The features of the usage of general and disjunctive questions and their intonation registration

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INTRODUCTION

Intonation is crucial for communication. It's also a largely unconscious mechanism, and as such, a complex aspect of pronunciation.

It's divided into phrases, also known as 'tone-units'.

The pitch moves up and down, within a 'pitch range'. Everybody has their own pitch range. Languages, too, differ in pitch range. English has particularly wide pitch range.

In each tone unit, the pitch movement (a rise or fall in tone, or a combination of the two) takes place on the most important syllable known as the 'tonic-syllable'. The tonic-syllable is usually a high-content word, near the end of the unit.

These patterns of pitch variation are essential to a phrase's meaning. Changing the intonation can completely change the meaning.

e.g. It's raining.

You could say it to mean 'What a surprise!', or 'How annoying!', or 'That's great!'. There are many possibilities.

This paper is based on the investigation of phonetic features of general and disjunctive questions due to the film “Another Cinderella Story”.

Another Cinderella Story is a 2008 romantic comedy directed by Damon Santostefano. This movie is a retelling of the Cinderella fairy tale in a modern setting, with Mary Santiago (Selena Gomez), a high school student with ambitions of becoming a dancer, taking the role of Cinderella and Joey Parker, (Drew Seeley), now a famous celebrity that has returned to school for his senior year and to remember why he started dancing, as the prince. A school dance substitutes for the ball, with the role of the glass slipper filled by a Zune.

Purpose of the research - to establish phonetic features using general and disjunctive questions in the film “Another Cinderella Story”.

Object of the research in the very paper is the general and disjunctive questions taken from the film “Another Cinderella Story”. Subject of the research is the analysis of the use of general and disjunctive questions and their intonation registration.

Practical value of this work is explained by the use of its materials and the results in the practice of English language teaching in schools of various types.



I. MAIN CHARACTERICTICS OF INTONATION

1.1 Functions of intonation

The process of communication cannot be performed without intonation as it has its own functions in a sentence. These functions are:

1) sentence-forming;

2) sentence-delimiting;

3) distinctive;

4) attitudinal [1:8].

Intonation forms sentences. Each sentence consists of one or more intonation groups.

An intonation group is a word or a group of words characterized by a certain intonation pattern and is generally complete from the point of view of meaning.

e.g. You'll come early | and stay as long as you can | won't you ||

Sentences are separated from each other by pauses. The end of a sentence is always recognized by a long pause; the end of a non-final intonation group is usually characterized by a shorter pause.

e.g. He's passed his exam || He is a student now || Like most old people | he was fond of talking about old days ||

Intonation also serves to distinguish the communicative types of sentences, the actual meaning of a sentence, the speaker's emotions or attitudes to the contents of the sentence, to the listener or to the topic of conversation.

e.g. He's passed his exam ||

Low-Fall - a statement of fact;

High-Rise - a question;

Low-Rise - a question with surprise;

High-Fall - an exclamation;

One and the same sentence pronounced with different intonation can express different emotions.

Intonation is also a powerful means of differentiating the functional styles.

1.2 Components of the intonation

The sentence possesses definite phonetic features: variations of pitch or speech melody, pauses, sentence stress, rhythm, tempo and timbre. These features or components are called prosodic. Each feature performs a definite task and all of them work simultaneously. It is generally acknowledged that the pitch of the voice or speech melody, sentence stress and rhythm are the three main components of intonation, whilst pauses, tempo and timbre play a subordinate role in speech. [1:9]

a) Speech melody or the pitch.

The pitch of the voice does not stay on the same level while the sentence is pronounced. It falls and rises within the interval between its lower and upper limits. Three pitch levels are generally distinguished: high, medium and low.

The pitch of the voice rises and falls on the vowels and voiced consonants. These falls and rises form definite patterns typical of English and are called speech melody.

Pitch Range is the interval between two pitch levels. It may be normal, wide and narrow.

e.g. I didn't know | you've been to London||

The use of this or that pitch (and range) shows the degree of its semantic importance. As a rule, the low pitch level expresses little semantic weight, on the contrary the high pitch level is a sign of importance, stronger degree of feeling.

b) Rhythm

Rhythm is a regular recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables at definite intervals.

The characteristic features of English speech rhythm may be summed up as follows:

1. The regularity of the recurrence of stressed and unstressed syllables results in the pronunciation of each rhythmic group in a sense-group in the same period of time irrespective to the number of unstressed syllables in it. Which in its turn influences the length of sounds, especially vowels.

2. The alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables results in the influence of rhythm upon word-stress and sentence-stress.

There are as many rhythmical groups in a sense-group as there are stressed syllables. Rhythmic groups can be of two types:

· enclitics - a rhythmic group in which an unstressed syllable clings to the preceding stressed syllable.

· proclitics - a rhythmic group in which an unstressed syllable clings to the following stressed syllable. [10:1]

To acquire a good English speech rhythm one should arrange sentences:

1) into intonation groups;

2) into rhythmic groups;

3) link the words beginning with a vowel to preceding words;

4) weaken unstressed words and syllables;

5) make the stressed syllables occur regularly within an intonation group.

c) Sentence stress

A separate word when used alone as a sentence is always stressed. In a sentence consisting of more than one word, some of the words are left unstressed. They are the words of small semantic value or those with a purely grammatical function: articles, prepositions, conjunctions, auxiliary, modal and link verbs, personal and reflective pronouns.

Essential words to the meaning of the utterance are normally stressed (nouns, adjectives, notional verbs, adverbs, demonstrative and interrogative pronouns). So words that provide most of the information are singled out by means of sentence stress.

Sentence stress is a greater prominence with which one or more words in a sentence are pronounced as compared with the other words according to their informational (semantic) importance.

This greater prominence is achieved by:

1. Greater force of exhalation and muscular tension.

2. Changing of the pitch level.

3. Pronouncing the stressed syllables longer.

4. Not changing the quality of a vowel in the stressed syllable. [8:1]

The most important piece of information conveyed in the sentence is called its communicative center. It may be expressed by a single word or a number of words. Usually it is the last word in a sense-group and it carries the terminal tone.

The main function of sentence stress is to single out the communicative centre of the sentence, which introduces new information. So it performs a distinctive function and distinguished the speaker's modal and emotional attitude to the words.

Sentence stress may vary in degree. It may be full and partial. Full sentence stress in its turn may be unemphatic and emphatic.

Partial sentence stress is indicated by single stress-marks places below the line of print. E.g. I haven't the ?slightest idea.

Full unemphatic sentence stress is indicated by single stress-marks placed above the line of print. E.g. I haven't the ? slightest idea.

Full emphatic sentence stress is effected by greater force of utterance, greater force of exhalation and lengthening the sounds. Emphatically stresses syllables become more prominent and sound longer than syllables with unemphatic stress. It is indicated by double stress-marks. E.g. Stop talking!

Sentence stress can also be subdivided as to its function into syntagmatic stress, syntactic stress and logical stress.

Syntagmatic stress presents the most important functional type. Together with the main tones it singles out the semantic centre of the sentence or a sense-group. In sentences where no word is made specially prominent syntagmatic stress is usually realized in the last stressed word.

Syntactic (or normal) stress marks the other semantically important words within the utterance.

Logical stress is connected with the shifting of the syntagmatic stress from its normal place on the last stressed word to one of the preceding words. It often expresses something new to the listener and creates a new communicative center.

Though we know that usually notional words are stressed in the sentence and functional words are unstressed it is necessary to point out that any word in a sentence may have logical stress. A word which is made prominent by logical stress may stand at the beginning, at the end or in the middle of a sense-group but it is usually the last stressed word in it. Sentence stress on words following logical stress either disappears or becomes weak.

The general rules for sentence stress are sometimes not observed: a word that should be stressed according to these rules may be left unstressed. In most cases it is rhythm that is responsible for the omission of stress.

Some words belonging to the notional parts of speech are not stressed in certain cases:

1. When a word is repeated in a sense-group immediately following, the repetition is generally unstressed.

e.g. - How many books have you got?

- Two books.

2. Word-substitutes like `one' are usually unstressed.

e.g. I don't like this dress. Show me that red one.

3. When the word `most' does not express comparison, but a high degree of quality and is equivalent to `very', `extremely' it is not stressed.

e.g. This is a most beautiful picture.

4. The pronoun `each' in `each other' is always unstressed.

e.g. They loved each other

5. The adverb `so' in `do so', `think so' is not stressed.

6. The conjunctions `as' in the constructions of the type `as well as' is not stressed.

7. The word `street' in the names of streets is never stressed. E.g. Oxford street.

In English general questions the final stress falls on the adverbials or on direct object following the verb .

Do you speak English?

Will you go home? [6:2]

d) Intonation Group

An intonation group may be a whole sentence or a part of it. In either case it may consist of a single word or a number of words. An intonation group has the following characteristics: 1. It has at least one accented (stressed) word carrying a marked change in pitch (a rise, a fall…). 2. It is pronounced at a certain rate and without any pause within it.

The pitch-and-stress pattern or the intonation pattern of the intonation group consists of the following elements: the pre-head, head, the nucleus, the tail.

There are different types of pre-heads, heads and tails. [6:3]

Types of heads.

Head patterns are classified into three groups: descending, ascending and level according to the way it begins from the point of view of pitch movement.

Descending heads move down from a medium or a high pitch level to the low one. The first stressed syllable is the highest. In the stepping head the stressed syllables gradually descend in pitch levels, unstressed or partially stressed syllables are pronounced on the same level as the preceding stressed ones. This head conveys the impression of the balanced, active, “normal” mood of the speaker. The unstressed syllables may gradually descend in pitch too. In this case the head is called a falling head. A fall in pitch may not be gradual but rather jumpy which is achieved by a considerable lowering of the pitch inside the stressed syllables or by pronouncing unstressed syllables at a much lower level than the preceding stressed ones. Such a head is called the sliding head. It usually reflects an excited state of mind and, sometimes, a highly emotional attitude to the situation.

Ascending heads are the opposite of the descending heads: their stressed syllables move up by steps with the intervening unstressed ones continuing the rise and in this case it is a rising head. If the voice moves up jumpy the head is called climbing. Unstressed syllables glide up too.

In level heads all the syllables are pronounced on the same level (or gradually ascends towards the nucleus) either high or medium or low. So there are three level heads correspondingly. It is shown by the tone mark before the first stressed syllable. Low head conveys an impression ranging from cool and indifferent to sulky and hostile.

Types of pre-head

There are two types of pre-head: the low pre-head and the high pre-head. The low pre-head is pronounced at a low pitch and may occur in all unemphatic and many emphatic utterances. Its main semantic function is to mark the comparative unimportance of initial unstressed syllables.

The high pre-head is pronounced at a high pitch level. It has a clearly emphatic function. Before a rising tone it usually gives a bright, lively, encouraging character to the utterance. The high pre-head is marked by the tone-stress mark placed before the first syllable above the line of print.

Types of tails

There are two types of tails: the low tail and the rising tail. The low tail goes after the falling tone and is pronounced at a low pitch.

The rising tail occurs after the rising tone and gradually rises in pitch producing the very effect of the rising tone whilst the word carrying the syntagmatic stress is pronounced on the lowest level in the sense-group.

1.3 Notion of “tone”. Static and kinetic tones

Prominent segments of an utterance are usually associated with a pitch change (or a pitch contrast) combined with increased force of articulation and increased duration. Such a cooperation of different phonetic features is reflected in the notion of the tone - the basic element of English intonation.

Tones are divided into two classes: static and kinetic. Static are level tones, their number corresponds to the number of pitch levels. Kinetic tones are classified according to the following criteria:

a) the direction of the pitch change;

b) the interval of the pitch change;

c) the relative position of the pitch change within the speaker's voice range.

Static and kinetic tones differ not only in form but also in function. Static tones give prominence to words. The degree of prominence is proportional to the pitch height of the static tone - the higher the tone, the greater the prominence. Kinetic tones are more significant for the sentence.

Kinetic tones perform a number of functions in a sentence:

1. Indicate the communicative type of a sentence.

2. Express the emotional state of the speaker, his attitude towards the subject-matter and the situation.

3. Single out the centre of semantic importance in a sentence.

The most common kinetic tones of Modern English are:

The Low Fall - the voice falls from a medium to a very low pitch.

The Low Rise - the voice rises from a low to a medium pitch.

The High Fall - the voice falls from a high to a very low pitch.

The High Rise - the voice rises from a medium to a high pitch.

The Fall-Rise - the voice first falls from a fairly high to a rather low pitch and then rises to a medium pitch.

The Rise-Fall - the voice first rises from a medium to a high pitch and then falls to a very low pitch.

The falling tones carry a sense of completion and finality and are categoric in character. The rising tones carry incompletion and are non-categoric in character. Combinations of nuclei, heads, tails, and pre-heads lead to a great variety of melodic patterns in English intonation. The melodic structure of the language is a simple system of patterns based upon the most important linguistic functions of intonation. Since the most significant component of intonation is speech melody, and the most important word of an utterance is made prominent by one of the special tones typical of the language, it is natural to systematize the melodic patterns according to these special tones. [1:16]

CONCLUSIONS

Intonation is about how we say things, rather than what we say. Without intonation, it's impossible to understand the expressions and thoughts that go with words.

Listen to somebody's speaking without paying attention to the words: the 'melody' you hear is the intonation.

Intonation exists in every language. However, learners are often so busy finding their words that intonation suffers. Yet intonation can be as important as word choice - we don't always realize how much difference intonation makes:

Awareness of intonation aids communication.

Moreover, all functions and components are really important for present-day speech as due to them we can distinguish the expressiveness of speech and define the speaker`s intentions whether he is loyal to us or angry or sorry for something.

Incorrect intonation can result in misunderstandings, speakers' losing interest or even taking offence!

Though it's unlikely our learners will need native-speaker-level pronunciation, what they do need is greater awareness of intonation to facilitate their speaking and listening.



II. USE OF GENERAL AND DISJUNCTIVE QUESTIONS IN SPEECH

2.1 Intonation and expressiveness of general questions

The most typical intonation contour for general questions is IC2. The speaker sounds “general interested.”[1:23]

A general question with rising intonation asks for information and expects "yes" or "no" for an answer, while a general question with falling intonation usually signals the speaker's confidence in getting an affirmative answer. [4:9]

e.g. Do you have a /CAR? (A question asking for information.)

e.g. Do you have a \CAR? (The answer "yes" is expected.)

A request in the form of a general question with rising intonation is normal and polite, while a request with falling intonation sounds like a command and may be impolite.

e.g. Could you give me a /PEN, please? (Polite request.)

e.g. Could you give me a \PEN, please? (Sounds like a command; the answer "yes" is expected.)

Language learners should understand what the change of standard patterns may signal, but it is advisable to use standard patterns of falling intonation in your own speech.

Rising Intonation

English rising intonation is a rather complicated phenomenon. It can express various emotions, such as non-finality, incompleteness, question, surprise, doubt, hesitation, interest, request and suggestion, politeness, readiness to continue the conversation, lack of confidence, and even insecurity. Rising intonation in English is very different from rising intonation in Ukrainian. For example, the final rise in English general questions first goes down a little and then up, but not as high as the rise in Ukrainian questions. [7:3]

Rising intonation is quite difficult to describe in words. When we speak, our voices do much more than rise or fall. The sentence may start higher or lower; stressed syllables may be stronger or weaker, higher or lower, louder or quieter, quicker or slower; the unstressed syllables may remain at the same level as the stressed syllable before them or go higher or lower. And the voices are different too. All these factors interact in intonation.

For the purpose of studying, we can say that rising intonation is used for the emotions mentioned above, but you should understand that rising intonation in different situations may sound differently. For example, a rise expressing surprise may sound a little different from a rise expressing polite interest or a rise asking to repeat. This material will help you to understand what rising intonation means and where it is used, but you will need a lot of listening practice in order to master rising intonation.

Standard patterns

Rising intonation is used in general questions, in introductory phrases (at the beginning of the sentence), in the first part of alternative questions (before "or"), in the second part of tag questions (see explanation below), in direct address, and in enumerating items in a list.

Examples:

Do you go there /OFten?

Was she glad to /SEE him?

Have you read this /BOOK?

Are you ready to /START?

Would you please pass the /PEPper?

When I was walking in the /PARK, I saw a couple of interesting \BIRDS.

Change of standard patterns of rising or falling intonation also has a meaning. Falling intonation generally expresses completion, finality, and confidence, while rising intonation usually expresses non-finality, incompleteness, surprise, doubt, interest.

Rising intonation often implies a request to repeat or readiness to continue conversation. The examples below show how the meaning may change when the same sentence is pronounced with falling intonation and with rising intonation.

Have you washed the /DISHes? (Standard intonation when asking for information.)

e.g. Have you washed the \DISHes? (The answer "yes" is expected.)

e.g. Can I speak to the /MANager, please? (a standard informal request.)

Can I speak to the \MANager, please? (Sounds like a command; the answer "yes" is expected.)

High rise is used for expressing strong surprise or disbelief in questions, for example, in surprised echo questions. High rise starts higher and ends higher than normal rising tone. High rise is very expressive and emphatic. It is advisable for language learners to use it with caution and not too often.

2.2 Meaning and use of disjunctive questions in present-day speech

A tag question (a disjunctive question) consists of two parts. The first part is a declarative sentence (a statement). The second part is a short general question (the tag). If the statement is affirmative, the tag is negative. If the statement is negative, the tag is affirmative. Use falling intonation in the first part and rising or falling intonation in the second part of the tag question.[4,12]

With the verb BE:

It's a nice day, isn't it?

He wasn't invited, was he?

With main verbs:

You know him, don't you?

He went there, didn't he?

She will agree, won't she?

He hasn't seen her, has he?

He didn't study French, did he?

With modal verbs:

You can swim, can't you?

He should go, shouldn't he?

I shouldn't do it, should I?

Tag questions use a falling intonation when you want to emphasize a statement and don't really need an answer.

e.g. This restaurant is terrible, isn't it?

When you want an answer, are asking for information or want someone to do something you use rising intonation.

e.g. You're coming to the party, aren't you?

Sometimes the rising tag goes with the positive to positive pattern to create a confrontational effect:

He was the best in the class, was he?

(rising: the speaker doesn't believe this, or perhaps is surprised by it)

He was the best in the class, wasn't he?

(falling: the speaker believes this)

Be careful, will you?

(rising: expresses irritation)

Take care, won't you?

(falling: expresses concern)

Sometimes the same words may have different patterns depending on the situation or meaning:

You don't remember my name, do you? (rising: surprised)

You don't remember my name, do you? (falling: thinks it is funny)

Your name's Mary, isn't it? (rising: isn't sure)

Your name's Mary, isn't it? (falling: is sure)

The all-purpose tag question from London, innit (for "isn't it") is ONLY used with falling patterns:

e.g. He doesn't know what he's doing, innit?

But, the adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are always found with rising patterns!

By changing the intonation you can change the meaning!

We can change the meaning of a tag question with the musical pitch of our voice. With rising intonation, it sounds like a real question. But if our intonation falls, it sounds more like a statement that doesn't require a real answer:

e.g. You don't know where my wallet is, do you? - rising: a real question

e.g. It's a beautiful view, isn't it? - falling: not a real question

Although the basic structure of tag questions is positive-negative or negative-positive, it is sometimes possible to use a positive-positive or negative-negative structure. We use same-way tag questions to express interest, surprise, anger etc., and not to make real questions.

Look at these positive-positive tag questions:

So you're having a baby, are you? That's wonderful!

She wants to marry him, does she? Some chance!

So you think that's amusing, do you? Think again.

Negative-negative tag questions usually sound rather hostile:

So you don't like my looks, don't you? (British English)

Notice that we often use tag questions to ask for information or help, starting with a negative statement. This is quite a friendly/polite way of making a request. For example, instead of saying "Where is the police station?" (not very polite), or "Do you know where the police station is?" (slightly more polite), we could say: "You wouldn't know where the police station is, would you?" Here are some more examples:

You don't know of any good jobs, do you?

You couldn't help me with my homework, could you?

You haven't got $10 to lend me, have you?

We use won't for invitations. We use can, can't, will, would for orders.

imperative + question tag

Examples:

Take a seat, won't you? - polite order

Help me, can you? - quite friendly

Help me, can't you? - quite friendly

Close the door, would you? - quite polite

Do it now, will you? - less polite

Don't forget, will you? - with negative imperatives only will is possible

The choice of a rise or a fall in the second part of tag questions depends on whether the speaker is sure of getting an affirmative answer.

It's a beautiful \TOWN, /ISN'T it? (The speaker thinks that the town is beautiful but asks for your opinion and confirmation.)

It's a beautiful \TOWN, \ISN'T it? (The speaker is sure that the town is beautiful and expects you to agree.)

You don't speak \FRENCH, /DO you? (The speaker thinks that you don't speak French but is not completely sure and asks for confirmation)

You don't speak \FRENCH, \DO you? (The speaker is sure that you don't speak French and expects you to agree.)

Note that the falling tone is always used in the first part of tag questions (disjunctive questions). Despite the fact that tag questions are asked to get confirmation and agreement, the answer may be affirmative or negative.

Fall-rise is often used instead of standard rise in unfinished parts of sentences, for example, in introductory phrases or subordinate clauses at the beginning of the sentence. Fall-rise signals non-finality and continuation of the utterance and emphasizes the word on which it is used. The voice first falls down and then goes up within one word.



CONCLUSIONS

A question may be either a linguistic expression used to make a request for information, or else the request itself made by such an expression. This information may be provided with an answer.

In everyday speech we often use different kinds of questions, especially general and disjunctive questions. In actual speech, however, the disjunctive questions acquire its final shape and a definite aim only after a definite intonation pattern has been superimposed on it. In disjunctive questions the predominance of the declarative or of the interrogative part is finally settled by intonation. Yes/no questions(general questions) are believed to carry some suggestibility load. For instance, in response to yes/no questions children tend to display a compliance tendency. That is, they tend to comply with the structure of the question, be it negative or positive, by responding in the same way. For example if you ask a preschooler "Is this book big?" the preschooler tends to respond "yes it is". But if you ask "Is this book not big?" the preschooler is more likely to say "No it is not".



III. PHONETIC PECULARITIES OF USING GENERAL AND DISJUNCTIVE QUESTIONS ON THE BASIS OF THE FILM “ANOTHER CINDERELLA STORY”

3.1 General questions

Are you trying to ruin me?

The second instance question - insistent question expressing unlikable attitude.

Is that true?

The first instance question, basic general questions, when the speaker does not know whether he will receive an affirmative or negative answer. Such questions usually take the Descending Stepping Scale + the Low Rise.

Hey, do you want some punch?

The general question put forward as a subject for discussion or as a suggestion and takes a Rising tone.

Are you supposed to be Cupid?

It's a confirmatory general question asked when the speaker expects a confirmation of the supposition expressed in the question. Such questions take the Descending Stepping Scale + the High Fall.

Can I ask you to dance?

The general question put forward as a subject for discussion or as a suggestion and takes Rising tone.

Is that supposed to impressed me?

It's a confirmatory general question ( a bit ironical )asked when the speaker expects a confirmation of the supposition expressed in the question. Such questions take the Descending Stepping Scale + the High Fall.

Oh, are you OK?

The first instance question, basic general question, when the speaker does not know whether he will receive an affirmative or negative answer. Such questions usually take the Descending Stepping Scale+ the Low Rise.

Are you listening?

The second instance question - insistent question expressing unlikable attitude.

Can I have it back?

The first instance question, basic general question with polite request with Low-Rise.

Is your friend here?

The first instance question, basic general question, when the speaker does not know whether he will receive an affirmative or negative answer. Such questions usually take the Descending Stepping Scale+ the Low Rise.

Could you be more obvious?

The second instance question---insistent question expressing unlikable attitude or light irritation.

Do you want me to wait?

The first instance question, basic general question, when the speaker does not know whether he will receive an affirmative or negative answer. Such questions usually take the Descending Stepping Scale+ the Low Rise.

Did you feel sorry for me?

It's a confirmatory general question asked when the speaker expects a confirmation of the supposition expressed in the question. Such questions take the Descending Stepping Scale + the High Fall.

Are you ready to get it popping?

The general question put forward as a subject for discussion or as a suggestion and takes a Rising tone.

Was it a little boy-band like this?

The general question consisting of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun and used as comments upon statements made by another speaker. It takes the High Narrow Rise to keep the conversation going.

Did I forget to tell you?

Second-Instance General Question. Echoing general question which is repeated by the hearer. The hearer repeats the question, because he wants to think what to answer. In this case the hearer uses a High Rise preceded by a Descending Stepping Scale.

Have you been crying?

The first instance question, basic general question with sympathetic feeling when the speaker does not know whether he will receive an affirmative or negative answer. Such questions usually take the Descending Stepping Scale+ the Low Rise.

Did he find somebody prettier and more successful?

The general question consisting of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun and used as comments upon statements made by another speaker. It takes the High Narrow Rise to keep the conversation going.

Are you just naturally puffy?

The second instance general question. In this sentence a categoric statement of a negative character is expressed in the grammatical form of a general question. It is equivalent to the statement I don't believe you are naturally puffy. Here there is the use of falling and rising tone.

Is there a problem?

General question used as comments upon statements made by another speaker. It takes the High Narrow Rise to keep the conversation going.

Can you feel that?

General question consisting of an auxiliary verb and a pronoun and used as comments upon statements made by another speaker. It takes the High Narrow Rise to keep the conversation going.

3.2 disjunctive questions

You are kidding me, right? - The speaker thinks that interlocutor is kidding him but he isn't completely sure and asks for confirmation. Such adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are always found with rising patterns.

It's total nonsense, isn't it? - Falling intonation, it's not a real question.

It's cold, isn't it? - Falling intonation, it's not a real question.

I am right, right? - The speaker thinks that he is right but he isn't completely sure and asks for confirmation. Such adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are always found with rising patterns.)

We are going to find her, all right? - The speaker thinks that they are going to find her but he isn't completely sure and asks for confirmation.Such adverbial tag questions (alright? OK? etc.) are always found with rising intonation

But it was worth it, don't you think? - The speaker thinks that it was worth it but he isn't completely sure and asks for confirmation. Such questions are always found with rising intonation. You are coming to the ball, aren't you? - Rising intonation means the speaker isn't sure about this and asks for confirmation.

Don't forget I need you, will you? - Falling intonation. Sometimes we use question tags with imperatives (orders), but the sentence remains an imperative and does not require a direct answer. You work for Dominic, don't you? - Real question with rising intonation. She is amazing, isn't she? - The speaker uses a falling intonation. He wants to strengthen a statement and doesn't really need an answer. The film “Another Cinderella Story” is full of different kinds of questions. Also there are many general and disjunctive questions which express not only the usual meaning but also with the help of intonation we can observe the speaker`s attitude to another speaker or to the situation at all. In the film there are different situations which can be misunderstood if they are just written but not pronounced with the proper intonation. Many general questions are used either with a high narrow rising tone: these questions are used as comments upon statement pronounced by the previous speaker, or with a high falling tone: these questions are confirmatory. Moreover, they are both first-instance and second-instance general questions. As for disjunctive ones, they take also rising: when the speaker isn`t completely sure and asks for confirmation and falling tones: usually it`s not a real question, which doesn`t require the answer.

GENERAL CONCLUSIONS

An important conclusion to be made here is that intonation plays a very important role in structuring the discourse: it organizes words into a meaningful phrase, it ties phrases together within the text, showing where divisions comes, which things are more prominent and so on. In other words, intonation signals how phrases go together in a spoken discourse. At the same time intonation reflects the influence of the context, on the speech realization.

It's important to recognize the meaning behind the tones used in everyday speech, and to be able to use them so that there are no misunderstandings between the speaker and the listener. It is generally true that mistakes in pronunciation of sounds can be overlooked, but mistakes in intonation make a lasting impression.

Intonation is said to indicate the attitudes and emotions of the speaker. It is clear that when we are expressing emotions, we must keep our listeners' attention and their participation in the exchange of information. Communicative interaction would be much more difficult without intonation: think how many misunderstandings between people arise in the exchange of e-mail messages, where intonation cannot play a role.

It's important that students are aware of necessity of studying the intonation.

intonation question speech



РЕЗЮМЕ

Інтонація в англійській мові - це сукупність певних характеристик речення, які є обов'язковою ознакою усного мовлення. На листі інтонація відображається за допомогою розділових знаків. Саме інтонація оформляє все, що ми говоримо. З її допомогою ми можемо не тільки розповідати, але і задавати питання, просити про щось, дивуватися чому-небудь.

Саме завдяки інтонації в англійській мові ми можемо зробити нашу мову емоційно багатою - висловити здивування, розлад, обурення, роздратування, захоплення і багато іншого.

Основні складові інтонації в англійській мові - це тон (мелодика мови), ритм, темп, тембр голосу, фразовий і логічний наголос. Вся наша мова складається з чергування наголошених і ненаголошених складів. Ми можемо говорити, підвищуючи або знижуючи голос, тим самим вимовляючи розповідні або питальні речення. Ми здатні говорити швидко або зупинятися у визначених місцях. Ми в змозі міняти звукове оформлення нашої мови, передаючи необхідні емоції. А виділяючи певні слова в реченні, ми можемо вказувати, що маємо на увазі в цьому випадку.

У фільмі «Ще одна історія про Попелюшку» ми можемо спостерігати різні варіації інтонації, що дійсно допомагають нам сприйняти не тільки слова англійською мовою, а ще й зрозуміти, який настрій у співрозмовників, яке в них ставлення один до одного і взагалі питання потребує відповіді.



LIST OR REFERENCES

1. Антипова Е.Я. и др. Пособие по английской интонации: (На английском языке). Учеб. пособие для студентов пед. ин-тов и фак. иностр. яз./ Е.Я. Антипова, С. Л. Каневская, Г. А. Пугилевская.- 2 изд., дораб.- М.: Просвещение, 1985. - 224 с.

2. Бурая Е.А., Галочкина И.Е. Фонетика современного английского язика/ Е. А. Бурая, И.Е. Галочкина. - Издательство: Академия, 2009. - 272 с.

3. Васильев В.А. Фонетика английского языка: нормативный курс. Учеб. пособие для институтов и факультетов иностранных языков./ В. А. Васильев.- М, 1980. - 256с.

4. Vitaliy Baran. А Practical English Phonetics: Online book.

5. Useful English: Falling Intonation www.usefulenglish.ru/phonetics/falling-intonation

6.Sentences and Intonation - readinghorizons.com www.readinghorizons.com/.../Lesson-06.pd... -

7.Useful English: Rising Intonation usefulenglish.ru/phonetics/rising-intonation

8.Questions - Cambridge University Press www.cambridge.org/.TGE-Chapter4.pdf

9. The Intonation of Tag Questions in English www.tandfonline.com/.../00138385508596...

10.Intonation TeachingEnglish British Council BBC www.teachingenglish.org.uk › Articles

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