英语012.ppt

English Intonation –  its Structure the Use III. The use of English intonation The falling tone -- indicating `definiteness and `completeness. Types of sentences: Ordinary statements WH questions Imperative sentences (strong commands) Exclamatory sentences The rising tone - indicating `uncertainty, `incompleteness or `politeness. Types of sentences: Yes-no questions Statements intended as questions Statements intended to be soothing or encouraging Repetition questions The falling-rising tone - showing contrast, implication, disagree- ment, contradiction, or warning, etc. Types of sentences: Statements where contrast is implied Statements which imply reservation Statements which show disagreement or contradiction Warnings IV. The functions of English intonation 1. The accentual function of intonation 2. The grammatical function of intonation 3. The discourse function of intonation 4. The attitudinal function of intonation 1. The accentual function of intonation The placement of tonic stress is a function of intonation. The location of the tonic syllable is of considerable linguistic impor-tance. The most common position for this is on the last lexical word of the tone unit. For contrastive purpose, however, any word may become the tonic syllable. I arrived in London at last. I arrived in London at last. I arrived in London at last. 2. The grammatical function of intonation The following sentence is ambiguous when written and the ambiguity can only be removed by using differences of intonation: Those who sold ↘↗quickly made a ↘profit. (A profit was made by those who sold quickly.) Those who ↘↗sold quickly made a ↘profit. (A profit was quickly made by those who sold.) Another example is the use of a rising tone with a statement, i.e. the changing of a statement into a question simply by changing the