Intonation Patterns in English:

When we speak to each other, our voices tend to rise or fall in pitch over a part of an utterance. This rise or fall in pitch is known as intonation. Intonation is used mainly to indicate the speaker's attitude towards the listener or towards the topic.



He's going.
He's going?

These sentences contain exactly the same words, but the punctuation shows that the first sentence is a statement while the second is a question. The difference is brought about by a difference in intonation. In the first sentence the tone of the speaker falls, while it rises in the second one. The fall or rise in tone takes place at the last stressed syllable, which is referred to as the nucleus.

The falling tone is used for situations given below:
- ordinary statements
- commands
- exclamation
- wh questions
- question tags seeking confirmation of an opinion expressed by the speaker
- yes/no questions suggesting an indifferent attitude on the part of the speaker

The rising tone is used for situations given below:
- statements expressing surprise, disbelief, sarcasm, ect
- yes/no questions
- sentences which have the structure of a statement but turn into questions due to rise in        intonation
- requests
- suggestions
- question tags seeking information
- wh questions indicating a feeling of surprise
- wh questions where the speaker is asking for the repetition of something that was said earlier

Finality and Incompleteness:

The falling tone is used at the end of a statement, indicates finality.
A rising tone on the other hand, gives a sense of incompleteness.
In a complex sentence where there is a subordinate clause before the main clause, a rising tone is used for the subordinate clause and a falling tone for the main clause.

Falling-Rising Tone:

The falling rising tone is used in the following situations:
- polite requests
- to express disbelief on the speaker's part
- in short questions, to show enthusiasm
- when making a polite correction to something that someone said
- in incomplete utterances

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