IELTS Preparation Series 3, Episode 12: Intonation

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Hello, and welcome to Study English, IELTS Preparation. I'm Margot Politis.

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Intonation is a feature of pronunciation, one of the assessment criteria in the IELTS

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Speaking Test. You will need to use appropriate intonation in the test. You also need to understand

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the intonation used by the interviewer.

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Intonation is important in spoken English because it conveys meaning in many ways. Changing

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the pitch in your voice - making it higher or lower - allows you

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to show surprise: "Oh, really!" or boredom: "Oh, really".

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Let's listen to some intonation patterns used for specific functions.

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First there's the high or rising tone, used for asking a yes/no question:

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Do you find English difficult?

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Are you listening?

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Is this clear?

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The rising tone is also used for showing expectation as you can hear when this furniture maker

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talks about seeing the inside of some rare timber:

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And I go down and it is really a fascinating day when I actually see a log being put on

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the head rig and that first cut and I can't wait to have a look at that grain that's actually

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opened up after a tree has been growing for 300 or 400 years.

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And it's used for showing interest and excitement.

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That's awesome. Absolutely awesome.

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A low or falling tone is used for making a statement as does this art gallery director:

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The Art Gallery of South Australia commenced the joint program in art history with the

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University of Adelaide in 2001.

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Questions with who, what, when, why and how also use this low or falling tone:

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Who are you looking for?

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What is that you're reading?

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Where is the art gallery?

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Why are you learning English?

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How are you? Listen to the rising and falling tones used

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by the woman in the next clip to explain the properties of granular materials:

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Take vacuum packed coffee for example. This is very much solid like behaviour because

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it's stiff, stiff as a brick and at the same time it's strong enough to hold your weight.

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And yet, if we open the pack, I can pour it just like I would pour water.

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When listing things a rise-falling tone is used:

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Granular materials constitute a wide range of everyday common materials, such as powders

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through to natural grains such as nuts, rice, wheat grains and mineral resources.

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A level tone or a low rising tone can also be used for listing:

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We have 3 studio cabins, 2 two bedroom cabins, 2 tepees and a campground.

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Finally, a fall-rising tone expresses uncertainty:

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Well, I'm not sure what all this means

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Now we'll look at some sample IELTS interviews. Listen carefully for the intonation patterns.

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Where else have you travelled?

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I've travelled to other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore and of

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course I've travelled around in my own country.

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Where would you most like to go?

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I would like very much to go to Europe, for example UK, Spain or Netherlands, but I also

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want to go to Dubai and India.

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The two questions the interviewer asks are 'wh-' type questions starting with 'where'.

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Did you notice that the pitch of his voice fell at the end of both questions? Like this:

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Where else have you travelled?

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Where would you most like to go?

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In the answer, notice how the countries are listed using a level tone that then falls

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for the last item in the list 'in my own country'.

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I've travelled to other Asian countries such as Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore and of

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course I've travelled around in my own country.

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In response to the second question her voice rises to show expectation. She then lists

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the countries with her voice pitch rising until she ends with a level voice for Dubai.

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She uses a rising intonation to express the afterthought India. Listen:

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I would like very much to go to Europe, for example UK, Spain or Netherlands, but I also

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want to go to Dubai and India.

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Now listen for whether the voices rise and fall in this part of the test:

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Could you live without your favourite thing?

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No, I cannot live without my mobile phone. I have to bring it everywhere because I will

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feel lost if I don't have it near me.

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Do people have too many possessions?

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Yes, I think they do. They tend to buy a lot of things that they don't really need at that

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time.

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The two questions the interviewer asks are yes/no type questions. Rising intonation patterns

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are used for these questions. Did you notice the pitch of his voice rise at the end of

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the questions? Like this:

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Could you live without your favourite thing?

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Do people have too many possessions?

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In response to the first question, the answer is definite and this certainty is expressed

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with a flat or level tone:

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No, I cannot live without my mobile phone.

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But in response to the second question about whether people have too many possessions,

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she isn't quite sure and responds with:

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Yes, I think they do.

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She uses a fall-rising tone appropriately to indicate that she doesn't really know or

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is unsure.

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Yes, I think they do.

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You are allowed to ask the interviewer what something means in the discussion part or

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Part 3 of the Speaking Test. It's called asking for clarification. Let's say you didn't know

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what was meant by 'valued possessions'. You could say:

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What do you mean by 'valued possessions'?

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This is a 'wh' question, so it needs a falling tone. Listen again:

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What do you mean by 'valued possessions'?

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A different intonation is required for the next way of asking for clarification:

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Do you mean important things that I own?

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It's a yes/no question with a rising tone. Listen:

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Do you mean important things that I own?

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The final example is a statement, so a falling tone is used:

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Sorry, I'm not quire sure what you mean by 'valued possessions'.

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So a falling tone is used for 'wh-' and 'how' questions:

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Who are you looking for?

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What is that you're reading?

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Where is the art gallery?

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Why are you learning English?

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How are you?

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But a rising tone is used for yes/no questions:

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Do you find English difficult?

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Are you listening?

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Is this clear?

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That's all for now. To find more information about the intonation patterns in English,

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visit our Study English website. The address is: australianetwork.com/studyenglish.

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Good luck with your studies. Bye for now.

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