Special education of the republic of uzbekistan

Sequence of Tones

Alternative Questions

Model: ^→Has she a ˏniece | or a ˎnephew?

Alternative questions have the low-rising nuclear tone in the first intonation group and the low-falling nuclear tone in the final intonation-group. The fall and the rise are of narrow range here.

Disjunctive Questions

Models: You’ve ˎmet her, | ˏhaven’t you? You’ve ˎmet her, | ˎhaven’t you?

Disjunctive questions consist of two intonation-groups. The sequence of tones in disjunctive questions depends on the attitude of the speaker towards the significance of the utterance.

The first intonation-group has generally the low-falling nuclear tone. The low – rising nuclear tone of the final intonation-group, or tag, shows that the speaker is not certain of the facts expressed in the first part of the question. An answer is expected.

e.g. I rang you up yesterday. You were ^→meeting your ˎwife, | ˏweren’t you? - Yes, I was.

The low-falling nuclear tone of the tag shows that the speaker is certain of the facts expressed in the first part of the question. No answer is expected.

e.g. I saw you at the station. You were ^→meeting your ˎwife, ˎweren’t you?

She looked so young and happy.
Exercises
1. Read the following dialogue. Mark the stresses and tunes. Practise it.

A: What a lovely day, isn’t it?

B: Yes, it is.

A: How blue the sky looks, doesn’t it?

B: Yes, it does.

A: What a lot of people, aren’t there?

B: Yes, there are.

A: You’re on holiday, aren’t you?

B: Yes, I am.

A: It’s a long one, isn’t it?

B: Yes, it is.

A: You don’t talk very much, do you?

B: No, I don’t. You ask a lot of questions, don’t you?

A: Yes, I do.

2. Split the text into intonation and rhythmic groups. Observe correct pronunciation. Practise the exercise:
The weather in England can change very quickly. One day last week I went for a walk in the country. When I started early in the morning the weather was beautiful. The sun was shining, the sky was blue and there were no clouds at all. In the middle of the morning a sudden change came. A cool wind started to blow, black clouds covered the sun and in a very short time it started to rain heavily. There were no houses in sight and I had no coat with me. So, I got very wet indeed and very cold too. After about an hour I managed to catch a bus which took me home. But when I arrived I was shivering and sneezing. And I’ve had a cold ever since. I ought to have taken my coat. We sometimes say that England is the only country where you can have four seasons in one day.