Intonation and Tones

High fall

The high fall is an emphatic variation of the falling tone. It may be used in informal situations to show lively interest and friendliness, usually in exclamatory sentences. Examples:

OH \HI! How \NICE! What a sur\PRISE!

The high fall begins much higher than the falling tone and goes down into the lower part of the normal speaking range, but not always as low as the falling tone. The stressed syllable on which the high fall takes place is pronounced more loudly, and the stress on it is stronger.

Though this tone is rather common in everyday speech, language learners should use it with caution and not too often because it is emphatic and rather expressive and, depending on the situation, may express various strong feelings ranging from admiration and delight to disgust and horror.

Low fall

Lowering the pitch into the lower part of the normal speaking range and using the low fall as the final tone in the sentence may indicate, depending on the situation, such feelings as disappointment, sadness, hopelessness, sympathy, sincerity, responsibility, fear, threat. When strong emotions are expressed, the low fall may be emphatic.

The low fall begins much lower than the falling tone, and the speaker usually pronounces the words less loudly, in a soft voice, and sometimes even close to whisper.

The unemphatic low fall may be used at the end of the sentence in a group of words added as an afterthought after the final fall, or in the author's words at the end of the sentence (if they are important). For example: I think I saw your cell phone in the \kitchen, on the \windowsill. "\Stop it!" a woman's voice behind them said \angrily.

If the speaker wants to mark the end of his whole utterance (after he has been speaking for some time), the whole final sentence may be pronounced on a lower level with low-falling intonation and with the low fall at the end.

High rise

The high rise is an emphatic rising tone that may be used for expressing strong surprise or disbelief, mostly in surprised echo questions. Examples: