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Intonation refers to the way the voice goes up and down in pitch, which is a foundamental part of the way expressing thoughts and attitude (Kelly, 2000:86) Intonation is closely connected with stress; it is said to be the music of speech (Harmer, 1983:11). Speaking English without intonation could be dull, monotonous and disfriendly. Thus intonation should be included in English pronunciation teaching, which will help learners toward better expressiveness. However, intonation is still a controversial matter whether it can be taught or not and the intonation itself is indeed nebulous and complex. In this article, the author will just focus on intonation teaching from itsattitudinal function and discourse function.
Intonation can indicate the speaker’s attitude, such as enthusiasm, happiness, surprise, regret and sarcasm. Speaking Engish without using appropriate intonation may cause unintentionally offence. For example, a learner wants to express his gratitude, but he uses the intonation of expressing boredom, which may cause unintentionally offence to the listeners. Therefore, English learners need to learn how to use appropriate intonation to express attitude. However, the attitudinal function of intonation is a complex matter. It is very difficult to associate forms of intonation with emotions and attitudes. There are a few generalisations about the attitudinal functions of some components of intonation(Roach, 2002: 188-189):
(1)A fall tone, using the symbol‘↘ ’placed before the relevant syllables, conveys a sense of finality and definiteness;
(2)A fall tone, using the symbol‘ ’conveys a sense of encouragement and ‘more to follow’;
(3)A fall-rise tone, using the symbol‘↘↗’often conveys uncertainty and doubt, appealing the listener to request;
(4)A rise-fall tone, using the symbol‘↗↘’often conveys a sense of strong agreement, disagreement, surprise or being impressed.
The teacher can introduce these generalisations to students, and then provides some activities for students to pracitse how to use them. There is one activity. The teacher can write a sentence ‘Do you know that Mary has been to Beijing?’ on the blackboard and asks students to think about different ways they say ‘yes’. The teacher can elicit some examples, such as //↘Yes// and //↘↗Yes// and then gives students a short time to discuss with their parterners to think about other examples. After discussion, the teacher writes students’ answer on the blackboard: //↘Yes//
//↘↗Yes//
//↗Yes//
//↗↘Yes//
Then the students are required to think about what these mean. The teacher can give his suggested answer: The first one //↘Yes// conveys a sense of certainty ; //↗Yes// gives an impression that the speaker wants the listerner to say more; //↗↘Yes// conveys a sense of strong aggreement, and //↘↗Yes// converys a sense of ‘agreement to a point’, which means ‘Yes, I agree, but…’
Another activity could be used is role-play. Students are devided into groups. One of them is playing ‘Mary’. The other students are given role cards. The role cards indicate their relation with Mary. For example:
(1)You have been quarrelled with Mary;
(2)Mary is wearing a beautiful clothes;
(3)You don’t like Mary and think she is a troublemaker;
(4)You are the first time to meet Marry. She is very gorgeous and you want to make friends with her.
Then the students who hold the role cards greet to the student who is playing ‘Mary’, and ‘Mary’ tries to work out the attitudes toward him by means of the way he is greeted.
As to the discourse function of intonation, Kelly (2000 : 101) points out the term ‘discourse’ refers to a stretch of meaningful language, the discourse function of intonation is to examine how the stresses we make, and the tone we employ when speaking, relate to the surrounding language. Fall and the fall-rise are the two most frequently used tones in English. The falling tone is called a proclaiming tone, while the fall-rise is a referring one ( Kelly cited it form David Brazil). A falling tone is used to indicate that the speaker is expressing information that is new and is adding something to the discussion, while a fall-rise tone is used to indicate that the speaker is referring to information that he presumes to be shared between the speakers. In questions, a fall-rise tone is used to make sure what we are saying is correct, or to check information (Kelly,2000:101). To make students understand this point, the teacher can read a sentence out in two different intonations.
//↘ WHAT time does your TRAIN leave//
//↘↗ WHAT time does your TRAIN leave//
Then the students are required to analyse how these two different intonations affect the meaning of this sentence. After discussion, the teacher gives his suggested answer, a falling tone inticates a new piece of information, while a fall-rise tone indicates this is a shared information for the speaker and listener. There are many examples can be shown to students.
References
Roach, P. (2002). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J (1983). The practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman
Kelly, G. (2000). How toTeach Pronunciation. Essex: Longman.
Intonation can indicate the speaker’s attitude, such as enthusiasm, happiness, surprise, regret and sarcasm. Speaking Engish without using appropriate intonation may cause unintentionally offence. For example, a learner wants to express his gratitude, but he uses the intonation of expressing boredom, which may cause unintentionally offence to the listeners. Therefore, English learners need to learn how to use appropriate intonation to express attitude. However, the attitudinal function of intonation is a complex matter. It is very difficult to associate forms of intonation with emotions and attitudes. There are a few generalisations about the attitudinal functions of some components of intonation(Roach, 2002: 188-189):
(1)A fall tone, using the symbol‘↘ ’placed before the relevant syllables, conveys a sense of finality and definiteness;
(2)A fall tone, using the symbol‘ ’conveys a sense of encouragement and ‘more to follow’;
(3)A fall-rise tone, using the symbol‘↘↗’often conveys uncertainty and doubt, appealing the listener to request;
(4)A rise-fall tone, using the symbol‘↗↘’often conveys a sense of strong agreement, disagreement, surprise or being impressed.
The teacher can introduce these generalisations to students, and then provides some activities for students to pracitse how to use them. There is one activity. The teacher can write a sentence ‘Do you know that Mary has been to Beijing?’ on the blackboard and asks students to think about different ways they say ‘yes’. The teacher can elicit some examples, such as //↘Yes// and //↘↗Yes// and then gives students a short time to discuss with their parterners to think about other examples. After discussion, the teacher writes students’ answer on the blackboard: //↘Yes//
//↘↗Yes//
//↗Yes//
//↗↘Yes//
Then the students are required to think about what these mean. The teacher can give his suggested answer: The first one //↘Yes// conveys a sense of certainty ; //↗Yes// gives an impression that the speaker wants the listerner to say more; //↗↘Yes// conveys a sense of strong aggreement, and //↘↗Yes// converys a sense of ‘agreement to a point’, which means ‘Yes, I agree, but…’
Another activity could be used is role-play. Students are devided into groups. One of them is playing ‘Mary’. The other students are given role cards. The role cards indicate their relation with Mary. For example:
(1)You have been quarrelled with Mary;
(2)Mary is wearing a beautiful clothes;
(3)You don’t like Mary and think she is a troublemaker;
(4)You are the first time to meet Marry. She is very gorgeous and you want to make friends with her.
Then the students who hold the role cards greet to the student who is playing ‘Mary’, and ‘Mary’ tries to work out the attitudes toward him by means of the way he is greeted.
As to the discourse function of intonation, Kelly (2000 : 101) points out the term ‘discourse’ refers to a stretch of meaningful language, the discourse function of intonation is to examine how the stresses we make, and the tone we employ when speaking, relate to the surrounding language. Fall and the fall-rise are the two most frequently used tones in English. The falling tone is called a proclaiming tone, while the fall-rise is a referring one ( Kelly cited it form David Brazil). A falling tone is used to indicate that the speaker is expressing information that is new and is adding something to the discussion, while a fall-rise tone is used to indicate that the speaker is referring to information that he presumes to be shared between the speakers. In questions, a fall-rise tone is used to make sure what we are saying is correct, or to check information (Kelly,2000:101). To make students understand this point, the teacher can read a sentence out in two different intonations.
//↘ WHAT time does your TRAIN leave//
//↘↗ WHAT time does your TRAIN leave//
Then the students are required to analyse how these two different intonations affect the meaning of this sentence. After discussion, the teacher gives his suggested answer, a falling tone inticates a new piece of information, while a fall-rise tone indicates this is a shared information for the speaker and listener. There are many examples can be shown to students.
References
Roach, P. (2002). English Phonetics and Phonology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Harmer, J (1983). The practice of English Language Teaching. London: Longman
Kelly, G. (2000). How toTeach Pronunciation. Essex: Longman.