Pitch and patterns
What is intonation?
The rise and fall of the voice in speech, the melody of speech. Intonation is variation in pitch.
Falling or rising? Where are you from?
Falling ↘. It is a wh-question.
What is a tag question?
A short question added to a statement, such as isn't it? or have you?
In which syllables can a tone glide occur?
Only in stressed syllables.
Transcribe book.
/bʊk/
A pupil's voice goes up and down on every syllable. What should the pupil do?
Stay level between the stresses and keep the glide for the last stressed syllable.
In an intonation diagram, what do a short line, a dot and a slanted line stand for?
A short line is a stressed syllable, a dot an unstressed syllable, and a slanted line a tone glide.
Falling or rising? Are you ready?
Rising ↗. It is a yes/no question.
Add a tag. It's a lovely day, ...
isn't it ↘? A positive statement takes a negative tag.
Where is the glide in a neutral clause? Give an example.
On the stressed syllable of the last content word, as in She's studying medicine in LONdon.
Which word is /ʃʊd/?
should
Suggest a quick way to show pupils whether the voice falls or rises.
Move the hand down for a fall and up for a rise, or let the pupils show arrow cards.
In RP, where does the voice start, and what happens until the last stressed syllable?
It starts high on the first stressed syllable. It then stays level, or steps down slightly, until the glide on the last stressed syllable.
Mark the tones. Would you like tea or coffee?
tea ↗, coffee ↘. In a question with alternatives, the first rises and the last falls.
It's hot today, isn't it ↘? What does the falling tag mean?
The speaker expects the listener to agree and asks for confirmation.
Where is the glide in Can you give it to me? Why?
On give. It, to and me are function words.
What does one sound, one symbol mean? Give an example.
Each sound is written with one symbol, whatever the spelling. For example three /θriː/ and ship /ʃɪp/.
A pupil says Thank you! with a rise to a shop assistant who has helped a lot. What would you point out?
A falling Thank you ↘ sounds grateful. The rise sounds less polite.
How does GA differ from RP before the final glide?
GA stays low and level until the last stressed syllable. There is no rise before the final stress.
Mark the tones. If you know the answer, raise your hand.
answer ↗, hand ↘. An adverbial clause before the main clause rises, and the command falls.
I'm not sure. The meeting starts at two, doesn't it? Falling or rising tag? Why?
Rising ↗. The speaker is not sure and asks for information.
Is Anna driving to Bergen? Answer with Anna is driving to Oslo. Where is the glide?
No, Anna is driving to OSlo. The glide moves to the word that corrects the question.
Transcribe jumped. Why does it end in /t/?
/dʒʌmpt/. The ending -ed is pronounced /t/ after a voiceless sound.
A pupil reads English with a very flat voice. Suggest an activity.
Exaggerate the pitch range first, for example by humming the melody or reading a dialogue in single words (Bear! Bear?), then make it natural.
Name the two main intonation difficulties for Swedish learners.
Using too narrow a pitch range (in RP), and not staying level between the stresses, going up and down on unstressed syllables.
Which is more polite, Sit down, please ↗! or Sit down, please ↘!? Why?
The rising please ↗ is polite. A falling please sounds less polite.
Add a tag and give its tone. You haven't seen my keys, ...
have you ↗? A negative statement takes a positive tag, and the rise shows that the speaker asks for information.
My wife IS a doctor, I swear! What happens to is, and to the rest of the sentence?
Is takes the glide and its strong form /ɪz/. The syllables after the glide stay low and level.
Transcribe photography and mark the stress.
/fəˈtɒɡrəfi/ in RP and /fəˈtɑːɡrəfi/ in GA. The stress is on the second syllable.
Describe a listening activity for falling and rising tones.
Test the teacher. The teacher reads one of two versions, such as Is it red ↗ or blue ↘? and Is it red or blue ↗?, and the pupils say which one they heard. Or the pupils show ↘ or ↗ cards for each sentence.