Lecture 7 Tones

Tones and tone languages Tones and functions of tones in English Tone units

Tones and tone languages

When we speak, we constantly vary the pitch of our voice. Tone is the overall behaviour of pitch in a syllable. Although in English, a word such as yes and no can be spoken with different tones, no English speakers would say that the meaning of the word is different with different tones. English is one of those languages that do not use tone to distinguish the meanings of words, though tones or pitch differences are used for other purposes. Such languages are called intonation languages.
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Tone languages
A tone language is one in which the tone can determine the meaning of a word and a change from one tone to another can completely change the meaning of a word. In other words, substituting one distinctive tone for another on a particular word can cause a change in lexical meaning of that word. E.g. Vietnamese, Chinese
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Tones
Tones

Simple tones

Complex tones

Level tones (_)

Moving tones

Fall-rise tone (v)

Rise-fall Tone (^)

Falling tone (\)

Rising tone (/)

Description of tones
The level tone is one in which the pitch remains at a constant level The falling tone is one which descends from a higher to a lower pitch The rising tone is a movement from a lower pitch to a higher one The fall-rise tone is one in which the pitch falls and then rises The rise-fall tone is one in which the pitch rises and then falls
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Functions of English tones

1. The level tone. This tone almost always conveys a feeling of saying something routine, uninteresting or boring. E.g. A teachers calling the names of the students from a register and the students respond the teacher with Yes. Respondents answer surveys or questionnaires.

2.

The falling tone. This tone is usually regarded as more or less neutral. It is said to give an impression of finality. If someone is asked a question and replies yes or no with a falling tone, it will be understood that the question is now answered and there is nothing more to be said.

How many dogs have you got? What was the weather like? Have you finished?

Two Wet Yes

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3.

The rising tone This tone conveys an impression that something more is to follow or an invitation to continue. Excuse me. Have you talked to her? Hello, is that John? First you type in your user name. Then you type in your password and finally click Log in Yes? Yes? No? Yes? Yes? Yes?

4.

The fall-rise This tone is usually used to show limited agreement or response with reservations. Isnt he handsome? Yes, (but he is not very manly)

She looks beautiful Yes, (thanks to her make-up)

Its not very difficult, is it? No, (but remember that Im just a beginner)

5.

The rise-fall This tone is used to convey rather strong feelings of approval, disapproval or surprise. Isnt he intelligent? Have you ever heard such a story? She has won the contest. Yes. No. Great.

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Tone units
A tone unit is a group of syllables over which a tone extends. It is also referred to as an intonation group or a tone group. Is it you? You have sold your car? In its smallest form, the tone unit may consist of only one syllable James? Four? The syllable which carries the tone in a tone unit is called the tonic syllable.
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Tone-unit with more than one syllable

Is it /you
The third syllable is more prominent than the other two carries a level tone is a tonic syllable The other two syllables are less prominent said on a level pitch is it you is an utterance of three syllables, consisting of one tone unit. The only syllable that carries a tone is 12 you.

Structure of tone unit

Tone unit

Pre-head

Head

Tonic syllable

Tail

(PH)

(H)

TS

(T)
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Tonic syllable
is the syllable which carries the tone in a tone-unit Each tone-unit has one and only one tonic syllable. This means that the tonic syllable is an obligatory component of the tone unit.

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The head
The head (H) is all that part of a tone-unit that extends from the first stressed syllable up to but not including the tonic syllable. If there is no stressed syllable before the tonic syllable, there cannot be a head. e.g.
lgive

me \those

lin

an \hour
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The pre-head
The pre-head (PH) is composed of all the unstressed

syllables in a tone-unit preceding the first stressed syllable.

Pre-heads are found in two main environments:

When there is no head: in an \hour PH When there is a head: in a little less than an hour PH H
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The tail
Any syllables between the tonic syllable and the end of the tone unit are called the tail e.g.
\look

at it T

/what

did you say T

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