Improving Intonation (Part 1)

A key pronunciation feature that helps you convey your thoughts and feelings with precision is intonation. In its simplest sense, intonation can be described as the melody of spoken language, i.e. the rise and fall in your voice when you speak. The focus here is on how we say things, not what we say.

It goes without saying that the concept of intonation is common to all languages; yet not many pay attention to this area while they speak, as they are so caught up in choosing the right words to express what they want to say. What they don’t realise is that intonation can be as important as word choice if not more.   

Why improve intonation

Here are a few good reasons why it is worthwhile to work on your intonation:

• Bettering your understanding of intonation helps you become a skilled communicator.
• Failing to use intonation could mean that listeners may soon lose interest in what you’re saying and switch off.
• Getting your intonation patterns wrong might give rise to misunderstandings, with listeners even taking offence.
• Not having enough awareness of intonation can impair your listening comprehension too, as you’re likely to misinterpret what others say.

Types of intonation

Here are some common intonation patterns found in English speech.  

1. Falling intonation
   In this type, you drop the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentence. This pattern is usually found in:

• statements
  E.g. I’m going for a stroll on the ➘ beach.

• commands
  E.g. Get your hands off my ➘ coat!

• wh-questions that seek information
  E.g. What’s your ➘ name?

• question tags that invite agreement
  E.g. It was such a lousy film, wasn’t ➘ it?

2. Rising intonation
In this type, you raise the pitch of your voice at the end of the sentence. This pattern is generally found in:

• yes/no questions
  E.g. Do you like my new ➚ dress?

• question tags that seek an answer
  E.g. You haven’t had a fight with Tom, ➚ have you?

We’ll be back with more in the next part. Meanwhile, think about whether your pitch goes up and down when you speak in English.