Tones

The semantic role of an emphatic static tone is closely connected with the meaning of the nuclear tone. Emphasis on the onset syllable of high rising tune only increases the prominence of the prenuclear part thus making the question sound somewhat rhetorical.When the onset syllable of a low rising tune is made emphatic a note of impatience is suggested to an utterance, e.g.: - I have been waiting for your call.An Emphatic Static tone (high or low) may occur on any stressed syllable of the head. It may be preceded or followed by one or more unemphatic (ordinary) or emphatic static tones. When emphasis is applied to the second, or third, or fourth, etc. syllable, with the preceding stresses being unemphatic the tune is broken, since the pitch-level of the syllable bearing an emphatic tone will be higher than the pitch of the preceding unemphatic syllables, e.g.:

I 'must have those 'papers ^signed.The Emphatic High Rise is most commonly used in General questions to express extreme surprise or a shocked reaction, e.g.: - I told him everything I thought of him.The Emphatic Low Rise is used in various types of utterances. In Statements and Imperatives this tone is often preceded by a low-pitched head and expresses feeling of irritation, dissatisfaction, etc., e.g.: - I've decided to buy it.General and Special questions with an Emphatic Low Rise, preceded by a high-pitch head convey a meaning of extreme surprise and incredulity, e.g.: __ I told him everything. __ 'Did you //really? When both the prenuclear and nuclear stresses are made emphatic the overall prominence of an utterance is naturally increased, e.g.:

" Who's " that now? If those boys have come to ask for their ball again I shall scream.