Advanced Spoken English Phonology session: Intonation

Learning Outcomes At the end of today’ session, you will:  Understand the concept of intonation, both for meaning and function  Have practiced changing your pitch in different ways  Know how to practice intonation in your own time  Start work on the next Speaking Task

What happens inside speech units/pause groups? A speech unit is pronounced as if it were ONE BIG WORD. How do we achieve this?  Intonation over the unit  Linking  Elision of consonants

Intonation over the unit  Each pause group has its own intonation pattern. Don’t continue the same intonation pattern!

Intonation  What? – Changes in the pitch of your voice. Like singing.  Big problem for many people.  Two types of intonation –Intonation for meaning –Intonation for (grammatical) function

Intonation for meaning  Very personal. Expresses your emotion.  TASK: Try saying the following phrases with different emotions: –“Morning” –“yes” –“No” –“I like it” –“That was heaps of fun”  Intonation works with body language

Intonation for Function Grammatical function: spoken punctuation  Declarative sentence  Y/N question  open question  Introducing a sentence  Changing the topic

Declarative sentences Lower your pitch at the end  Say the following sentences out loud –She saw that man. –She saw that great big man. –She saw that great big man’s weapon.

Y/N questions Raise your pitch at the end  Did you like John’s anecdote?

Open Questions Lower your pitch at the end  What did you think of the anecdotes? Talk to your partner about the anecdotes you enjoyed from last week’s forum.

Introducing a sentence with an adverbial phrase  Keep your pitch high  In the weekend, I listened to about five anecdotes from the forum.  More info on

Starting a new topic  Generally start with a high pitch

Practice (From Wong 1987)  He: Ready?  She: No.  He: Why?  She: Problems.  He: Problems?  She: Yes.  He: What?  She: Babysitter.

How to practice intonation  Both types working all the time  Mimic  Hum along  Shadow-read  Develop audio after-image  Small sections at a time  Listen to yourself

Now it’s your time Start work on your next speaking Task: Copy Ross’ monologue from the “Friends” clip Focus: Intonation. (Try to make your intonation as exaggerated as his!)