How to master the mood in English?

Intonation, that is, the tone of speech, is the preparation and change of pitch in sentences. No language in the world is monosyllabic. Take English as an example. There are five basic tones in English: rising tone (↗), falling tone (↙), rising tone (∧), falling tone (∨) and flat tone (→). A sentence has not only lexical meaning, but also intonation meaning. Lexical meaning is the meaning of words used in words, while intonation meaning is the attitude or tone expressed by the speaker in intonation. The lexical meaning of a sentence plus the intonation meaning is the complete meaning. The same sentence, with different intonation, will have different meanings, sometimes even thousands of miles apart. Please look at the following example:

Jane, can you bring me the newspaper?

Excuse me? (↗)

Joan said "I'm sorry" in a rising tone, which means "I didn't hear". Would you please say that again? "

Let's look at the next sentence:

Jane, can you bring me the newspaper?

B: Sorry. (↙)

In dialogue 2), Jean said "Sorry" in a falling tone, which obviously means refusing to help or being helpless.

Kenneth L. Parker, a famous American linguist, thinks:

The absolute height of a syllable is not important, but the relative height of one syllable to another is very important.

English has four levels to distinguish meaning;

1) is super high, that is, two levels higher than the normal tone, and is often used when feelings are particularly exciting or surprising.

2) High tone, that is, one level higher than normal tone, is generally used for stressed words in sentences.

3) mid, the normal height of the speaker's voice.

4) Low, that is, one step lower than the normal tone,

It is generally the lowest point of falling tone.

Intonation patterns should be classified according to the speaker's attitude, not according to the grammatical structure of sentences. There is no such thing as "interrogative intonation" or "declarative intonation". Because interrogative sentences and declarative sentences can be said in various intonation patterns.

Therefore, it is very important for English learners in China to understand a certain attitude or tone expressed by a certain model. In fact, whether in real life or in exams, our students are often unable to determine the speaker's attitude, feelings, tone and intention because of their lack of understanding of this knowledge. However, this is a more complicated problem. This paper will illustrate this problem from two aspects through concrete examples:

First, the meaning of absolute pitch increase and relative pitch height in the sentence.

As we all know, when people are excited, surprised or emotional, their intonation is high, and vice versa. Therefore, under the same circumstances, if one person's intonation is obviously higher than that of another person, or obviously lower than that of another person, we can infer the meaning and attitude of the speaker.

Here we will focus on the meaning of the relative high and low intonation in a sentence. The peak of intonation in a sentence is generally the stress of the sentence. We can understand the speaker's meaning through the peak of intonation in a sentence. For example, when people read the sentence "I live in a city", their intonation will change because of the different emphasis objects. The comparison may be as follows:

I(↗)live in cities.

I like this city. I just "live" in the city, implying "I don't work in the city" or something.

I live in in(↗)the city. (meaning "I live on the edge of the city", implying "I don't live outside the city")

So it is not difficult to answer the questions raised in the following dialogue.

M: Linda looks very tired these days.

W: In me(↗ opinion, she is not bad.

Question: What does this lady think of Linda? (4)

She saw Linda and me.

Linda said she was fine.

She looked up the word for me.

D. she thinks Linda is very good.

The sentence stress of this sentence falls on the last word "me" of the sentence. Because the lady emphasizes "I" in a rising tone, it shows that the lady intends to contrast with the man's view, which means: in your eyes, she looks tired, but in my opinion, she has no problem. This shows her indifferent attitude.

Two. The phenomenon that the meaning of some sentence patterns changes due to the change of intonation at the end of the sentence.

1. Special interrogative sentences using interrogative words who, which, what, how, when, where and why can be used in falling or rising tones, but their meanings are different. For example:

Mr Smith thinks that we should get the money first.

B: Who? (↗)

Mr Smith.

B to say "who" in a rising tone means that you can't hear a certain part of the conversation clearly and ask the other party to repeat that part.

5)A: We hope someone will say a word at the beginning to welcome this group.

B: Who? (↙)

We think you or Dr. Johnson can do it.

B to say "who" in a falling tone means to ask the other person who he wants to make a welcome speech at the opening.

2. Additional questions can be read in rising tone or falling tone, with different meanings. A falling tone means that the questioner believes the content of the statement and only waits for the other party to confirm it. A rising tone means that the questioner is not sure about the truth of the statement and hopes that the other party will make his own judgment. For example:

You will finish the work, won't you? (↙)

Yes, I will.

A asks a question in a falling tone, which means: I know you will finish the work, but I want you to confirm it.

You will finish the work, won't you? (↗)

Yes, I will. (or no, I won't. )

When a asks a question in a rising tone, it means that a is uncertain. Therefore, the answer may be yes or no. So, when you hear the following conversation and choose the question you ask, it is self-evident which option is correct.

W: Mary said she likes playing tennis.

M: But she doesn't play tennis very often, does she? (↙)

Question: What did this man hint at Mary? (2)

[A] She takes part in many other sports. She doesn't really like tennis.

C.she only likes watching tennis.

D. She has a lot of things to do.

3. Intonation can reflect the interactivity of the speaker. For example:

Are you Mr. Black?

B: Yes. (↙)

A: Room 26.

In this example, B said "yes" in a falling tone, indicating B's approval. This is a closed answer, which means that if A has no new questions or information to ask, maybe their conversation can end.

Are you Mr. Black?

B: What is it? (↗)

Ah, the secretary wants to have a word with you.

In this example, B answered "Yes" with a rising tone, indicating that this is an open-ended answer, which is equivalent to: "Yes. But why do you ask? " Or "yes. But who wants to know? " Meaning. That is to say, while answering A's question, B puts forward a new question to A and asks A to answer it.

With this in mind, the questions asked in the following conversation are not difficult to answer.

M: How long are we going to stay in the Grand Canyon?

W: A day? (↗)

Question: What does this woman mean? (2)

We will stay in the Grand Canyon for one day.

Are we going to stay in the Grand Canyon for a day?

A day in the Grand Canyon is too short.

One day in the Grand Canyon is enough.

4. Declarative sentences usually state facts in a falling tone. If you read the rising tone, you will often doubt what you say. For example:

She lent him her car. (↙) Used to state things.

True)

She lent him her car? Surprise and doubt, including "Did she really lend him her car?" Meaning. )

Please look at the following questions again:

M:I started driving at eight yesterday and arrived here at half past five this morning.

W: You drove all night? (↗)

Question: What does this woman mean?

Driving at night can be dangerous.

You shouldn't drive at night.

C.why don't you drive all night?

Did you really drive all night?

The answer is D.

5. The sentence patterns of some general interrogative sentences are pronounced as falling tones, which are actually expressions of exclamation. She hasn't grown up yet! What this sentence actually means is: how fast she grows!

Please look at the following questions:

M: Isn't Sam's speech great? (↙)

W: Are you serious?

Question: What did the man say to Sam's speech?

Sam's speech was not very good, was it?

Sam's speech was great, wasn't it?

C. Sam made a serious speech.

Sam is not serious.

The answer is B.

By the way, questions don't mean another kind of doubt: when one party asks questions and the other party answers them with questions, sometimes the questions don't need to be answered, but they are actually equivalent to statements, but they are meaningless. For example:

Are you going to watch TV again?

B: what else can I do? (↗)

B asks A a question, "What else can I do?" What else can I do besides watching TV?

Therefore, the following questions are not difficult to answer.

M: Do you think Patty is qualified for this job?

W: If Patty isn't, then who is? (↗)

Question: What does this woman mean? (3)

Patty is not up to the job.

No one is qualified for the job.