English Pronunciation (6)

Intonation

Sheet music

English is a singing language.

In every language, your voice goes up and down when you talk, just as it does when you sing.

English goes up and down more than most.
It's important. If you don't do this, people will think you are sad, bored or angry.

In this lesson, we're going to exaggerate a bit...

 

Intonation for emotion

Let's look at a three-word sentence.

Can you say "It's raining" or "It is raining":

  • ...so that you sound surprised?
  • ...so that you sound unhappy or depressed?
  • ...so that you sound angry? (imagine that you just painted your boat)
  • ...so that you sound really happy and joyful? (imagine you're in a forest fire, and the rain has come)
  • ...so that you sound satisfied and relieved? (imagine you're a farmer and it was a very dry summer)
  • ...as if somebody just told you it won't rain today, but it IS raining!!!
  • ...just to have something to say (you're not surprised or happy or unhappy about it).
  • ...as a question (ask "Is it raining?")

 

Seven ways to say “Hello”:

There was an English actor called Terry-Thomas, a British national treasure of the 1960s, who was famous for the way he said “Hello”, especially when he saw a pretty girl. Let’s see if you can do as well:

First, let's try a Terry-Thomas special: "Hello, hello!"
Now a hello to your best friend, who you saw yesterday: "Hello."
To your best friend, who you haven't seen for months: "Hello."
To a friendly cat or dog in the street: "Hello."
To a 6-month-old baby: "Hello."
To a city bus driver when you buy your ticket. (He's a busy many, he sees 3,500 passengers every day, and he doesn't have time to be friends with them.) "Hello, town centre please."
To a shop assistant. You’re really in a hurry, but you want to be polite. "Hello, I wonder if you can help me."

Six ways to say “Really”:

Your best friend tells you (s)he is going to get married. You are amazed. "Really?"
Sara tells John that she has secretly loved him for years.
He secretly loved her for years but was too shy to tell her.
He says:
And Sara says:


"Really?"
"Really."
A nice person from Bhutan tells you the Bhutan national football team will probably win the next World Cup. You say: "Really?"
A stranger asks you for £20 to buy a sandwich. He says a criminal took all his money. He has a bottle of whisky in one hand and half a statue of Napoleon in the other. You say: "Really?"
At the railway station, a stranger tells you your train leaves in 1 minute but from a different part of the railway station: "Really?"

 

Four ways to say “I never listen to music”:

You're thinking: And you say:
(I’m just not very interested in music.) "I never listen to music."
(I love music but I never have time.) "I never listen to music."
(I’m an extraordinary person. I don't just listen
to music like ordinary people. Music is my life,
my passion. I live it, I breathe it, I absorb it.)
"I never listen to music."
(I’m extremely busy and important, and I have
no time to waste on silly things like music.)
"I never listen to music."

 

Intonation for questions

There are rules about intonation in questions:

When you ask a closed question (with a yes or no answer), your voice goes up at the end:
"Do you want to sit down?"

Arrow going up

When you ask an open question, your voice goes down at the end:
"Where do you want to sit?"

Arrow going down

Now you try:

  • Can I get you a coffee?
  • Do you want sugar with that?
  • Where did you go at the weekend?
  • Who did you see at the party?
  • NOTE: If we say “please” at the end of an open question, our voice may go up or down for the “please”. It depends if we are speaking brightly or flatly. See below.

     

    Intonation for imperatives

    If I say “Stop!” it’s an instruction, or we could call it an order or a command.
    In grammar, it’s the imperative of the verb.

    If I want to sound strong and dominant, I make my voice go up and down less, and I make it go down at the end. “Come in, John. Could you close the door, please. Sit down. Now, I understand that you have been late for morning lessons every day this week. Why is that?” This is talking flatly.

    Apparently it’s part of Neuro-Linguistic Programming™ to practice giving orders by talking to a chair, not to a person. You take a chair, you put it in a corner of the room, and you give it orders (“Sit down. Stand up. Move over there.”) until you can do it to people without sounding embarrassed.

    If your boss has NLP™ training, it's probably time to get a new job with a different boss. However, just for fun, we'll try it in class:

  • Stop right there.
  • Turn around slowly.
  • Put the gun down.
  • Put your hands up.
  • Walk over to the corner.
  • Turn the light on.
  • Turn to face me.
  • What are you doing here?

    The opposite of talking flatly is talking brightly; teachers in primary school sometimes do this when things are going wrong in the classroom. Try this (imagine you are teaching a class of 5-year-old children, and you are not having a good day):
    Good morning, class!
    John, could you put down those scissors, please!
    Now, Mary, I don’t think Simon really wants to have glue in his hair, does he!
    Tom, you can look for your apple afterwards.
    Now, Jenny, I’m sure Sara didn’t mean to break your ruler.
    All right, everybody sit down!
    This is Mr Smith! He's going to talk to us about safety in school!

     

    Intonation for uncertainty

    And I’m not sure what we call the intonation we use for an idea that the other person may not like. Perhaps the right word is hesitant:

  • I’ve decided to start dance lessons next month. Er... the teacher said it should be four nights a week. I said I’d talk it over with you?
  • Mum, Dad, I’m not happy working as a doctor. I'm ... er ... thinking about becoming an ... er ... opera singer.
  •