Intonation

[lelameolamimamen]

Does anyone know what types of intonation are there:
the TRAffic // got a bit EAsier
CAN we borrow your KEYS
even the BUS driver had gone
THANKS very much inDEED
LET me SEE
HAVE you EAten yet


WHO can tell me where are the tonic units ,the tonic syllables in these santences:
1. Think the map you’ve GOT// MUST be an OLD one
2. IS he THERE
3. It IS In PRINT ……
4. you’ll FIND THAT // on the SAME side of the ROAD
5. how MUCH is the TIcket
6. and opposite THERE// was the PHOtocopying room
7. ER// GOOD EVening// ER // good EVening to be one and All
8. and WILL that be the same PLATform
9. HAVE you been In Poland beFORE

 

[mandrews01]

Hi

I'd like to help you with your question, however, I want to make sure that I understand exactly what you are looking for first.

You asked:

Does anyone know what types of intonation are there:
the TRAffic // got a bit EAsier
CAN we borrow your KEYS
even the BUS driver had gone
THANKS very much inDEED
LET me SEE
HAVE you EAten yet


Some of the above sentences have words underlined and others have certain letters capitalised. I assume you wish to find out 2 things: 1) where in those phrases the word stress is and 2) where the sentence stress is (ie. which word is intonated the most). Here are the answers:

the TRAffic // got a bit EAsier - word stress is correct for both
CAN we borrow your keys - It should be 'Can we borrow your KEYS?'
even the BUS driver had gone - correct
THANKS very much inDEED - Thanks very much inDEED
LET me SEE- Let me SEE
HAVE you EAten yet - Have you EATEN yet

WHO can tell me where are the tonic units ,the tonic syllables in these santences:
1. Think the map you’ve GOT// MUST be an OLD one - stress should be on 'old'
2. IS he THERE - is he THERE
3. It IS In PRINT …… DEPENDS ON SPEAKER- see below for more details
4. you’ll FIND THAT // on the SAME side of the ROAD - DEPENDS ON SPEAKER- see below for more details
5. how MUCH is the TIcket - probably 'ticket' here but it depends on the speaker- see below for more details
6. and opposite THERE// was the PHOtocopying room - correct
7. ER// GOOD EVening// ER // good EVening to be one and All - DEPENDS ON SPEAKER- see below for more details
8. and WILL that be the same PLATform - DEPENDS ON SPEAKER- see below for more details
9. HAVE you been In Poland beFORE - DEPENDS ON SPEAKER- see below for more details (also' it should be TO POLAND before' not 'in' Poland)


Sentence stress/ word stress differs depending on the speaker's intention. Absolutely ANY word in an English sentence could be stressed, if the speaker chooses to stress that word. So it depends entirely on the context and meaning.

Example:
'How much is the TICKET?' The speaker simply wishes to find out the price of the ticket.
'HOW much is the ticket?' The speaker is shocked at the price.
'How much IS the ticket?' The speaker has probably already asked the conversational partner how much it is but the other person has so far avoided answering the question, or the context could be that the other person has been talking at length that the ticket is very expensive but never mentioned the actual price, so the speaker would say 'How much IS the ticket' or 'How much IS the actual ticket then?'

Hope this helps a bit!

Michael Andrews
English Teacher and Dialect Coach

 

[Tdol]

Is this homework? We do not do homework- you're meant to do that.

 

[probus]

You should have gone to the lecture.