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Do you have trouble understanding intonated sentences in English too? You can change the meaning of this question pretty significantly by placing a rising inton

by dgunay 3y ago

Do you have trouble understanding intonated sentences in English too? You can change the meaning of this question pretty significantly by placing a rising intonation on each word: You stole his pen? _You_ stole his pen? -> It was you who stole his pen? You _stole_ his pen? -> You in fact stole his pen, it was not given willingly? You stole _his_ pen? -> You stole his pen, and not someone else's? You stole his _pen_? -> You stole his pen, and not something else of his?

stcredzero 3y ago
Do you have trouble understanding intonated sentences in English too? You can change the meaning of this question pretty significantly by placing a rising intonation on each word Read my other comments. You'll find I'm already talking about this! Ok, so it's totally not a rising intonation to me! Wherever you have the _x_, it's emphasis. "Rising" is about the most confusing way to describe it, from my point of view as a layperson. Also, as I point out elsewhere, the way you are talking about "intonated" sentences is more akin to an accompanying soundtrack, where there's a "stinger" played at the moment something significant is said. It's not a part of the vowel! EDIT: Okay, I've been working this out saying it to my self. There's nothing "rising" in "you" when I say "_You_ stole the pen?" The volume doesn't rise through the word. The pitch doesn't rise through the word. The only thing that rises in the whole sentence is the pitch approaching the last part of the sentence to indicate a question. If "rising" is the actual terminology, then that's the most misleading terminology I can think of!
- dgunay 3y ago
  Maybe "rising" was not 100% correct. You're right in that you can place emphasis without the pitch of the word actually going up (instead you can make the pitch go down, or flat even, and say it with a bit more force & space afterwards). Playing with pitch is just the most obvious example of intonation I can think of in English. I'll admit I also have musical training, so it makes sense _to me_ to think of pitch in these terms. Maybe it doesn't to most people.

by dgunay 3y ago

Do you have trouble understanding intonated sentences in English too? You can change the meaning of this question pretty significantly by placing a rising intonation on each word: You stole his pen? _You_ stole his pen? -> It was you who stole his pen? You _stole_ his pen? -> You in fact stole his pen, it was not given willingly? You stole _his_ pen? -> You stole his pen, and not someone else's? You stole his _pen_? -> You stole his pen, and not something else of his?

stcredzero 3y ago

Do you have trouble understanding intonated sentences in English too? You can change the meaning of this question pretty significantly by placing a rising intonation on each word Read my other comments. You'll find I'm already talking about this! Ok, so it's totally not a rising intonation to me! Wherever you have the _x_, it's emphasis. "Rising" is about the most confusing way to describe it, from my point of view as a layperson. Also, as I point out elsewhere, the way you are talking about "intonated" sentences is more akin to an accompanying soundtrack, where there's a "stinger" played at the moment something significant is said. It's not a part of the vowel! EDIT: Okay, I've been working this out saying it to my self. There's nothing "rising" in "you" when I say "_You_ stole the pen?" The volume doesn't rise through the word. The pitch doesn't rise through the word. The only thing that rises in the whole sentence is the pitch approaching the last part of the sentence to indicate a question. If "rising" is the actual terminology, then that's the most misleading terminology I can think of!

dgunay 3y ago
Maybe "rising" was not 100% correct. You're right in that you can place emphasis without the pitch of the word actually going up (instead you can make the pitch go down, or flat even, and say it with a bit more force & space afterwards). Playing with pitch is just the most obvious example of intonation I can think of in English. I'll admit I also have musical training, so it makes sense _to me_ to think of pitch in these terms. Maybe it doesn't to most people.