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摘 要：English is an intonation language, while Chinese is a tone language. Therefore, it is necessary to have a further study on English intonation and it will be sure to be helpful for us to study English and to have effective and fluent communication in English.What's more, it is very interesting to analyze English intonation.
关键词：intonation；falling tone rising tone；fall-rise tone；rise-fall tone
中图分类号：DF624 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-0118（2012）-02-0-02
1.Definition of intonation
In a broad sense, it refers to all prosodic characteristics of a linguistic utterance that are not tied to a single sound. Since intonation features are an overlay on the segmental individual sounds, they are also super segmental features. Three aspects are involved in the description of intonation phenomena: stress, pitch and pausing. Intonation can affect a particular syllable, a word, a phrase, or a sentence. In a narrow sense, it means the occurrence of pitch as it relates to morphologically defined segments (morphs, words). The term “tone” is used to refer to the distinctive levels of pitch in a language. Three functional ingredients are central to English intonation: tone (pitch pattern), tone placement (sentence stress), and tone group structure. The first is a matter of tonal options, and the other two can be taken as aspects of tonicity.
2.Classification and functions of intonation
According to the pitch height, pitch movement and pitch range, intonation can be divided into several types, here we only concentrate on four types of intonation , namely falling, rising, fall-rise, and rise-fall.(Some linguist may further divide falling into high-fall and low-fall, rising into high-rise and low-rise).
Intonation is often described as a matter of `musical features` or speech `tunes or melodies` (O`connor&Arnold 1973). While this maybe a useful non-technical pointer, it is linked with a conception of intonation as something superimposed upon the intrinsic meaning of words themselves, conveying the speakers` attitudes, feelings and emotions rather than any fundamental meanings. It is true that intonation has the attitudinal function. Nevertheless, it would be an injustice to intonation to suggest that it does no more than provide an overlay of feelings or emotions. It is in fact a crucial part of English language, carrying important semantic functions, when in consistent utterances, only the correct intonation can express properly what the speaker intends to express. Apart from this, intonation has a grammatical function which suggests that there are typical intonations associated with syntactic structures, like declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives. Each type of intonation may have some of the above-mentioned functions and all these functions are closely related to the meaning of an utterance.
3.Falling tone
It is involves a sense of assertion, finality, completeness, definiteness and separateness. It is more common on sentence final intonation groups than on sentence non-final intonation groups. e.g.:
(1)She told lies↘ again.
(2)would you close the ↘window?
(3)Do be ↘quiet.
Notice that although the wording of these structures is quite different, the final falling tone is significant in determining the interpretation. In particular, the second example is ostensibly a question but with falling tone it is likely to count as an authoritative demand. The three utterances are complete or definite. More e.g.:
(4)Why did you have to do↘that? (not to ask reason but to blame)
(5)He hasn’t↘come,↘has he?(Allow slight possibility of `yes`. demanding)
4.Rising tone
It is usually applied to convey an expression that something more is to follow in a variety of ways and this is typical in a dialogue. Comparing with falling tone, rising tone usually be used to express politeness, invitation to response and inquiring. e.g.:
(6)A: Excuse me↗? (asking to response)
B:Yes↗?(implying `please go ahead`)
A:Would you please tell me the way to the ↗library?(Inquiring direction)
(7).She told lies↗again. (To convey a surprised query `did she really?)
(8).would you close the↗window? (To make the request tentatively or politely)
(9)Do be↗quiet. (Despite the blunt wording, it sounds tentative).
(10)He hasn’t come, has↗he? (Allow much possibility of `yes`; doubtful)
5. Fall-rise tone
The tonal options aren’t limited to simple rise and fall. They may be combined, for example, in a fall-rise tone in which the rise so to speak cancels or qualifies the definiteness of the fall. (Haliday 1985), e.g.:
(11)He won’t lend his car to↘anyone.(Definite)
(12) He won’t lend his car to↗anyone? (Querying)
(13) He won’t lend his car to∨anyone. (Qualified)
The implication of the fall-rise tone is that he won’t lend his car to everyone but may lend it too rarely, say, to very close friends.
(14)Free tickets are not available to↘anyone. (Definite)
(15)Free tickets are not available to↗anyone. (Querying)
(16)Free tickets are not available to∨anyone. (Qualified)
No.16.suggests free tickets are available but not to any person.
(17)She didn’t marry him‖because she loved↘him. (She loved him, but did not marry him. Perhaps she thought she was not good enough for him or some other reason for his being better).
(18)She didn’t‖marry him because she loved∨him. (She did marry him, but not for love, maybe for money or family pressure.)
(19)He doesn’t have one↘friend. (He has no friend).
(20)He doesn’t have one∨friend. (But he has many friends).
From the above-mentioned sentence, we can see that in negatives, the word on which the nucleus falls is usually included in the scope of negation, but when the fall- rise tone is used, the scope of negation is limited, i.e. the main verb is not negative. And it is noticed that the meaning of examples with the fall-rise tone can always be glossed with a `but . . . `, which is the same as the use of fall-rise in a positive sentence, e.g.:
(21)I like∨Jake.(But. . .)
(22)A: Mum, may I go playing for a↗while?
B: Well, if you∨want to, but make sure you have finished your homework. In a word, the meaning of fall-rise can be glossed as `reservations` or `limited agreement`.
6.Rise-fall tone
It usually means a strong feeling of approval, disapproval or surprise with a rise-fall tone. e.g.:
(23)A: Promise me not to date her again↘.
B: NO∧. (Disapproval)
(24)A: She does play the piano pretty↘well.
B:YES∧. (Approval)
Rise-fall tone can also be used to reinforce irony, some commendatory adjectives, such as clever, splendid, brilliant, wonderful, etc. when used with a rise-fall tone; they convey an opposite meaning in the speaker’s view. e.g.:
(25)How∧clever you are. (You are very stupid indeed.)
(26)what a∧wonderful movie. (The movie is nasty)
Above are the general functions of four types of intonation, but it will be incomplete not to mention the context or situations in which they occur. According to the context, the speaker will choose different tones to convey the meaning accurately.
参考文献：
[1]Bussmann.语言与语言学词典[M].外语教学与研究出版社.
[2]劳允栋.英汉语言学词典[M].商务出版社.
[3]李曼钰.普通语言学概论[M].中南大学出版社.
[4]王松平.现代语言学基础教程[M].上海交通大学出版社.
[5]胡壮麟.语言学教程[M].北京大学出版社.
[6]Clark&Yallop.语音学与音系学入[M].门外语教学与研究出版社.
[7]Intonation,Alan Crittenden,Cambridge university press,北京大学出版社.
关键词：intonation；falling tone rising tone；fall-rise tone；rise-fall tone
中图分类号：DF624 文献标识码：A 文章编号：1009-0118（2012）-02-0-02
1.Definition of intonation
In a broad sense, it refers to all prosodic characteristics of a linguistic utterance that are not tied to a single sound. Since intonation features are an overlay on the segmental individual sounds, they are also super segmental features. Three aspects are involved in the description of intonation phenomena: stress, pitch and pausing. Intonation can affect a particular syllable, a word, a phrase, or a sentence. In a narrow sense, it means the occurrence of pitch as it relates to morphologically defined segments (morphs, words). The term “tone” is used to refer to the distinctive levels of pitch in a language. Three functional ingredients are central to English intonation: tone (pitch pattern), tone placement (sentence stress), and tone group structure. The first is a matter of tonal options, and the other two can be taken as aspects of tonicity.
2.Classification and functions of intonation
According to the pitch height, pitch movement and pitch range, intonation can be divided into several types, here we only concentrate on four types of intonation , namely falling, rising, fall-rise, and rise-fall.(Some linguist may further divide falling into high-fall and low-fall, rising into high-rise and low-rise).
Intonation is often described as a matter of `musical features` or speech `tunes or melodies` (O`connor&Arnold 1973). While this maybe a useful non-technical pointer, it is linked with a conception of intonation as something superimposed upon the intrinsic meaning of words themselves, conveying the speakers` attitudes, feelings and emotions rather than any fundamental meanings. It is true that intonation has the attitudinal function. Nevertheless, it would be an injustice to intonation to suggest that it does no more than provide an overlay of feelings or emotions. It is in fact a crucial part of English language, carrying important semantic functions, when in consistent utterances, only the correct intonation can express properly what the speaker intends to express. Apart from this, intonation has a grammatical function which suggests that there are typical intonations associated with syntactic structures, like declaratives, interrogatives, and imperatives. Each type of intonation may have some of the above-mentioned functions and all these functions are closely related to the meaning of an utterance.
3.Falling tone
It is involves a sense of assertion, finality, completeness, definiteness and separateness. It is more common on sentence final intonation groups than on sentence non-final intonation groups. e.g.:
(1)She told lies↘ again.
(2)would you close the ↘window?
(3)Do be ↘quiet.
Notice that although the wording of these structures is quite different, the final falling tone is significant in determining the interpretation. In particular, the second example is ostensibly a question but with falling tone it is likely to count as an authoritative demand. The three utterances are complete or definite. More e.g.:
(4)Why did you have to do↘that? (not to ask reason but to blame)
(5)He hasn’t↘come,↘has he?(Allow slight possibility of `yes`. demanding)
4.Rising tone
It is usually applied to convey an expression that something more is to follow in a variety of ways and this is typical in a dialogue. Comparing with falling tone, rising tone usually be used to express politeness, invitation to response and inquiring. e.g.:
(6)A: Excuse me↗? (asking to response)
B:Yes↗?(implying `please go ahead`)
A:Would you please tell me the way to the ↗library?(Inquiring direction)
(7).She told lies↗again. (To convey a surprised query `did she really?)
(8).would you close the↗window? (To make the request tentatively or politely)
(9)Do be↗quiet. (Despite the blunt wording, it sounds tentative).
(10)He hasn’t come, has↗he? (Allow much possibility of `yes`; doubtful)
5. Fall-rise tone
The tonal options aren’t limited to simple rise and fall. They may be combined, for example, in a fall-rise tone in which the rise so to speak cancels or qualifies the definiteness of the fall. (Haliday 1985), e.g.:
(11)He won’t lend his car to↘anyone.(Definite)
(12) He won’t lend his car to↗anyone? (Querying)
(13) He won’t lend his car to∨anyone. (Qualified)
The implication of the fall-rise tone is that he won’t lend his car to everyone but may lend it too rarely, say, to very close friends.
(14)Free tickets are not available to↘anyone. (Definite)
(15)Free tickets are not available to↗anyone. (Querying)
(16)Free tickets are not available to∨anyone. (Qualified)
No.16.suggests free tickets are available but not to any person.
(17)She didn’t marry him‖because she loved↘him. (She loved him, but did not marry him. Perhaps she thought she was not good enough for him or some other reason for his being better).
(18)She didn’t‖marry him because she loved∨him. (She did marry him, but not for love, maybe for money or family pressure.)
(19)He doesn’t have one↘friend. (He has no friend).
(20)He doesn’t have one∨friend. (But he has many friends).
From the above-mentioned sentence, we can see that in negatives, the word on which the nucleus falls is usually included in the scope of negation, but when the fall- rise tone is used, the scope of negation is limited, i.e. the main verb is not negative. And it is noticed that the meaning of examples with the fall-rise tone can always be glossed with a `but . . . `, which is the same as the use of fall-rise in a positive sentence, e.g.:
(21)I like∨Jake.(But. . .)
(22)A: Mum, may I go playing for a↗while?
B: Well, if you∨want to, but make sure you have finished your homework. In a word, the meaning of fall-rise can be glossed as `reservations` or `limited agreement`.
6.Rise-fall tone
It usually means a strong feeling of approval, disapproval or surprise with a rise-fall tone. e.g.:
(23)A: Promise me not to date her again↘.
B: NO∧. (Disapproval)
(24)A: She does play the piano pretty↘well.
B:YES∧. (Approval)
Rise-fall tone can also be used to reinforce irony, some commendatory adjectives, such as clever, splendid, brilliant, wonderful, etc. when used with a rise-fall tone; they convey an opposite meaning in the speaker’s view. e.g.:
(25)How∧clever you are. (You are very stupid indeed.)
(26)what a∧wonderful movie. (The movie is nasty)
Above are the general functions of four types of intonation, but it will be incomplete not to mention the context or situations in which they occur. According to the context, the speaker will choose different tones to convey the meaning accurately.
参考文献：
[1]Bussmann.语言与语言学词典[M].外语教学与研究出版社.
[2]劳允栋.英汉语言学词典[M].商务出版社.
[3]李曼钰.普通语言学概论[M].中南大学出版社.
[4]王松平.现代语言学基础教程[M].上海交通大学出版社.
[5]胡壮麟.语言学教程[M].北京大学出版社.
[6]Clark&Yallop.语音学与音系学入[M].门外语教学与研究出版社.
[7]Intonation,Alan Crittenden,Cambridge university press,北京大学出版社.