Intonation Study In English

[mark45y]

A senior in college, English major, today asked for my help in intonation.

The woman cannot hold a simple conversation in English. She can’t ask me where I live or tell me where the toilet is.

She gave me three type written pages of simple sentences and asked me what the intonation should be in each sentence.

A couple of sentences ended in questions so I guess you use a slight upwards tone, like “You do love me, don’t you?”

But I would still understand her perfectly well if she used no intonation at all and could correctly pronounce the words.

Why on earth would someone even bring up intonation as a main subject when the students can’t even pronounce basic vocabulary words.

I can see getting into intonation if one is working on a PhD in linguistics but for god’s sake with a Thai Uni student with a English kindergarten vocabulary what good is learning about intonation.

Is this general practice when teaching English to Thai's in University?

[BB1950]

She probably thought it was important since Thai is a tonal language. Probably thinks English is the same.

[toasted]

'You love me, don't you?'

The intonation could go down, not just up. It depends on what the speaker wants form the answer.

The best exercise I've seen for intonation practice involves saying a name, such as 'Peter', as if you were in a range of different situations. For example, Peter is at the end of the garden, but out of sight, and you want to call him in for dinner - how would you call his name? Peter is sulking under his bed and you want to coax him out - how would you say his name? Etc. ad infinitum.

Possible for a student with limited spoken ability but good comprehension.

[Scott]

If the student is having trouble learning the language, then she may be feeling insecure and want to be in her 'comfort' zone. Since our use of intonation occurs more in sentences than in words, you can use practice with sentences rather than words to teach her. She may feel more confident.

Then again a friend may have told her this is very important. I usually try to teach them what they want to know. (within reason).

[MrBrad]

As for final intonation in questions, only if the question can be answered "Yes" or "No" (or "Maybe" or similar) should the voice go up. Example: Do you like ice cream? So, questions beginning with: the verb BE (is am are was were), DO (does did), HAVE (has, had), CAN, COULD, WILL, WOULD, SHALL, SHOULD, MIGHT, MAY [am I forgetting some?]...all of these have a raised voice at the end.

An exception to this would be when we include the word "OR" in the question. Then it no longer is a Yes/No question, e.g., "Do you want chocolate or strawberry ice cream?"

Questions beginning the words WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, HOW, HOW MANY, HOW MUCH, WHO, WHICH and WHY are asked with the voice going down at the end of the question. This is so often misunderstood (incorrectly taught) in Thailand. I've never heard a native speaker of English raise his voice at the end on the (first) utterance of the question: "What time is it?" or "What's your name?" We do change inflection, however, if we have to repeat the question, or maybe are surprised by the answer, or such.

Maybe this will help.