Falling, Rising, and Non-Final Intonation Patterns Rising and falling intonation patterns are an important part of American English. These intonation patterns do for your speech what punctuation does for your writing. They indicate pauses, stops, and...
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Falling, Rising, and Non-Final Intonation Patterns Rising and falling intonation patterns are an important part of American English. These intonation patterns do for your speech what punctuation does for your writing. They indicate pauses, stops, and questions and also communicate emotions. Varied intonation tells your listener whether you are finished talking or not, if you are asking a question, and whether you are excited, angry, surprised or confused. Not using these rising and falling patterns can confuse the listener and can also leave your speech sounding monotone. Another common misuse of these patterns is the current trend toward “upspeak,” which is ending each sentence with a rising intonation. This makes the speaker sound insecure and makes their statements sound like questions. Following the guidelines below for using rising, falling, and non-final intonation will make your speech clearer and more engaging for your listener. Falling Intonation This is when your pitch lowers
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