Intonation: Unfinished Thoughts | Part 6

English Pronunciation Lesson

Series on Intonation in English

Part 1: Introduction to Intonation
Part 2: Completing a statement (“I got a dog.”)
Part 3: Asking a wh-question (“What is your dog’s name?”)
Part 4: Need clarification/repetition (“WHO got a dog?”)
Part 5: Expressing surprise (“Your dog speaks English?!”)
⇒ Part 6: Unfinished thought (“I want a dog, but…”)
Part 7: Making a list or in between thoughts (“My dog is smart, pretty and sweet.”)

Introduction

As was explained in the Introduction to Intonation lesson, the musical pattern of ups and downs in your speech–-in both the middle and end of your sentences–-is called intonation.

3 Intonation Patterns

In English, there are three intonation patterns:

1) Rise ↗︎

2) Full fall ↘︎

3) Partial fall ➘

These different musical patterns communicate different messages to your listener.

Example

Compare the two sentences below:

X: “My phone number is 555-1212.” ↘︎

Y: “My phone number is 212-555….” ➘

Did you hear the difference in the musical notes at the end of each sentence?

In English, the burden is on the speaker to be very clear. The listener should not need to work hard to understand the communication, which includes the emotion behind the words.

Therefore, the speaker’s voice should fully fall at the end of a thought group or sentence to tell the listener that he or she is finished with that statement.

Likewise, the speaker’s pitch will only partially fall at the end of a thought group to:

• give the listener’s brain time to “digest” the speech; and
• tell the listener that he or she is not finished speaking.

Example

(1) “I really want to improve my pronunciation.” ↘︎

(Notice how “want to” → “wanna“)

vs.

(2) “I really want to improve my pronunciation…” ➘

[…but I have to work on my grammar today].

Did you hear the very subtle difference in pitch at the end of the two sentences?

• In the second sentence, my pitch (the musical note) did not go all the way down, because I wanted you to know that I had more to say.

• In the first sentence, my pitch fully fell, which tells you that I am done with that sentence, and now, you can respond!

Notice that the pitch goes ① up on the focus word (“pronunciAtion”), which gets the most emphasis.

And then we go ② down on and after that same word to tell the listener that we are done with our thought group or sentence.

Listen and Repeat

Test yourself. Do I finish my sentence in the following examples? (Answers in the video).

1) “I’m traveling to New York today”

2) “I’m traveling to New York today”

[…then to California next week.]

3) “I would love to get a Masters degree in America, the UK, or Australia”

4) “We’ve been waiting for this moment for so long”

5) “They really shouldn’t have gone out without asking our permission first”

6) “My cell phone number is (212) 555-12”

(Notice how I pause between groups of numbers)

7) “You can text me and let me know where we’re meeting”

(Note that Americans say “text” instead of “SMS”)

Remember, native English speakers use the music of English to send a message to the listener.

Here, they use the partial fall to tell the listener that he or she is not finished speaking.

Series on Intonation in English

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