Grammar and Intonation: як використовувати в англійській? Приклади для практики

Напевно, кожний пам’ятає зі школи безперервні настанови вчителя: читати потрібно з інтонацією! Не залежно від того, чи це вірш, чи проза, треба намагатися передати таким чином настрій вірша чи характер героя, відтворити яскраву картину зображуваного! A bit challenging, isn’t it? Набагато легше у повсякденному спілкуванні. Інтонація може породжувати нові смисли, видозмінювати сприйняття. Дуже часто не самі слова,а власне інтонація, з якою вони були сказані, дратує, змушує капітулювати, причиняє біль.

І англійська мова не є винятком. Великий словниковий запас і навіть знання граматики не допоможе на всі 100%, якщо ви не зможете в мові розпізнати знайомі вам слова та конструкції. І дуже часто саме інтонація стає перешкодою на шляху до розуміння. Адже підвищуючи або знижуючи голос, говорячи то швидко, то повільніше, носії мови можуть змінювати здавалося б такі прості слова до абсолютного невпізнання. That’s why today we’ll have a look at INTONATION and its variations in connection with various grammatical structures.

In English, like in all languages, we use intonation for emphasis, to convey surprise or irony, to pose a question, etc. The term intonation refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch when we are speaking. As well as helping to determine meaning intonation gives us clues about the attitude of the speaker, or how he feels about what he is saying. We can see, for example, when someone is interested, bored, being kind or lying. The main difficulty for students with regard to intonation is that concentration on grammar and vocabulary often takes their attention away from this feature. Struggling to find the right words, we often interrupt the smooth movement of intonation.

Generally speaking, we can identify the following intonations:

Rising Intonation means the pitch of the voice increases over time [↗];

Falling Intonation means that the pitch decreases with time [↘];

Dipping Intonation falls and then rises [↘↗];

Peaking Intonation rises and then falls [↗↘].

In the following dialog the intonation pattern is given + the stressed syllable is underlined. Please, read and listen to it:

A I ➘➚ Phillip's coming back on Wednesday. I
B \| ➚ Is he? That's ➘ great, I I haven't 'seen him for ➘ ages \|
A I ➘ No. \| I think the ➘ last time I was 'New ➘ Year. I ➚ wasn't it? \|
B \| ➘ Yes. it ➘ must have been I because we went to the ➘ fireworks on Hampstead ➘ Heath. I do you ➘ remember \|
A I Oh ➘ yes \| ➘ Anyway, he's got an ➘ interview \| for a ➘ job \| in the ➘ city. I
B \| ➘ Oh, \| so he's thinking of moving back to ➘ London? \|
A I He ➘ must be. \|
B \| That'd be ➘ great, \| wouldn't it? \|
A I ➘ Yes, \| we'll have to ➘ convince him to come ➘ back. I

There is some connection between intonation patterns and particular types of grammatical structure which can help you in making appropriate choices. Let’s have a look.

Statements

As a rule, statements (розповідні речення) have a falling Intonation. For example,

He lives in the house on the corner. [↘]

It’s over there. [↘]

Imperatives

Imperatives (наказові речення) have a falling Intonation as well.

Sit down.

Put it on the table.

Questions

Usually Yes/No questions have a rising intonation at the end of the sentence. This means that the speaker’s voice gets just a little higher as they finish the sentence. Below are some example sentences to practice:

Are you ready to go?

Could you please repeat that?

Is it cold today?

Am I interrupting?

Is it the blue one?

Have you got a pen?

Usually information questions (Wh-questions) have a rise/fall intonation at the end of the sentence. This means that the speaker's voice goes higher for a moment and then drops lower to end the sentence.

What’s your name?

What’s the name?

Where do you live?

As for tag questions (see another post - /blogs/post/201), it depends. Actually we can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of our voice. With rising intonation, it sounds like a real question. But if our intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn't require a real answer. For example, the questions below have a falling intonation, because we don’t really need the answers to them, we already know them, and just want to confirm the information:

You’re French, aren’t you?

He is tall, isn’t he?

The next 2 tag questions have another purpose – to find out the answer, check whether we are right. In this case we are less certain, that’s why the intonation is rising:

You’re French, aren’t you?

Your train leaves at six, doesn’t it?

Lists of items

When we have to list (перерахувати) some items intonation goes the following way: rising, rising and finally falling. For example,

You need [↗] a pen, [↗] a pencil and [↘] some paper.

The stall sells [↗] ribbon, [↗] beads, [↗] elastic and [↘] buttons

It is clear that the list above doesn’t adequately cover the range of possible intonation choices available to speakers. However, it’s useful to know. It has been claimed be some that intonation is unteachable, because it’s rather automatic and subconscious. But if to think about it a lot of our language and speech production is considered to be automatic, but still we try to bring these mechanisms to the surface, study them. So why can’t we do the same for intonation as well?

Task

So now I offer you to take the first step. Listen to the record below and write down (below in the area for comments) the sentences you hear and next to them the type of intonation they have (a rising, falling or rise/fall intonation). Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. Look forward to reading your answers!

A I ➘➚ Phillip's coming back on Wednesday. I
B \| ➚ Is he? That's ➘ great, I I haven't 'seen him for ➘ ages \|
A I ➘ No. \| I think the ➘ last time I was 'New ➘ Year. I ➚ wasn't it? \|
B \| ➘ Yes. it ➘ must have been I because we went to the ➘ fireworks on Hampstead ➘ Heath. I do you ➘ remember \|
A I Oh ➘ yes \| ➘ Anyway, he's got an ➘ interview \| for a ➘ job \| in the ➘ city. I
B \| ➘ Oh, \| so he's thinking of moving back to ➘ London? \|
A I He ➘ must be. \|
B \| That'd be ➘ great, \| wouldn't it? \|
A I ➘ Yes, \| we'll have to ➘ convince him to come ➘ back. I

Англійська граматика: Grammar and Intonation