Luận Văn A study on intonation of English questions

Khóa luận tốt nghiệp
Đề tài: A study on intonation of English questions


TABLE OF CONTENT
PART ONE: INTRODUCTION . 1
1. Rationale of the study 5
2. Scope of the study . 5
3. Aims of the study 6
4. Methods of the study . 6
5. Design of the study 7
PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT . 8
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND . 8
1. An overview of English sentences 8
1.1. What is an English sentence ? . 8
1.2. Classification of sentence . 9
1.2.1. Statement . 9
1.2.2. Questions . 10
1.2.3. Commands . 10
1.2.4. Exclamations . 11
2. An overview of English question . 11
2.1. What is the question? 11
2.2. Classification of question 12
2.2.1. Yes - No questions . 12
2.2.2. Wh - questions . 13
2.2.3. Alternativ e questions . 13
3. Intonation 14
3.1. What is intonation ? 14
3.2.The roles of intonation. 16
3.3. Intonation language and tone lang uage 19
3.4. Function of intonation . 20
3.4.1. Grammatical function 20
3
3.4.2. Attitudinal function . 22
3.5. Some major intonat ion features . 24
3.5.1. Stress 24
3.5.1.1. Tonic stress 26
3.5.1.2. Emphatic stress . 26
3.5.1.3. Contrastive stress 27
3.5.1.4. New information stress . 27
3.5.2. Tune shapes . 28
3.5.2.1. The Fall Tune - The Glide- Down . 29
3.5.2.2. The first rising tune – the Glide - Up . 29
3.5.2 .3. The rising tune - the Take - off 30
3.5.2.4. The falling - rising tune - the Dive 30
CHAPTER 2: INTONATION IN ENGLISH QUESTIONS . 31
1. Intonation in English questions 31
1.1. Yes - No questions 31
1.1.1. General Yes - No questions 31
1.1.2. Tag que stions 32
1.1.3. Declarative questions . 34
1.1.4.Exclamatory questions 34
1.1.5.Rhetorical questions 35
1.2. Wh - questions 35
1.3. Alternative questions 36
1.3.1. Common Alternative questions . 37
1.3.2. Alternative plus Yes - No questions . 37
1.3.3. Alternative plus Wh - question . 39
2. Attitudinal functions of the intonation and English question s 39
2.1. Yes - No questions 39
2.1.1. The High Drop . 39
2.1.2. Low- Bounce 40
4
2.1.3. The Take - off 41
2.1.4. The Switchback . 42
2.1.5. The Low Drop . 43
2.2. Wh - questions 45
2.2.1.The High Drop 45
2.2.2. Low Bounce 46
2.2.3. The Take - off 48
2.2.4. The Switchback . 49
2.2.5. The Low Drop . 50
2.3. Alternative questions 51
CHAPTER 3: FINDING AND DISCUSSION ON THE STUDY 53
1. Finding and discussion on using into nation of English questions of
English students 53
2. Some suggestions from improvement after studying intonation . 59
2.1. For competence enhancement 59
2.1.1. I mproving English listening . 59
2.1.2. Improving English speaking . 61
2.2. For teaching English questions 63
2.2.1. Wh - question 64
2.2.2. Yes - No question 65
2.2.3. Alternative questions . 66
2.3. For communication purpose 67
2.3.1. In Wh - question 67
2.3.2.In Yes - No questions 69
2.3.3. In Alternative questions . 71
CONCLUSION 73
REFERRENCES:
APPENDIX


PART ONE: INTRODUCTION
1. Rationale of the study
Language is an essential means of communication in our life. Thanks to
language, people are able to decode the messages, the ideas or any piece of
thought. Moreover, it is common knowledge that English is the most popular
language in the world. Nowadays, with the d evelopment of advance
technology and information, English plays an important role in society and it
is the main language to tighten relations between people in the global. So
learning English is getting more and more important in our society.
Of course, English learners know that intonation is very important because
inaccurate intonation causes the bad effects in communication. May be
sentence what you speak, you used different intonation, listeners can
understand it is impolite or polite, informal and formal even when you
speak truly on grammar, vocabulary but listener still don’t understand what
you say because your intonation do not express any significances. Therefore, I
went to ask so many English learners as a foreign language. However, what I
received was that “It is important”, but little more.
Being a student of English, I am too stuck in the problem and my desire is to
make it clear and to get more comprehensive and specific understanding.
2. Scope of the study
Intonation is a large theme because every country has its own language and of
course, every language has it own intonation. However, due to limited time
and knowledge in this paper, I only focused on the part of intonation of
English question (wh-questions, yes-no questions and alternative questions, in
which .definition, difference between tonal language, and intonation
6
language, intonation patterns, some major intonation features, the links
between those intonation patterns and speaker’s attitude will be mentioned.
3. Aims of the study
Being aware of the fact that intonation is an extremely difficult topic and
merely well-understood by foreign English learners and every native speakers
of English who take the intonation for granted, however, appreciate the
intonation associated to attitude of the speakers. Therefore, when they hear
foreign grammatical or pronunciation mistakes, they are quite willing to
accept and understand them. However, if inappropriate intonation is used
then, they might, without really knowing why, take offence and feel that this
person sound bored, arrogant or not interested in them. Therefore, I research
this topic with the following major aims:
Giving the knowledge of sentences, questions and intonation
Explaining the difference between tonal language and intonation
language
Distinguish different kinds of sentence questions.
Raising the learner’s aware of the existence of intonation and the
effects using intonation and communication.
Helping the learners use right intonation in right situations
4. Methods of the study
With the above aims, the following methods are used in the studying process:
Having discussion with supervisor, friends, etc
Reading reference books and documents
Accessing Internet
Selecting typical examples
7
5. Design of the study
This paper provides a clear organization consisting three main parts that help
an easy exploration and practical benefits gained for readers as well.
Part one is the Introduction which includes: Rationale, Scope of the study,
Aims of the study, Method of the study, and Design of the study.
Part two is the Development which consists of three chapter as following:
Chapter 1 is the theoretical background deal with an overview of English
sentence, question, roles of intonation, difference between tonal language and
intonation language, functions of intonation and some major intonation
features.
Chapter 2 is intonation in English questions. It is divided into 2 parts:
intonation in English question and attitudinal functions of intonation and
English question.
Chapter 3 is the implication of the study which consists of 2 parts: finding and
discussion on using intonation of English question of English students some
and suggestions for improvement after studying intonation.


PART TWO: DEVELOPMENT
CHAPTER 1: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
1. An overview of English sentences
1.1. What is an English sentence ?
So far, we have referred to sentences without providing any definition of a
sentence. The question “What is a sentence?” is more difficult than it might
appear. An American linguist, C.C Fries, counted more than two hundred
definitions of the sentence. The sentence is the basic building block of
written language. In the past, sentences were often defined according to their
meaning. For example, they were said to contain “a complete thought”. This
raises all sorts of questions about the difference between the complete
thought and an incomplete one.
A common definition today is: “A sentence is marked by a capital letter at
the beginning and a full-stop at the end”. This works for many English
sentences, but there are many languages, such as those in Asia that does not
use this punctuation .Also, it is possible to have written sentence without
capital letters and punctuation marks.
In traditional school grammar, a sentence is said to contai n a subject and a
predicate: a major classroom occupation was analyzing sentences into
subjects and predicates. (the predicate is all the rest of the sentence after
subject)


REFERRENCES:
1. Rebecca M.Dayer, “Accurate English”, NXB TPHCM 2002
2. J.D.O’Connor, B.A and G.F.Arnold, B.A, “Intonation of Colloquial
English”, Longman
3. J.D.O’Connor, “Better English Pronunciation”, Cambridge University
Press.
4. Perter Roach, “English Phonetics and Phonology”, Cambridge University
Press.
5. Quirk, R.a and Greenbaum, S. “A University Grammar of English”,
London, Longman Group U.K limited, 1973
6.Marianne Celce- Murica, Donna M.Briton, and Janet M.Goodwin,(1996)
“Teaching Pronunciation”, Cambridge University Press.
7. The Chauncey group international LTD, (2000) “Oxford practice tests for
the TOEIC test, Oxford University Press.”
8. David Brazil, (1997) “The Communicative value of intonation in English”,
Cambridge University Press.
9.Perter Avery and Susan Ehrlich, (1992) “ Teaching American English
Pronunciation”, Oxford University Press.”
10. Ann Bauker, (2004) " Ship Or Sheep", Cambridge University Press.
Website:
1.Goodgle.com
2. www.english.unitenology.ac.nz/resources/resources/exp-lang/sentence.html
3. www. Phon.ucl.uk/home/johnm/ptlc 2001/pdf/timova.pdf
4. www. Allwords.com/word-intonation.html
5.www.cels.bham.ac.uk/resources/essay/kumaki Diss.pdf.htlm