Direct Address

The intonation of direct address depends on its position in the sentence.

1. Direct address in sentence-initial position is always stressed, it makes up a separate sense-group. In formal speech it takes the LOW FALL, e.g. Gentlemen, take your seats.

In a friendly conversation the FALL-RISE is preferable, e. g. Mary, won’t you sit down?

2. Direct address in sentence-mid or sentence-final position does not make up a separate syntagm. It is pronounced as an unstressed or partially stressed tail of the preceding syntagm, e. g. Good night, Mary!

NOTE. Direct address after the low falling nucleus can make the LOW RISE without forming a separate syntagm. In this case it sounds informal, friendly, e. g. Good afternoon, Mary!

Parentheses

The intonation of a parenthesis depends on its position in the sentence.

1. Parentheses in sentence-initial position are usually stressed. They can form separate syntagms which mostly take the Low Fall or Low Rise, though the Fall-Rise is also possible.

NOTE. Parenthetical phrases that introduce object clauses such as, “I think”, “I suppose”, “I believe” do not form separate sense-groups.

2. Parentheses in sentence-mid or sentence-final position do not form separate syntagms. They are pronounced as an unstressed tail of the preceding stressed word, e. g. He is out, I’m afraid.

Author’s Words

The group of author’s words may stand at the beginning, in the middle or at the end of the sentence.

1. Author’s words in the sentence-initial position form a separate intonation-group.

1. Short phrases generally take the Low Level tone, Low Rise or Low Fall.

She said, 

She said,  “Sorry to have kept you waiting.”

She said ,

2. An extended group of author’s words usually takes the Low Level pre-terminal tones (the Low Level scale or head) followed by the Low Fall or Low Rise, e. g.

She said excitedly, 

“Sorry to have kept you waiting.” 

She said excitedly, 

2. Mid-sentence author’s words are usually pronounced as an unstressed tail of the preceding sense-group, thus breaking the sense-group into two syntagms.

“Sorry, - she said – to have kept you waiting.” 

3. Author’s words in the sentence-final position are also pronounced as an unstressed tail of the preceding sense-group, if they are unextended.

Extended group of sentence-final author’s words forms two or more syntagms. Some initial words of the group are said as an unstressed tail of the preceding syntagm, it repeats the intonation pattern of the first syntagm but on a narrowed range.

“Will you do me a favour”, she asked looking me straight in the eye. 

English Intonation. Its Components.

The sentence possesses definite phonetic features. Each feature performs a definite task, and all of them work simultaneously. Thus,

1. Sentences are usually separated from each other by pauses. If necessary, the sentence is subdivided into shorter word-groups according to sense; these are called sense-groups or syntagms.

2. The pitch of the voice doesn’t stay on the same level while the sentence is pronounced; it fluctuates, rising and falling on the vowels and voiced consonants. The fluctuation of the voice-pitch are called speech-melody.

3. The word that is most important for the meaning of the sentence, i. e. the word acting as its semantic centre, is made prominent by stress and a special moving tone.

4. Other words, also essential for the meaning, are stressed but the pitch of these words remains unchanged.

5. Form words, performing grammatical functions (such as articles, prepositions, auxiliary, modal, and link verbs) are usually left unstressed; they are mostly pronounced in their reduced (weak) forms.

6. Connected English speech comes as a series of closely-knit groups of words, each group containing only one stressed syllable. The stressed syllables occur at approximately equal intervals of time. This interrelationship of stress and time makes rhythm.

7. The rate of speech is not constant, but is made to suit the semantic weight of each sense-group of the utterance.

8. The timbre of the voice changes in accordance with the emotions experienced by the speaker.

All the phonetic features of the sentence enumerated above (speech melody, sentence-stress, tempo, rhythm, pauses and timbre) form a complex unity, called intonation.

The most important components of intonation from the linguistic point of view are speech melody, sentence-stress, and rhythm.