2.3.2 The Glide-Up

The Glide-Up is just like the Glide-Down except that it ends with a rise in the voice instead of a fall. Both important and unimportant words before the rise are treated exactly as in the Glide-Down: unstressed syllables at the beginning are low, and there is a step at the stressed syllable of each important word.

B ut is it true that you are changing your job?

The stressed syllable of the last important word is low and the voice rises from a low pitch to one just above the middle of the voice. When there are any unstressed syllables following it, then again the stressed syllable of the last important word is low and the voice jumps up to the unstressed syllable. And each following unstressed syllable is a little higher, the last one of all being on a fairly high note.

Are you there? But have you posted it?

There may be stressed words within the rise, but they are not felt to be important and they behave just like unstressed syllables.

Forty of them were there.

In the simpler intonation marking, we use ( ) before the stressed syllable of the last important word to show where the rise starts. And we use ( ) before any stressed syllables within the rise. The other marks are the same as for the Glide-Down.

2.3.3 The Take-Off

This tune also ends with a rise in the voice, like the Glide-Up, but any words and syllables before the rise are low.

I was only trying to help.

We call this tune the Take-Off because, like an aeroplane taking off, it starts by running along at a low level and finally rises into the air.

The rise, as in the Glide-Up, either takes place on one syllable or it is spread over several syllables.

Before the rise any stressed word is felt to be important, even though there is no change of pitch. All the syllables before the rise are said on the same low pitch as the beginning of the rise; they must not be higher than this, or you will have a Glide-Up instead of a Take-Off.

In the simpler intonation marking the rise has the same mark as before ( ), stressed syllables after this have ( ), and stressed syllables before it have ( ).

2.3.4 The Dive

In its shortest form this tune consists of a fall rather high to low and then a rise to about the middle of the voice.

Five. Why?

This fall-rise is connected with the stressed syllable of the last important word, like the fall and the rise of the other tunes. But it is only completed on one syllable if that syllable is final in the word group:

She was quite kind.

If there is one or several syllables following, the fall and the rise are separated. The fall is on the stressed syllable of the last important word and the rise is on the last syllable of all. This variant of the fall-rise is called Fall-Rise Undivided and we put ( ) before it in simpler intonation marking.

Twenty. Twenty of them.

If there are stressed (but not important) words following the fall, the rise at the end starts from the last of the stressed syllables. This variant is called Fall-Rise Divided and we mark the fall with ( ) and we put ( ) before the last stressed syllable of all; any other stressed syllables have ( ) before them.

That wasn’t very friendly.

Other intonation marks are the same as for the Glide-Down and Glide-Up.

Words or syllables before the fall are said in the same way as for the Glide-Down and Glide-Up: unstressed syllables at the beginning are low, and there is a step at the stressed syllable of each important word. Notice that the fall of the fall-rise always starts from a fairly high note.

I may be able to come on Monday.