Intonation is the rise and fall of the voice in speaking. This is very crucial for communication.
In English, there are basically two kinds of intonation: rising and falling and we use arrows to show indicate whether it is rising or falling. ↘ represents falling intonation while ↗ represents the rising one.
Falling Intonation
Falling intonation is when we lower our voice at the end of a sentence.
This usually happens in:
(a) Statements
for example,
• I like↘ bananas.
• It is nice working with ↘you.
• She travelled to↘ Eldoret.
(b) W/H Questions
• What is your ↘name?
• Where do you ↘live?
• How old are↘ you?
• Who is this young↘ man?
(c) Commands
• Get out ↘now.
• Give me the ↘money.
• Close your ↘books.
(d) Exclamatory sentences
e.g.
• What a wonderful ↘present!
• How ↘nice of you
Rising intonation
Rising intonation is used when we lower our voices. It is used in:
• General Questions
e.g.
Do you visit them↗ often?
Have you seen ↗her?
Are you ready to ↗start?
Could you give me a↗ pen, please?
• Alternative questions
e.g.
Do you want ↗coffee or ↘tea?
Does he speak↗ Kiswahili or ↘English?
• Before tag questions
e.g.
This is a beautiful ↘place, ↗isn’t it?
She knows↘ him,↗ doesn’t she?
• Enumerating
e.g.
↗One, ↗two,↗ three, ↗four,↘ five.
She bought ↗bread, ↗cheese, ↗oranges, and ↘apples.