ABSTRACT
Intonational meaning is an essential component of spoken English. The pitch during speech – and its association with certain words and phrases – conveys linguistic meaning beyond the words themselves. Intonational meaning plays a role at the discourse level, as speakers organize their thoughts into units, distinguish new versus old ideas, make contrasts and shift from one topic to the next. In interaction, intonation is central to turn-taking as participants indicate their intention to retain or relinquish the floor. Matters of attitude, emotion and self-expression are also conveyed through intonation. Thus, in any speech event, speakers are continuously providing meaningful information through their own way of using intonation while attending to intonation features used by others. Given that intonation is central to communication, it should be part of English language teaching and instructional materials. This chapter provides a practical framework for understanding the basic components of intonation and intonational meaning in English. It recommends that intonation be included as an integral part of English language teaching throughout the language acquisition process and that its major meaningful intonation categories may serve as a starting point. One principle is that the cognitive constraints of the language acquisition process affects the intonation patterns learners produce at early stages of language development: if a language learner is attempting to articulate ideas with limited vocabulary and grammar, it may be that only a single word or memorized language chunk can constitute the thought group of each intonation contour. However, L2 learners can be encouraged to produce simple intonation patterns even at early stages. Later, some of the more complex subtleties of intonation may be taught and acquired.
