Class I (fono)

Intonation Overview

• Intonation is the linguistically significant pattern of pitch variations in a stretch of speech.
• Pitch is an auditory sensation that allows us to place the voice along a range from low to high.
• A continuous movement in pitch from one level to another is called a tone.
• Utterances are divided into tone units, also known as tonality.

Intonation - Pitch

• Pitch is related to the physical phenomenon of the rate of vocal fold vibration.
• Faster vibration leads to a higher pitch, and vice versa.
• Pitch is essential for understanding intonation patterns.

Intonation - Pitch Range

• Human voice has a range of highest and lowest pitches.
• The pitch range includes high, mid and low.

Intonation - Tone

• A continuous movement of pitch from one level to another constitutes a tone.
• Tone variations are graphically depicted using upward and downward sloping lines within the pitch range.

Intonation - Tones

• Specific tone types (e.g., low fall, high fall, low rise, high rise, fall-rise, rise-fall, mid-level) combine to convey nuanced meanings.
• These tones are often shown alongside words to illustrate how the pitch changes might alter the meaning.

Intonation - Tonality

• Utterances are divided into smaller units called tone units, intonation phrases, or intonation groups.
• Tone units are separated by single vertical lines (|).
• Double vertical lines (||) indicate pauses.
• Examples were given, showing how these units are split apart.

Intonation - Tonicity

• The syllable carrying the tone in a tone unit is called the tonic syllable or nucleus (TS).
• The TS is the essential part–there is always one.
• Syllables carrying the tone in a tone group can usually be high or low.
• Other accented syllables before the tonic syllable are marked with ', or ° .
• The tonal movement often continues through the tail, any syllables following the TS (whether accented or not) which continues previous tonal patterns for better comprehension.

Intonation - Structure

• The head consists of accented syllables from the first accented syllable to the tonic syllable.

• The pre-head encompasses any unaccented syllables preceding the head.

• The tail comprises the syllables after the tonic syllable, with the pitch movement continuing.

• Examples show how tonic syllables are represented with graphical symbols and how they are marked in the overall structure of tonality in pronunciation analysis.

Recap

• Intonation is a pattern of pitch variations conveying meaning in speech.
• Pitch is an auditory sense of the rate of vocal fold vibration.
• Tones are continuous pitch movements within the range.
• Utterances are separated into tone units.
• The tonic syllable carries the tone, and understanding its placement is essential.

Next steps

• Students should review the use of intonation functions.
• Understand the meaning of the tones presented.
• Practice reading examples from the PPT.