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what rules are there about intonation in clause? what rules are there about intonation in clause? when a falling tone or a rising tone is used?
Feb 19, 2020 5:53 AM
Answers · 5
1
I'll describe the intonation patterns that we use in the US for speaking with neutral emotion, neutral attitude, and with neutral emphasis. I believe that most regional varieties of English generally use similar intonation patterns when speaking in this manner. At the end of the clause there are 3 possible intonation patterns: 1. Level/even intonation: we typically use this intonation when the clause is NOT the last clause of the sentence. Level/even intonation indicates that the sentence will continue with another clause. 2. Rising intonation: we typically use this intonation at the end of a yes-no question; that is, a question where the speaker wants an answer, and expects that the answer is either "yes" or "no". For example, "Are you going to the store?" is a yes-no answer, and usually we use rising intonation on the word "store". 3. Falling intonation: we use this intonation at the end of statements, such as "Yesterday I went to the store.", and we also use it at the end an information question; that is, a question where the speaker wants an answer, and expect that the answer will be information that answers a question word such as "who", "what", "when", "where", "why", "how" or "how much". For example, the question "What is your name?" is an information question, and the expect answer is a person's name. Speech that is NOT neutral in emotion or in attitude or that has some type of emphasis uses different intonation patterns. However, speakers of different regional varieties of English often use different intonation patterns when speaking in this way.
February 19, 2020
Well, very briefly, we usually use a rising tone before a comma, and a falling tone before a period. In yes-no questions, we use a rising tone. Additional intonation patterns are used to express surprise, sarcasm, warmth, etc. This stuff actually takes several lessons to teach well. It’s important to know what syllables get the intonation and how to time it right (so it doesn't sound like Chinese-style lexical tone). By the way, what kind of clause did you have in mind?
February 19, 2020
Movend comment to answer.
February 19, 2020
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