General Analysis of the Pitch Component

 

The pitch component of prosody, or speech melody, commonly referred to as variations in the height of the voice during speech, is generally described in terms of pitch changes and levels.

A pitch level means a certain relative height within the speaker’s voice range. The notion of a level may be applied to a whole stretch of utterance. In this case it means the average height of the voice during the pronunciation of the given stretch. Pitch levels are also associated with syllables, rhythmic groups, intonation groups. The starting, mid and ending points of a unit may coincide in their height - and then the unit is said on a steady pitch. If the voice at the beginning of a unit is higher (or lower) than its end, there is an effect of a falling (or rising) pitch change. The height of the voice within a unit often changes in two directions: upward and then downward or vice versa - rise fall or fall rise, respectively. For example:                              

      _______            ______              ______

    

Fine. _______      No. ______      No. ______

Pitch levels can be described in terms of three relevant zones within the speaker’s voice range:

_____________________

_____________________high

_____________________mid                          the speaker’s voice range

_____________________low

 

The low pitch level is associated with the low zone, the mid level is associated with the mid zone, and the high level – with the high zone.  Each of the pitch zones can be further subdivided, the number of pitch levels increased as a result: fairly high and very high, rather low and very low, mid high and mid low.

_________________________

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _very high

_________________________fairly high

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ mid high     the speaker’s voice range

_________________________mid low

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _rather low

_________________________very low

 

From the functional point of view the pitch level plays an important role in differentiating the degree of semantic prominence attached by the speaker to separate items in an utterance. It is also significant for conveying various shades of attitudinal meanings. For example: a) It’s so `boring being at home a‚lone all day. b) `Thank you, dear (enthusiastic). Thank you, dear (cool, reserved).

Static and Kinetic Tones

 

In the study of intonation, pitch, loudness and length are the most important factors. They work together to make certain syllables stand out among others. On the word level, the cooperation of pitch, loudness and stress is referred to as stress, or tone. On the utterance level, the same concepts are referred to as intonation.

Classification

 

Tones are basic elements of English intonation. They are divided into two classes since they are produced in quite distinct ways:

1) by keeping the vocal cords at a constant tension thus producing a tone of unvarying pitch. Such tones are called static (level) tones; 

2) by varying the tension of the vocal cords thus producing a tone of varying pitch. Such tones are called kinetic, or dynamic, or moving.

According to their height within the speaker’s range static tones are divided into high, mid and low with two relevant gradations within each type: very high, fairly high, mid high, mid low, fairly low, very low. Thus the number of tones corresponds to the number of significant pitch levels.

 

Kinetic tones are generally classified according to the following principles:

1) the direction of the pitch change;

2) the width of the pitch change, or its interval;

3) the relative position of the pitch change within the speakers’ voice range.

The leading role in the differentiation of kinetic tones in English belongs to the first principle. The number of kinetic tones corresponds to the number of directional types of pitch changes.

 

The most common Falling tones in English are:

_____________________________________________

_________________High Narrow _________________ High Wide

_________________Mid Narrow _________________ Mid Wide

_________________Low Narrow _________________ Low Wide

 

 

The Rising tones are:

_____________________________________________

_________________High Narrow_________________

_________________Mid Narrow__________________ Mid Wide

_________________Low Narrow__________________ Low Wide

 

The Falling-Rising tones are:

______________________________________________

_________________High Narrow__________________ High Wide

_________________Mid Narrow___________________ Mid wide

_________________Low Narrow___________________ Low Wide

 

The Rising-Falling is

______________________________________________

_________________High Narrow__________________ High Wide

______________________________________________

_________________Low Narrow___________________ Low Wide

Functions

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 varieties are usually associated with greater prominence. Kinetic tones are more important for the utterance. Alongside with stressing the words they

1) indicate the communicative type of an utterance;

2) express the speaker’s attitude towards the subject-matter, the listener and the situation;

3) single out the center of new information in an utterance or the point of greater semantic importance as viewed by the speaker.

The total number of tones (both static and kinetic) in an utterance is determined by the number of important (prominent) words; most typically there are from 1 to 5 tones. The tone carried by the most important word (which is generally the last notional word) is called the nuclear tone, it is always a kinetic tone.  

The term “tone” should be distinguished from the term “ tune ” which is used to refer to the pitch pattern of the whole intonation group. The notion of tune is wider than that of tone. A tune may comprise several tones. A tune of a minimal size coincides with a tone realized in a monosyllabic utterance, e. g.: ‵Yes.,Well.