The importance of intonation

Hello guys, 

Here is some information in relation to intonation: 

What is intonation? Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without intonation, it’s impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words.
Listen to somebody speaking without paying attention to the words: the ‘melody’ you hear is the intonation. It has the following features:

• It’s divided into phrases, also known as ‘tone-units‘.

• The pitch moves up and down, within a ‘pitch range‘. Everybody has their own pitch range. Languages, too, differ in pitch range. English has particularly wide pitch range.

• In each tone unit, the pitch movement (a rise or fall in tone, or a combination of the two) takes place on the most important syllable known as the ‘tonic-syllable‘. The tonic-syllable is usually a high-content word, near the end of the unit.

• These patterns of pitch variation are essential to a phrase’s meaning. Changing the intonation can completely change the meaning.Example:
  • Say: ‘It’s raining’.
  • Now say it again using the same words, but giving it different meaning. You could say it to mean ‘What a surprise!’, or ‘How annoying!’,or ‘That’s great!’. There are many possibilities.

Intonation doesn’t exist in isolation. So it makes sense to approach it together with other factors.

Intonation and grammar
Where patterns associating intonation and grammar are predictable, I highlight these to my students. I see these as starting-points, rather than rules.

Some examples are:

• Wh-word questions: falling intonation

• Yes/No questions: rising

• Statements: falling

• Question-Tags: ‘chat’ – falling; ‘check’ – rising

• Lists: rising, rising, rising, falling

                                                                                          Source: TeachingEnglish/British Council 

Now that you know the importance of learning intonation in English, it is time to go on the following link to learn something else and do some introductory practice.

Other useful links: 

Introduction to stress and intonation

Rising intonation 

Falling intonation 

Falling-rise intonation

Intonation for strong emotions

Intonation for contrast and emphasis 

Intonation for long lists and alternatives

Intonation in long sentences