English intonation with systematic exercises harold e palmer

TheHigh-Rising,which maybemarked byplacing the sign[/] immediately before the nucleus syllable.. TheLow-Rising,which maybemarked byplacingthe sign [_«] immediately before the nucleus syl

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English intonation witli systematic exerc

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ENGLISH INTONATION WITH

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON,KENT AND CO., LTD.

First Edition 1922

ENGLISH INTONATION

WITH SYSTEMATIC EXERCISES

BY

Harold E Palmer

Linguistic Adviser to the Japanese Department of Education.

Authorof *'A GrammarofSpoken English," etc., etc.

"C'est le ton qui fait la chanson."

CAMBRIDGE

W HEFFER & SONS LTD.

1924

MY FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE

H. O COLEMAN,

I'JP

The object of this book is fourfold:

1. To place on record a characteristic collection of the tones and

people in ordinary conversation

2. To suggest a scheme of classification and terminology by which

these tones and tone-compounds may be divided into classes according

to their degree of resemblance or difference

3. To formulate in a series of laws or rules the facts which have sofarbeen discoveredconcerningthe relationbetween tones andmeanings

4. To set forth a simple yet adequate system of tonetic notation,

inorder thattonetic textsmaybeproducedinexpensivelyand abundantly

fortheuse of teachersand students

The general utility of the book can be gathered by reference to thefour objects for which it has been composed I have more especiallydesigned it for the use of foreign students of spoken English No one

whowishestouse theEngUshlanguageinthemannerofEnglish speakers

opinion of mine, but I am convinced that the twothings, pronunciation

and intonation, areso bound upwith each other thatit isfutile toteach

or to leamone without the other I base this opinion onpsychologicalgrounds Mimicry is the most potent factor in the study of foreignlanguages (whether spoken or written) The successful mastery of alanguagedepends on howsuccessfullythestudentcanimitatethemodels

Systematic exercises in pronunciation have the effect of causingstudents to observe the sounds of the language; similarly, systematicexercises in intonation have the effect of causing students to observe

vi PREFACE

This book should beof equal (or evengreater) service to teachers ofspoken EngUsh A teacher of pronunciation cannot do efficient work

ifhe is ignorant ofthe nature (nay, of the ver}'existence) ofthe sounds

of the language he is teaching; but to teach foreigners to pronounce

Andyet ateacherofintonationcannot doefficientworkifheisignorant

of the nature (nay, of the very existence) of the tones of the language

he is teaching

This book may be of interest to the Enghsh-speaking person whose

intonation differs from that here recorded, for it will enable him to

becomefamiliarwiththemainfeaturesofothertypes ofintonation thanhis own

The study of English intonation should be of great utility to theEnglish student of foreign languages, if only to put him on his guardagainstspeaking such languages with his native intonation The effect

of the French sentence, "Je neI'ai pas vu hier," intoned as the English

"I did not seehim yesterday," is as remarkable (not to say laughable)

as the converse effect.

Furthermore, the EngUsh student of Chinese and other languages"willfindhisworkgreatlyfacilitatedbyaconsciousknowledge

"tone-of hisown tones, forhewUlthereby be enabledto recognise, distinguish

and to reproduce tone-differences which elude the ear and the mimetic

capacities of one without such knowledge

A ready knowledge of the characteristic intonations of EngUsh,togetherwiththepossibility ofreadingandwriting tonetictranscriptions,

mustenormouslyfacilitate the work ofteachers andstudentsofdiction

By referring to the tonetic transcriptions in Part XII of this book,the readerwiUnoticethe easewithwhichone can readandwritesentencesintonedin a number ofvarious ways

The pronunciation used in these exercises is in general conformitywith that given in Professor Jones' EngUshPronouncingDictionary.Scope As I have alreadymentioned, I have confined my attention

tothestudyofthatsystemofintonationwhichisgenerally usedby most

England have taken

PREFACE vii

pioneers of tonetic research^; collected voluminious data of my own

and experimented forsome years with a view tomaking acontribution

to theliterature of the subject I have more especially endeavoured to.

set forth the basic principles of our tone-usage The conception ofNucleus, Head and Tail is my own; I have used this system in actualteaching, and the results seem to justify it. In the following pages I

describe themethod ofapproach by whichI haveobtainedtheseresults

The reader will find, graded and arranged in their order ofimportance,the fourgroups oftoneswhich seem tostand out distinctlyboth inform and in function

Asthesubjectisonewhichislikely tobeunfamiliar to themajorityof

my readers, I have endeavoured above all to express myself in a clear

and simple manner, introducing each element and aspect of the subject

in the most appropriate place, and proceeding from the simple and

explain a given phenomenon categorically, I do so tentatively In theabsence of a special semantic terminology expressing what are even

desig-nating some of the tone-functions in a circumlocutory manner No

adequate terms exist (so far asI can ascertain) to express, for instance,the great significative differences between

(i) I can see him

(2) I can see him

(3) I can see him

International Phonetic Association); Professor Daniel Jones (Outline of EnglishPhonetics—Teubner; alsoIntonation Curves—Teubner) and,in certain aspects, to

strongly as we realize them and invariably observe them in actualconversation, we feel that no existing semantic terms are adequate todescribethem Andthisisonlyonecaseoutofmany.^ InsomecasesIsuggest appropriate terms, but suggest them with diffidence, being onlytoo wellaware thatsuch termsmay not evokein the reader's mind theparticular significance which I wish them to convey.

WhatI dowishtoemphasize,however,isthefactthatweallnizeimmediatelyandwithoutefforteachofthe attitudes associatedwiththe tones; weuse them and respondto them,we express or conceal ourthoughts by choosing the tone or tone-compound most Ukely to serve

recog-otir purpose And aU this we do with such complete unconsciousnessthat most of usare ready to assert either thatwe have no tone-system

inEnglish,orthatwe have tonesbutnosystem, or thatour tone-system

is so elementary that no dif&culty can possibly be experienced by any

foreignstudentin "pickingit up."

The contents of this book may convince those who are not alreadyconvincedthatwe haveinEnglishamostremarkableseriesof significativetones, that it constitutes a distinct and coherent system, and that its

reproduce what they hear Thislast considerationis thechief function

of these Systematic Exercises in English Intonation

•See the alternatives and variants given in the pages devoted to tonetic

A Few Hints for Teachers and Students

SECTION II. First Definitions

SECTION III The "Nucleus"

Intensified Tone-GroupI. InferiorHead [—

'\] 30-33

Intensified Tone-Group i. SuperiorHead [ '\] 38-41

TABLE OF CONTENTS xi

EXERCISES PAGE

SECTION Vni Five-Syllable Exercises on the Tone-Groups,

with the Nuclei in Varying Positions 65

SECTION X The Semantic Functions of the Tone-Groups 72

xii TABLE OF CONTENTS

xiv PHONETIC SYMBOLS.

['] indicatesthat thevowelby whichit isprecededmaybelong, long orshort

half-Phonetic symbolsprinted initalicsrepresentsoundswhich are timesinserted andsometimes omitted

some-For further details concerning the phonetic notation see ProfessorJones' Pronouncing Dictionary, his Outline ofEnglish Phonetics, or my

First Course ofEnglish Phonetics

The symbolsrelatingto toneticswill eachbe explained in the course

Section I Introduction

Ifanyonewrotethe followingsentencein alettertoyou:

"He doesn't lendhis books to anybody,"

"He lends his books to nobody."

"He is rather particular as to the persons he lends his booksto; he doesn't lend them to everybody."

The sentence beinga written one, you could onlyjudgefrom the context

Let us now imagine that the sentence is used by someone who is

talking tous In this casewe need no context to help us; thesentence

two meanings

Whatisthiselement? Itisnot adifferenceinthewords, forinbothcasesthewording would beidentical Itisnot a differenceinthestress

oremphasis, for in both cases thestress fallson the firstsyllable of the

word anybody But there is a difference, a difference perceptible to allwhosemother- tongueisEngHsh;it isadifferenceoftoneormusicalpitch

the emission of the following three syllables

In the second case the voice will probably risefrom a lower note to

a higher one during theemission ofthe firstsyllable, pitch thesyllablesnyboona very lownote, andconclude withthe syllabledy approximately

on thesamelevelasthebeginning ofthe word.^

however,thata Scottishspeakermayintone thewordinneitherofthesemanners

— or possibly — —

LowNote— > — — —

We see, then, that the meaning of a given word or sentence may

depend upontherelativepitchofthenoteornotesupon whichit issung

Here is a second example Let us take the sentence:

"Hedidn'tcome onaccountofthe rain."

Ifwesingthewordrainonafalling tone, thesentencemeans:

"It was on account of the rain thathe didn't come."

If we sing the word rain on the mid-high-low-mid combination oftones [%], -the sentence will mean:

"I say it's warm,"

withthewordsayonthefallingtone,weshouldinterprethissentence as

Intoned in a different way, the sentence would mean:

"Goodness gracious! Do you notice how warm it is?"Expressions such as "Good morning"or "Goodevening" aresungindifferentwaysaccording towhether theyareusedasagreeting tosomeone

we meet, or to someone we are leaving

Consider the different shades ofmeaning we maygive even to single

words such as "here" or "now" by singing them in different ways

With thefalling tone, "here" means "I you

INTRODUCTION 3

rising tone the same word means "Is this the place?" With the high-low-mid combination [%] the same word means "Not in the place

mid-youmention, but inthisplace."

Theywouldn'tgetfarif itdid(fallondi^ =Itwouldn'tmatter

Theywouldn'tgetfarif itdid(rise fall riseondid)=Itwouldhinderthem

The science which is concerned with the nature and meaning of thistone-play is called Intonation That part which is concerned chieflywith the tone-curves irrespective of their meanings has been calledTonetics}

notethatwhatPhonetics doesfor sp&Gch.-sounds,Toneticsdoesfortones

speech-In both cases the rational application of these sciences (or branches)

to language-teaching has, among others, the following effect: it makes

us conscious of what we already do unconsciously in ournative tongue;

it enablesustouseandtoquicken ourpowersofobservation, andaffords

us opportunities for systematic ear-training

We are no longer at the mercy of the "hit-or-miss" method; ourdesultory, haphazard andgenerallyunsuccessfulattemptsatreproducingforeign speech phenomena is replaced by progressive and systematicexercises based on positive data; we proceed by sure steps from the

known to theimknown The pathofthe studentis stillbesetwith

diffi-culties, butthereisatleastapathforhimtofoUow,amoreorlessclearlydefined track, whereas without such linguistic sciences there is no path

at all; the student has to grope his way across a treacherous ground

without guidesor indications ofany sort

Withthedevelopmentofthe scienceofintonation, the foreignstudent

and what steps he musttake in order to speak asthe English d6 The

'By Professor D M Beach, of the University of Peking, whose remarkablestudiesonChinese Intonation arelikely tohave important effects on the teaching

4 ENGLISH INTONATION

Englishstudent ofFrenchis told not onlywhat the Frenchtone-system

is, but (whatisperhapsmoreimportant) thathemustrefrainfromusinghisEnglishtone-systemwhenhe isspeaking French

The Englishstudent ofChinesewiUnot only be told inwhat respectChineseintonationdiffersfromEnglish, buthe will alsobeshown inwhat

ways he can utilize his English tone-habits as an aid to learning theChinese system Whether they like it or not, students of Chinese,Bantu, and other groups of languages must necessarily master thetone-systemsas anintegralpart ofthe vocabulary and grammarofsuchlanguages The science of intonation thus comes to supply a want

hithertobeen done on more or lessempiricallines.

What is often diagnosed as a foreign "pronunciation," or foreign

"accent," frequently turnsout tobe aforeignintonation Manyforeignspeakers of English may be faultless in their English sounds, and evenEnglishstress, but theyintone insuch a mannerthat weat oncedetectthat they are not English, and often we fail even to understand the

foreign students: "I quite understandyour sentence, as a sentence, but,excuse me, I cannot see what youwish to convey Was your sentence

anassertion,acomment,anexclamation,acontradiction,acorroboration,

or a question?"

OneoftheaimsofPhoneticsproperistocause ustospeakthe foreignlanguage in such a way as not to betray our nationality This is alsooneoftheaims ofTonetics Manycharacteristictones are asimportant

as or even more important than characteristic sounds If we say to avery young child, "Aren't you a nasty wretched little brat ! " in the

sameintonation as "Aren'tyoua dearpreciouslittle angel ! " theeffectproduced will be that of the latter sentence Observers have also fre-

quentlyremarked thatdogsandother animalsreact not so muchto thewordswe use but to the tones on which the words are pitched "C'est

INTRODUCTION 5

A FEW HINTS FOR TEACHERS AND STUDENTS.

having a good musical ear that the advantage is not so great as might

be supposed Sometimes, at the outset, some students experience a

called upon to drop the voice, they may often do just the contrary.This inability torecognize or toproduce a given tone isgenerally, ifnotalways, due tothe utter novelty ofthe exercise With alittlepractice,however, such difficulties are almost invariably overcome It must be

or language, no matter whether musically trained or not) are users oftones, and consequently already possess the elements of any intonationsystem AU they have to do is to perform wittingly and consciously

whattheyarealreadyinthehabitofdoing unwittinglyandunconsciously

The following device will prove of service in overcoming this initial

difficulty Let the student pressthe tip of his finger lightly but firmly

atapointjust above thecartilage oftheglottis (Adam'sapple);thenas

he sings on a rising or falling pitch he will actually feel this cartilagerising or falling accordingly

In some cases the student must be exercised in using familiar tones

in imfamiliar positions and circumstances Most Swedes, for instance,are unaccustomedto use a longlow-level succession at theend of asen-tence, just as most Serbians are unaccustomed to use a succession ofrisingtones at the endof asentence

Then the general procedure wUl be as follows: The teacher will

exercise He may dothisonceor several times Thestudentorstudents

win then imitate the teacher's performance Should they experience

any difficulty, the teacher may intone with exaggerated slowness ordegree of pitch Having successfully imitated the teacher, the student

6 ENGLISH INTONATION

Another typeof workwill consist oftonetic dictation The teacherarticulates one or more syllables and calls upon the students to write

downintonetics5rtnbolswhatthey think theyhaveheard Thesesyllables

maybe meaningless ("nonsensesyllables") ormaysimply berepetitions

of anyelementary sound or sound-compound, suchas [la:] or [ma:]

The more serious dif&ctiltyis the teaching of thesemantic values ofthe tone-groups The studentmay be able to imitate correctly, and toread correctly from his transcription, and yet be unable to use the ap-propriatetones inactual speech Thereisonlyone remedy,viz correctobservation and correct imitation The student must form the habit

ofnoticinghowpeople intone; andof imitatingthemmentally Oneofthe chiefobjects of thisbook ofexercisesisto teach thestudenthowto

how

Section II First Definitions

Various forms and shades of emphasis (such as word-prominence,

re-assurance, etc.) are expressed in Enghsh by the use of musical tones(i.e. by varjdng the pitch ofthe elements contained in the sentence)

consisting of special signs or symbols A text marked by such S37mbols is caUed a Tonetic Transcription The words contained in such

tone-a transcription may be written in phonetic characters, or when deemed more convenient, in traditional orthography

For the purpose of determining and classif5dng the phenomena

cormectedwith intonation, we must consider that English speech is cut

on either side of it, or two adjacent tone-groups may be separated by

the same sign

The nucleus corresponds to what is usually called sentence-stress

Section III The Nucleus

RULES.

In Southern English there arefoxu:characteristicNucleus Tones:—

1. TheFalling,which maybemarked byplacing the signs[>]or[>]

immediately before the nucleus syllable

2. TheHigh-Rising,which maybemarked byplacing the sign[/]

immediately before the nucleus syllable

3. TheFalling-Rising,which maybemarked byplacing the sign[V]

immediately before the nucleus syllable

4. TheLow-Rising,which maybemarked byplacingthe sign [_«]

immediately before the nucleus syllable

In consequence of this, there are four kinds of Tone-Groups:

The terms "Falling" and "Rising" are relative, not absolute; the

Range of a faUing or rising tone varies according to the degree of

ani-mationofthe speech The word"No"whenusedinangrycontradiction

maystartatthehighest,anddropdowntothe lowest pitchofthe speaker'svoice The same word used inlanguid assentmay drop not more than

a half-tone Similarly in a surprised or indignant query, the word

speaker'svoice, butwhenusedin different circumstances (i.e.to expresslanguidindifference) the word mayrisenot morethan ahalf-tone

Intensification

The FaUingNucleus Tone [>] or [>] is said tobe "intensified" when

the actual fall is preceded by a slight rise of pitch This intensifiedNucleus-Tonemaybe marked by the useofthe symbol ['\].

The Falling-Rising Nucleus tone [%], being aJmost invariably

cases inwhich thistone is not intensified, the symbol [ U] may be used

Section IV ''The Tail"

RULES.

Any syllable or syllables following the nucleus in the same

Tone-Group istermed the "Tail"of thegroup

The Tail-syllable or group of syllables following the Falling Nucleus(Tone-Group i) is pitched on the low level. This being an invariable

maybewritten

"Vai wontid ta si: im

this being equivalent to \

When the faUing nucleus-tone is followed by a tail, some speakersfrequently (orevenhabitually)replacethefalling-toneproperbyafailinginterval; theypitch the nucleus on a high tone and leave the fall to be

inferredbythefirstsyllable ofthelowtail, i.e.

* instead of "V

TheTail-syllableorgroupofsyllablesfollowing thetwoRisingNuclei(Tone-Groups 2 and4)participates intherise; inother terms, instead ofthe rise taking place in the nucleus-syllable itself, it is distributed overthe nucleus and tail. This being aninvariable rule, such taUsneed not

/wot did ju' sei? = •'

^9sei)k ju' =

The Tail-syllable or group of syllables following the Falling-RisingNucleus (Tone-Group 3) [1»] participates inthe Fall-Rise ofthe nucleus;

in other terms the curve of the nucleus is distributed over the nucleus

andtail. Thus:

"THE TAIL" IINote, however, that when the FalUng-Rising Nucleus consists of amonosyllabic word, thefall is not distributed over the tail, but merely

1*ai mait si: im = "% • and not •.•

These beinginvariablerules, suchtailsneed not bemarkedintonetictranscription

of the exercises based on Tone-Group

\msentjist3 "V or

>5aet s nou gud \ or

\iu: sei it V or

\hu: sed sou? "V or

Vniid ju' gou? \ or

Exercise 8. Falling Nucleus, 2-^yll. Tail, Non-intensified

\evribodi \ or

"VSaet s not Qa keis V or

\giv it tu im "V or

Exercise 9. Falling Nucleus Tail of4ortnore Syllables Non-intensified

\ai didnt teik it V or'

"V5set wountteikAp mAtJtaim 'V or'

>evribodi si:mz to 6igk sou \ or'

im

"THE TAIL' 13

Intensified Tone-Group 1 ['\].

Exercise 15 High-Rising Nucleus 2-syll. Tail.

/6is wAn iz.

/pos9bli

/did ju' gou?

Exercise 16 High-Rising Nucleus

/saevidsiz doiint

/trai if ju' laik.

/wot did ju' sei?

3-syW TaiZ

Exercise 17 High-Rising Nucleus Tail of 4 or more Syllables./A5az 3v dAn it.

/wi: neva sed it wud.

/msentjistar iznt on bs sau9 koust

i6 ENGLISH INTONATION

Tone-Group

Section V One-Syllable '' Heads '

RULES.

Any syllable or syllables preceding the nucleus in the same

A Head may be Inferior, Superior, Scandent, or Heterogeneous

AnInferiorhead is one the tones ofwhich areneverhigher in pitchthan theinitialpoint ofthe Nucleus-Tone

ai si: ai kaen ai mei gud bai

— \ _/ — % .

Before the fallingnucleus-tone (Tone-Group i) aone-syllable inferiorhead-tone is generally level,^ and starts on the mid or neutral pitch(about midway between the highest and lowest notes of the speaker'svoice).^

Aninferiorhead-tonebeforethefallingnucleus-tonemay,ifnecessary,

but suchinferior head-tonesmaybe leftunmarked:

Before the rising nucleus-tones (Tone-Groups 2 and 4), an inferior

headis alwayslevel, and starts onthelow tone (on the same pitch as

An inferior head-tonebefore the risingnucleus-tones maybe marked

by placing the sign [ ] immediately before the head element:

ai Aaen gud^bai

An inferior head-tone before the falling-rising nucleus tone

the sign [ ] immediately before the head element; but such inferiorhead-tones may be left unmarked:

ai T^mei = %

i8 ENGLISH INTONATION

' ASuperiorheadisonethe tonesofwhichare higherinpitchthanthe

wot fo:? nekst wi:k? not nau! gud bai

~\ — / ^ '\^ ~ ^

Before the falling andfalling-rising nucleus-tones (Tone-Groups i

and3),asuperiorheadislevel andispitchedon afairlyhightone

A superior head before the faUing and falling-rising nucleus-tonesis

^wot >fo:? not 'l>nau!

Beforetherisingnucleus-tones (Tone-Groups2and4),asuperiorhead

is level and may be of a mid- or of a high-pitch, according to thedegreeofintensity withwhich the tone groupisuttered

A superior head before the rising nucleus-tones may be marked by

placing the sign [—] immediately before thehead element Where

necessary, however, it may be marked by the sign [ ]:

—^nekst /wi:k? or ^nekst /wi:k?

— gud ^bai or gud Jbai

AScandentheadisonethe tonesofwhichriseor climbfromthe level to the highest pitch of the whole tone-group This highest point(whichmaybetermedthe " vertex")isthereforehigherinpitchthanthe

ai sei! wud ju:?! not nau! gud bai!

A scandenthead maybe marked by placing the sign[ ]immediatelybefore the head element:

ai "^sei! "^wud /ju:?! "^not T^nau! — gud ^bai.Note.—^The significative differencebetween asuperior anda scandentone-syllable head is not great The difference increases however pro-portionately to the lengthofthe head

A Heterogeneous head is a combination of any of the three foregoingtypes Thenatureoftheseheads explainedonpage

ONE-SYLLABLE "HEADS" J9

Exercises

Exercise 32 Falling Nucleus (Intensified),

ONE-SYLLABLE "HEADS" 21Exercise 34 Falling Nucleus, z-syll. Superior Head No Tail.

22 ENGLISH INTONATION

Exercise 38 Falling