Theoretical phonetics. Study guide for second year students. Борискина О.О - 59 стр.

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      In fact, pitch in its phonetic meaning corresponds quite closely to the
definition оf pitch in music. For example, ascending do, re, and mi represent
progressively higher tones, or musical pitch. We distinguish four levels of
phonetic pitch in English: 4 = extra high, 3 = high, 2 = middle, 1 = low.
      Normal conversation moves between middle and high pitch, with low pitch
typically signaling the end of an utterance. The extra high level is generally used
to express a strong emotion such as surprise, great enthusiasm, or disbelief, and
is the pitch level often used in contrastive or emphatic stress. English makes use
of pitch variation over the length оf an entire utterance rather than within one
word.
      If pitch represents the individual tones of speech, then intonation can be
thought of as the entire melodic line. Intonation involves the rising and falling of
the voice to various pitch levels during the articulation of an utterance.
      It performs several unique functions. First, intonation reflects the
grammatical function of an utterance. For example: She is gone.
      If the utterance is pronounced with a rising-falling intonation, then it
signals speaker certainty, which often corresponds to a declarative statement.
However, pronounced with rising intonation, the same sequence of phonemes
signals uncertainty and corresponds to a special type of yes/no question with
statement word order but rising intonation.
      Intonation also performs the function of conveying an attitude or emotion.
For example, the simple utterance "Great" can be used to express three different
shades of meaning:
      1) the overall effect of the slightly falling intonation is that the speaker's
comment is neutral or perfunctory;
      2) the broader movement from high to low signifies that the speaker is
genuinely enthusiastic;
      3) the flatter intonation signifies lack of enthusiasm or sarcasm on the part
of the speaker
      So, the attitude of the speaker will vary in these three instances.
      The movement of pitch within an intonation unit is referred to as the
intonation contour of that unit. Such contours span the range of extra high pitch
to low pitch. These levels are highly dependent on discourse meaning and
prominence, with rises in intonation co-occurring with the highlighted or more
important words that receive prominence within the sentence. Thus pitch and
prominence can be said to have a symbiotic relationship with each other in
English, and the interrelationship of these phenomena determines the intonation
contour of a given utterance. There are two basic options for sentence-final
intonation in NAE:
      1) RISING-FALLING INTONATION (e.g. declarative statements, WH-
questions, command-form requests, tag questions eliciting agreement, Yes/No
responses).
      2) RISING INTONATION (e.g. yes/no questions, repetition questions,
direct address, listing nonfinal members of a series).