Intonation

Intonation is the rise and fall in the pitch of the voice.

We have discussed pitch change, the voice going higher and lower, when stressing words or syllables in a sentence.

There are generally four levels of pitch in an English sentence or question. They are like musical notes.

Level 4 Extra high pitch	~emphasis and contrastive stress ~strong emotions such as surprise, anger, elation or disbelief
Level 3 High pitch	~stressed words and syllables ~the ends of questions and thought groups with rising pitch
Level 2 Middle-low pitch	~unstressed words and syllables ~reductions with schwa vowels
Level 1 Extra-low pitch	~the ends of most sentences ~the completion of a speakers turn talking

Here is an English sentence. Listen to the pitch change.

3____________go__________________________

2____I'm__________________________________

1__________________ing.___________________

 

Here is an example of a yes/no question:

3____________________ing?________________________

2_____Are they__go______________________________

1________________________________________________

 

Here is an example of a wh-question:

3__Where_______________________go_______________

2_______ __are they_______________________________

1_____________________________________ing?________

 

Here is an example of a sentence using contrastive stress:

4_________________tea_____________c__________________

3______wan______________not________o_________________

2__I_______ted_________________________k______________

1________________________________________e.___________

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