A study on intonation of English questions

Acknowledgement In order to complete this graduation paper, I have received a lot of advice, encouragement and help from many teachers and friends First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude toward my supervisor, Miss Nguyen Thi Quynh Hoa.MA – teacher of foreign language in HPU, who has given me valuable advice, comments and useful suggestions My study will far from finishing without her help Secondly, I wish also to express my sincere thanks to Mrs.Tran Thi Ngoc Lien – the dean of the foreign language department of HPU for her help and encouragements My thanks also are express to all teachers in foreign language department for their help during the time I study at the University I am also very grateful to my family and all my friends for their support Finally, I hope that this work will be useful for anyone who concern with this theme Haiphong, June 2010 Nguyen Thi Van TABLE OF CONTENT PART ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 Rationale of the study Scope of the study Aims of the study Methods of the study Design of the study PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND An overview of English sentences 1.1 What is an English sentence ? 1.2 Classification of sentence 1.2.1 Statement 1.2.2 Questions 10 1.2.3 Commands 10 1.2.4 Exclamations 11 An overview of English question 11 2.1 What is the question? 11 2.2 Classification of question 12 2.2.1 Yes-No questions 12 2.2.2 Wh-questions 13 2.2.3 Alternative questions 13 Intonation 14 3.1 What is intonation ? 14 3.2.The roles of intonation 16 3.3 Intonation language and tone language 19 3.4 Function of intonation 20 3.4.1 Grammatical function 20 3.4.2 Attitudinal function 22 3.5 Some major intonation features 24 3.5.1 Stress 24 3.5.1.1 Tonic stress 26 3.5.1.2 Emphatic stress 26 3.5.1.3 Contrastive stress 27 3.5.1.4 New information stress 27 3.5.2 Tune shapes 28 3.5.2.1 The Fall Tune-The Glide-Down 29 3.5.2.2 The first rising tune –the Glide- Up 29 3.5.2.3 The rising tune-the Take-off 30 3.5.2.4 The falling-rising tune-the Dive 30 CHAPTER 2: INTONATION IN ENGLISH QUESTIONS 31 Intonation in English questions 31 1.1 Yes-No questions 31 1.1.1 General Yes-No questions 31 1.1.2 Tag questions 32 1.1.3 Declarative questions 34 1.1.4.Exclamatory questions 34 1.1.5.Rhetorical questions 35 1.2 Wh-questions 35 1.3 Alternative questions 36 1.3.1 Common Alternative questions 37 1.3.2 Alternative plus Yes-No questions 37 1.3.3 Alternative plus Wh-question 39 Attitudinal functions of the intonation and English question s 39 2.1 Yes-No questions 39 2.1.1 The High Drop 39 2.1.2 Low-Bounce 40 2.1.3 The Take-off 41 2.1.4 The Switchback 42 2.1.5 The Low Drop 43 2.2 Wh-questions 45 2.2.1.The High Drop 45 2.2.2 Low Bounce 46 2.2.3 The Take-off 48 2.2.4 The Switchback 49 2.2.5 The Low Drop 50 2.3 Alternative questions 51 CHAPTER 3: FINDING AND DISCUSSION ON THE STUDY 53 Finding and discussion on using intonation of English questions of English students 53 Some suggestions from improvement after studying intonation 59 2.1 For competence enhancement 59 2.1.1 Improving English listening 59 2.1.2 Improving English speaking 61 2.2 For teaching English questions 63 2.2.1 Wh-question 64 2.2.2 Yes-No question 65 2.2.3 Alternative questions 66 2.3 For communication purpose 67 2.3.1 In Wh-question 67 2.3.2.In Yes-No questions 69 2.3.3 In Alternative questions 71 CONCLUSION 73 REFERRENCES: APPENDIX PART ONE: INTRODUCTION Rationale of the study Language is an essential means of communication in our life Thanks to language, people are able to decode the messages, the ideas or any piece of thought Moreover, it is common knowledge that English is the most popular language in the world Nowadays, with the development of advance technology and information, English plays an important role in society and it is the main language to tighten relations between people in the global So learning English is getting more and more important in our society Of course, English learners know that intonation is very important because inaccurate intonation causes the bad effects in communication May be sentence what you speak, you used different intonation, listeners can understand it is impolite or polite, informal and formal …even when you speak truly on grammar, vocabulary but listener still don’t understand what you say because your intonation not express any significances Therefore, I went to ask so many English learners as a foreign language However, what I received was that “It is important”, but little more Being a student of English, I am too stuck in the problem and my desire is to make it clear and to get more comprehensive and specific understanding Scope of the study Intonation is a large theme because every country has its own language and of course, every language has it own intonation However, due to limited time and knowledge in this paper, I only focused on the part of intonation of English question (wh-questions, yes-no questions and alternative questions, in which definition, difference between tonal language, and intonation language, intonation patterns, some major intonation features, the links between those intonation patterns and speaker’s attitude will be mentioned Aims of the study Being aware of the fact that intonation is an extremely difficult topic and merely well-understood by foreign English learners and every native speakers of English who take the intonation for granted, however, appreciate the intonation associated to attitude of the speakers Therefore, when they hear foreign grammatical or pronunciation mistakes, they are quite willing to accept and understand them However, if inappropriate intonation is used then, they might, without really knowing why, take offence and feel that this person sound bored, arrogant or not interested in them Therefore, I research this topic with the following major aims: Giving the knowledge of sentences, questions and intonation Explaining the difference between tonal language and intonation language Distinguish different kinds of sentence questions Raising the learner’s aware of the existence of intonation and the effects using intonation and communication Helping the learners use right intonation in right situations… Methods of the study With the above aims, the following methods are used in the studying process: Having discussion with supervisor, friends, etc Reading reference books and documents Accessing Internet Selecting typical examples Design of the study This paper provides a clear organization consisting three main parts that help an easy exploration and practical benefits gained for readers as well Part one is the Introduction which includes: Rationale, Scope of the study, Aims of the study, Method of the study, and Design of the study Part two is the Development which consists of three chapter as following: Chapter is the theoretical background deal with an overview of English sentence, question, roles of intonation, difference between tonal language and intonation language, functions of intonation and some major intonation features Chapter is intonation in English questions It is divided into parts: intonation in English question and attitudinal functions of intonation and English question Chapter is the implication of the study which consists of parts: finding and discussion on using intonation of English question of English students some and suggestions for improvement after studying intonation PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND An overview of English sentences 1.1 What is an English sentence ? So far, we have referred to sentences without providing any definition of a sentence The question “What is a sentence?” is more difficult than it might appear An American linguist, C.C Fries, counted more than two hundred definitions of the sentence The sentence is the basic building block of written language In the past, sentences were often defined according to their meaning For example, they were said to contain “a complete thought” This raises all sorts of questions about the difference between the complete thought and an incomplete one A common definition today is: “A sentence is marked by a capital letter at the beginning and a full-stop at the end” This works for many English sentences, but there are many languages, such as those in Asia that does not use this punctuation Also, it is possible to have written sentence without capital letters and punctuation marks In traditional school grammar, a sentence is said to contain a subject and a predicate: a major classroom occupation was analyzing sentences into subjects and predicates (the predicate is all the rest of the sentence after subject) Subject Predicate He plays football He plays football well yesterday “Each sentence is an independent linguistic form, not including by virtue of any grammatical construction in any larger linguistic form” (Leonard Bloomfield (1926:9) 1.2 Classification of sentence 1.2.1 Statement Statements are sentences in which the subject is always present and generally precedes the verb (Bandolph Quick Sidney Greenbaum(2000:190) This is the sentence type mainly used and described by the forms: SV, SVO, SVC, SVA, SVOA, SVOC, SVOO Eg: The man is coming S V I bough a house S V O He looks tired S V C He was at the desk S V A She led them upstairs S V O A We elected him president of the company S V O C We gave her a doll S V O O The function of statements is to convey information 1.2.2 Questions Question is a kind of sentence, which is formed with subject operator inversion together with a rising intonation, or the placement of wh-words at the beginning, which is used to ask for agreement or for information Bandolph Quick Sidney Greenbaum(2000:199) These are also referred to as interrogative sentences or interrogatives Eg: Is she a teacher ? What’s your name ? There are three main types of questions: Yes-No questions Wh-questions Alternative questions 1.2.3 Commands 10 C: The library is opened to everyone (The Chauncey group international LTD (2000:91) In this example, the Take-off is used to show that the speaker is not sure when the library opens He asks for information to be repeated So the best answer is B Purely, basing on the intonation, the learner can give a correct answer is the test 2.2.2 Yes-No question Eg : Question 23 Your package arrived on time, didn’t it? A: I’m afraid I’ll be again B: I lost my luggage C: Right when I needed it (The Chauncey group international LTD (2000:91) This example carries the Low Drop; it means the speaker expected the agreement from the listener Therefore, C is the best choice because the package arrived at there Eg 2: Question 27: Does that electronic equipment work? A: I’m at work right now B: Let’s hope so C: We will equip the worker (The Chauncey group international LTD (2000:91) Normally, the Yes-no question carries the Low-Bounce But in this question, the High-Drop is used to show that the person hopes the equipment works So the best choice is B 65 2.2.3 Alternative questions Eg: Question 25: Should we take train or the bus? A: The train is more convenient B: You really should C: I waited for you at the bus stop (The Chauncey group international LTD (2000:90) This question belongs to alternative question As mentioned above, alternative questions have rising intonation on the first option except the last And the answer must be one of the two options in the question So in this question, the answer must be “train” or “bus” A is the best choice Eg: Question 32: Do you work day or night shift? A: No, only in the winter B: I work nine or five C: Yes, it is alright (The Chauncey group international LTD (2000:54) Like the question 25, it is an alternative question The best choice is B In conclusion, studying intonation helps the learners in improving communicating with others The learners understand or realize the attitudes or emotion from the speakers In addition, to improve communicating, the learner also promote in learning English especially in doing some exercises 66 2.3 For communication purpose First of all, good intonation can help the speaker communicate effectively and improve the communicating skills Producing accurate intonation supports the speaker to convey his meanings Also misleading between intonation patterns in question usually occurs in communications This misleading may lead to serious consequences in relationships to each other 2.3.1 In wh-question Firstly, the High Drop is probably the most popular way of asking whquestions but the speaker sometimes makes some mistakes when making these questions Therefore, it easily to misunderstanding between the speaker and the listener A very common question “How are you?”, for example, can be asked by two ways If the Low Drop is used, “How are you?” the speaker’s voice seems very serious and urgent With this form of intonation, the question can be understood “What’s the matter with you” by the listener The listener looks not alright Therefore, the form of intonation used is not suitable This can result in the disapproval from the listener The listener may think that the speaker thought he is not well The effect of communication reduces (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.1) On the contrary, if the High Drop is used, “How are you?” it sounds friendly and brisk The speaker really wants to talk with the listener By using the High Drop, the listener feels polite, interested This is the most common way to ask the question “How are you?” (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.1) Secondly, learning intonation well can avoid hurting other’s feelings The student should be able to pronounce all the different intonation patterns acceptably; but will he be any more able to choose the right pattern at the 67 right time? Not surprisingly, it has been said that foreign learners of English need to learn English intonation; some claimed that unless the foreign learners learn the appropriate way to use intonation in given situation, there is a risk that he or she may unintentionally give offence; for example, the learner might use an intonation suitable for expressing boredom or discontent when what was needed was an expression of gratitude or affection This misleading also can be seen in English questions For example, in Wh-question, the LowDrop and Low-Bounce are easy to be used wrong by chance Now, let us see the question “How can I say sorry?” This question can be asked by two ways First, the Low-Drop is used to express this sincere and the truth to the listener How can I say sorry? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.1) By using the Low-Drop, the speaker really wants to apologize to the listener and he expects the listener forgives him Through the Low-Drop, the listener realizes the real emotion of the speaker On the other hand, if the Low-Bounce is used instead of the Low-Drop in this case: How can I say sorry? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.1) There will be a serious misunderstanding between the speaker and the listener The sincere, the truth will be replaced by the irony, hypocrisy Therefore, the listener not only can not forgive but also get angry with the speaker The relationship becomes worse and worse The speaker may not realize his misleading, so learning intonation to distinguish between them is very important And learning intonation patterns to use in right situations is more important 68 2.3.2.In Yes-No questions The intonation also helps the listener guess the speaker’s thoughts and answer the questions This is very clear in the Tag question Basing on the form of intonation in question tag, the listener can answer the question Eg: It is Tuesday today, isn’t it? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) In this case, the Low-Drop is used, the speaker is sure what he says and demands agreement from the listener So if the listener wants to make the speaker happy, he can answer “Yes” While the Take-off is used It is Tuesday today, isn’t it? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) The speaker is not sure what he says, he asks confirmation and the answers may be “Yes” or “No” It depends on the listener’s view The above examples have proved that intonation can give the listener the help of reply the question in communication Therefore, learning intonation might give the learners the help of producing an accurate utterance and satisfying the others in speaking On the other hand, as you know, Yes-No questions consist of five subclasses However, in daily-life, inappropriate using intonation patterns in Yes-No questions bring ineffective communication Eg: Is it a beautiful day? In this example, the speaker wants to express interest in a beautiful day The speaker thought it is a beautiful day and expected the agreement from the listener Therefore, the Low-Drop is the most appropriate intonation in this case Is it a beautiful day? 69 (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) Due to the Low Drop, purely exclamatory effect is given The question’s like an exclamatory question However, the speaker uses the Take-off instead of the Low Drop, the effect of communication changes opposite Is it a beautiful day? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) Then because of the Take-off, the question almost expresses disapproval or skepticism The speaker also sounds ironical and unfriendly Additionally, inaccurate intonation can cause shock to the listener Some listeners not care about rhythm in their voices They only concentrate on the words used in the sentences But they not know that the lack of their care of intonation causes sadness or anger to the others Now consider the example: “Could you buy a new car?” This question can be asked by many ways Each way carries different meaning If the speaker uses the Low-Drop to ask: Could you buy a new car? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) The speaker wants to give one suggestion to the listener May be they are discussing about the means of transport And the listener needs a car By using the Low-Drop, the listener thinks that the speaker has a idea and gives that idea to discuss It is sure that their discussion will go to the end In contrast, the Take-off is used instead of the Low-Drop in this question Could you buy a new car? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) The implied meaning is obviously opposite The speaker may sound skeptical about the result With the Take-off, the speaker expresses his doubt whether 70 the listener could buy a new car because it is very expensive Through the form of intonation, the listener doesn’t fell respected The listener may think the speaker looks down up to him that he couldn’t effort to buy a new car The listener can be shocked It is clear that two different intonations; there are certain differences in meaning Therefore, the speaker should pay much attention to intonation when speaking to avoid giving offence to the others 2.3.3 In alternative questions Intonation of alternative questions is less difficult to produce However, in some cases, the speaker still makes some mistakes when speaking These mistakes result in misunderstanding to the listener The misleading between general Yes-No questions and alternative question often occurs in communication Therefore, the answer is not as the speaker expects Eg: Alternative question: Do you like romantic films or action films? Yes-No question: Do you like romantic films or action films? (Rebecca M.Dayer (2002:8.2) If the speaker speaks with the rising intonation on the first option and falling on the last one, that is an alternative question The answer must be one of the options On the contrary, only rising intonation used in the last option, that is Yes-No question The answer can be another option It is found that careful listening is the most important thing; and careful matching of performance with listening will bring you nearer to the ideal of perfect English intonation If you want to improve your intonation as well as your pronunciation, make all the progress of which you are capable, keep working towards perfection until you are quite sure that it is neither necessary nor profitable for you to continue Then your intonation will be better In conclusion, intonation is very important in speaking It can help the speaker make friends; it also can make the speaker lose friends There are many 71 intonation patterns in daily life, so the misleading must be limited by the speaker To it, intonation must be paid much attention in learning as well as in teaching English 72 CONCLUSION Through three chapters above, it is clear that the paper has dealt with some aspects of intonation Particularly, intonation is emphasized and mainly focused of English questions (wh-questions, Yes-no questions and alternative questions) The first chapter, English sentences, English question and the concept of intonation are identified clearly according to many points of view Some functions of intonation, roles of intonation and difference between tonal language and intonation language are also found in this chapter The second chapter in which I mainly concentrate on intonation patterns(the Low Drop, the High Drop, the Take-off, the Low-Bounce and the Switchback) in types of question, and the links between intonation and attitude in order to help listeners to understand the speaker’s attitude towards what they are saying The third chapter is finding and discussion This chapter helps the listener realize some common mistakes in using intonation patterns in questions and some suggestions for improvement after studying intonation Thus, intonation needs to be a feature of classroom language analysis and practice This will help students towards greater expressiveness and articulation in English, and help them to a better understanding of some of the subtleties of native-speaker speech Due to limited time and knowledge, I cannot cover all matters of intonation Thus, I hope that I can have another chance to go deeper into it Actually, there must be several mistakes and defects in my graduation paper; I sincerely hope to receive remarks and criticism from teachers and friends to make this complete I highly appreciate and would like to express my honest thanks to all of you 73 REFERRENCES: Rebecca M.Dayer, “Accurate English”, NXB TPHCM 2002 J.D.O’Connor, B.A and G.F.Arnold, B.A, “Intonation of Colloquial English”, Longman J.D.O’Connor, “Better English Pronunciation”, Cambridge University Press Perter Roach, “English Phonetics and Phonology”, Cambridge University Press Quirk, R.a and Greenbaum, S “A University Grammar of English”, London, Longman Group U.K limited, 1973 6.Marianne Celce- Murica, Donna M.Briton, and Janet M.Goodwin,(1996) “Teaching Pronunciation”, Cambridge University Press The Chauncey group international LTD, (2000) “Oxford practice tests for the TOEIC test, Oxford University Press.” David Brazil, (1997) “The Communicative value of intonation in English”, Cambridge University Press 9.Perter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, (1992) “ Teaching American English Pronunciation”, Oxford University Press.” 10 Ann Bauker, (2004) " Ship Or Sheep", Cambridge University Press Website: 1.Goodgle.com www.english.unitenology.ac.nz/resources/resources/exp-lang/sentence.html www Phon.ucl.uk/home/johnm/ptlc 2001/pdf/timova.pdf www Allwords.com/word-intonation.html 5.www.cels.bham.ac.uk/resources/essay/kumaki Diss.pdf.htlm 74 APPENDIX QUESTIONNAIRE FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDENTS The questionnaire are designed for students of English major of Hai Phong Private University to collect data for study “ Intonation in English questions” to find out your attitude and expectation toward using intonation in English questions Your ideas are very useful and important to mu study Please circle the answer(s) what you find out the suitable answer(s) Question 1: How long have you learnt English? a year b years c years d Above years Question : How much time you spend on learning English a day at home? a hour b hours c hours d Above hours Question 3: Do you attend to intonation? a Very attentively b Attentively c Not very attentively d Not attentively 75 Question 4: How often you use intonation in English question? a Always b Often c Sometimes d Rarely e Never Question 5: Do you feel difficult when you express purpose in using intonation in English question? a Very difficult b Difficult c Not very difficult d Easy Question 6: How often you learn English intonation on means of mass communication? a Always b Often c Sometimes d Rarely e Never Question 7: What you to improve intonation in your speaking? a Communication b Listening to news on TV, radio c Recording d Performance 76 e Other ways Question 8: Do you think intonation in English question is necessary or not? a Very necessary b Necessary c Not very necessary d Unnecessary Question 9: Do you feel speaking intonation is difficult or not? a Very difficult b Difficult c Not very difficult d Easy 77 78 79 ... between tonal language and intonation language, functions of intonation and some major intonation features Chapter is intonation in English questions It is divided into parts: intonation in English. .. questions, in which definition, difference between tonal language, and intonation language, intonation patterns, some major intonation features, the links between those intonation patterns and speaker’s... question and attitudinal functions of intonation and English question Chapter is the implication of the study which consists of parts: finding and discussion on using intonation of English question