1. Definition and functions

4. • Textual - helps larger units than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action.

• 4. • Textual - helps larger units than the sentence to contrast and cohere. In radio news-reading, paragraphs of information can be shaped through the use of pitch. In sports commentary, changes in prosody reflect the progress of the action.
• 5. • Psychological - helps us to organize speech into units that are easier to perceive and memorize. Most people would find a sequence of numbers, for example, difficult to recall. The task is made easier by using intonation to chunk the sequence into two units.
• 6. • Indexical - an important marker of personal or social identity. Lawyers, preachers, newscasters, sports commentators, army sergeants, and several other occupations are readily identified through their distinctive prosody.
• No matter how many functions are named, all of them perform the function of communication.

2. Components of intonation and the structure of English tone-group

Pitch level and pitch range

• Each intonation group has its own pitch and stress pattern. Variations in voice pitch occur within the normal range of the speaking voice within the interval between its lower and upper limits.
• Three pitch levels are generally distinguished:
• high, medium, low.
• Pitch range is an interval between two pitch levels.
• It can be: normal, wide or narrow.

An intonation pattern is the basic unit of intonation

• It can consist of the following parts:
• the pre-head (unstressed and half-stressed syllables preceding the head)
• the head (the syllables beginning with the first stressed syllable up to the last stressed syllable)
• the nucleus (the last stressed syllable)
• the tail (the unstressed and half stressed syllables that follow the nucleus)