Intonation and Meaning

Accent and Meaning, a Rapid Grasp for Foreign Speakers

Accent is one of the fundamental sides to control if we wish to grasp and copy native-like spoken English. It is one of the key factors that will assist us to understand that frightening fast talking every foreign student states to have a hard time translating. Here is one important bit of information that will aid us to solve what seems to confuse every non-native speaker. What you must grasp is that accent is a characteristic trait of every language.

There are 3 sides to methodically taking in a language. Grammar is one aspect, semantics is another, and phonetics the third one. Accent is a part of the semantic side of language. So, it is effortless to deduce that although a student might have a rather extensive erudition of English vocabulary, and yet in the assumption he achieves creating rather decent grammatically correct structures, if he does not have the correct management of intonation, he will never methodically control the English language.

Let us try the following easy exercise. Take a sentence like, “He is not driving to school tomorrow”.
1. The normal accent would be attained by emphasizing the word “school”. This is just one of several alternatives. It is an easy firm sentence, a bit of information, about what she is planning to do tomorrow.
2. Try placing the stress on “driving”. Now the sense is different. He is contrasting “driving” to other ways of transportation. For example, He plans to ride my bicycle to school tomorrow. Thus, the complete sentence can be, “He is not driving to school tomorrow; He'll ride my bicycle”.
3. Now put the stress on He: “He is not driving to school tomorrow”. In this event, the difference is set up on who is driving to school tomorrow. For example: “He is not driving to school tomorrow; Mark is.”
4. To finish, stress the word “school”, like: “He is not driving to school tomorrow”. The idea might be completed like this “...however, she is driving to my cooking class”.

As you notice, it is a really easy exercise that will let you convey the right sense of your phrases.

Another aspect to think about is falling or rising accent in the phrases. Let's check it with, “I do” -don't get your hopes up; I am not planning to walk you down the aisle. “I do”, with a falling accent tells a simple truth, is a declarative sentence, a statement, where “I do”, with a rising accent constitutes a question, an answer uttered in disbelief, amazement or surprise. “I do? Come on, you know better than that!”

Configurations known as question tags, also have a distinct accent. Unlike basic questions, that carry a rising accent, question tags mimic a question, when they are just highlighters, seeking verification from the listener. For example: “That is your daughter, isn't she?” This communicates, I have a great suspicion that that lady right there is your daughter, given the way she looks at you, etc. I am just looking for verification from you. Because of this, question tags never use a rising accent.

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