By Olga Smith
Intonation/inflection is simply the rise and fall of pitch in a phrase or a sentence.
There is a wide variety of intonation patterns in the UK. Compare, for example, people’s intonation in Liverpool with Birmingham, you will note that the music of their speech is very different because they use different patterns of intonation. Many people who take our elocution lessons would like to learn how intonation influences their speech and how they can use intonation to make their speech more interesting.
An effective speaker uses various patterns of intonation in order to:
Show different emotions and moods. The same words would have a completely different meaning if we change the intonation.
Show an attitude and/or a double meaning.
Speak in an engaging way in order to maintain people’s interest. People who repeat the same pattern of intonation all the time sound very monotonous.
Stress the most important messages/words in a phrase or sentence. If there is no rise and fall, the speech sounds flat and it might be rather hard for a listener to follow what is the meaning of what you are saying.
In our books and apps and elocution lessons, we teach basic patterns of intonation and give examples of intonation of speakers of Received Pronunciation. We encourage our students to listen to the RP speakers and absorb their sounds and intonation. It is important to stress, that intonation is closely connected not only to sentence/phrase stress but also to the power, pitch, and pace of your voice. You can master your intonation and the 4Ps with the apps Power, Pitch, Pace, Pause, and Fluent English Speech.
Read our blog and visit our site www.batcsglobal.com for more tips.