To help you improve your American English Pronunciation, it’s not just all about the sounds. Accent training also includes the melody of speech or Intonation. This is the rising and falling pattern of the sentence. Think of a sentence as a line from a song. We don’t understand what a song means by reading the words alone. The meaning is also carried by the melody –the rise and fall of the notes by which the lyrics are sung and by the rhythm.
Many second language speakers have difficulty in producing the American English falling and rising pitches. So how do we add melody to the words in a sentence?
To stress a word, we apply a higher pitch, louder volume and stretch the vowel slightly. “I don’t Know”
So…which words should I stress? Stress the last important word in a sentence. These words are nouns, verbs, adjectives and adverbs. For example: “I need to thank him.”; “You could tell that he was angry.”
We also stress words in order to emphasize what we’re saying. The meaning of the sentence will change depending on which word we emphasize. Putting stress on certain words will convey emotions, so it’s important to get it right. When we change an inflection, we change the whole meaning of the sentence. I want to remind you at this point that friendly and polite intonation also requires appropriate facial expressions such as a smile and eye contact.
When you are speaking English the words you stress can change the underlying meaning of a sentence. Let’s take a look at the following sentence:
This simple sentence: “I don’t think we should cancel the meeting.” can have many levels of meaning based on the word you stress. Consider the meaning of the following sentences with the stressed word in bold. Read each sentence aloud and give a strong stress to the word in bold:
I don’t think we should cancel the meeting. (Meaning: Somebody else thinks we should cancel the meeting.)
I don’t think he should cancel the meeting.(Meaning: It’s not true that I think we should cancel the meeting.)
I don’t think we should cancel the meeting.(Meaning: That’s not really what I mean. OR I’m not sure that we should cancel the meeting.)
I don’t think we should cancel the meeting.(Meaning: Somebody else should cancel the meeting.
I don’t think we should cancel the meeting. (Meaning: In my opinion it’s wrong that the meeting gets canceled.)
I don’t think we should cancel the meeting.(Meaning: WE should do something else, perhaps reschedule.)
I don’t think we should cancel the meeting. (Meaning: Maybe we should do something else instead.)
As you can see, there are many different ways this sentence can be understood. The important point to remember is that the true meaning of the sentence is also expressed through the stressed word or words.
In general, declarative sentences that end with a period, are said with a falling inflection. These sentences indicate a separate thought, complete messages and declarative. Here are some examples:
“Someone took my parking space.”
“We’re having a meeting at 2:00.”
If you end a sentence with your voice going up at the end, it will make you sound unsure of yourself and does not encourage confidence.
Another basic rule is that “wh” questions such as: what when, where, why, and who also have a falling pitch contour. This kind of question is more a declarative message than a question. For example, “who is coming?”
Questions that require a yes/no answer have a rising inflection. This is the only time your voice goes up at the end of a sentence. Make sure that you get a good gliding pitch upward on the last word of each sentence. For example: “Did they stop?” (yes/no)
In order to have clear speech, it’s not just about pronouncing certain sounds correctly, it’s also about intonation.
By Ela Britchkow, Speech and Language Pathologist
©2016 Ela Britchkow
