The Golden Rule of Intonation:
Questions rise…. Statements fall?
By Bonnie Engel Lee, Ph. D.
“The Speech Doc”
Rising and falling intonation patterns are what make a message sound interesting. Without them, we’d be speaking with the same pitch and drive ourselves and our listeners crazy! Enter the Golden Rule of Intonation. When you ask a question, the pitch of your voice rises toward the end, usually on the final word, to express uncertainty. Your pitch falls toward the end of a statement to express certainty or the termination of an idea. The Golden Rule doesn’t take into account that there are a variety of question types and they have their own unique intonation patterns.
Let’s take a step backward and a think about intonation, which is made up of a series of pitch levels that we use. If we use our optimum pitch level and assign it a number “2”, then a “1” signifies a lower pitch and a “3” signifies a higher pitch. The word optimum assumes that you are using the pitch that is best for your vocal mechanism. To find your optimum pitch, you can hum a song or vocalize an “ah” sound at a conversational level but don’t try to force it out. (J.Moncur and I. Brackett, Modifying Vocal Behavior, Harper and Row, 1974).
The numbers 1,2, and 3 are used below to indicate the pitch level to be used when saying each question. Number 2 relates to your optimum pitch, the pitch level from which you rise or fall. Each number relates to a syllable in each sentence.
Questions Types
Yes/No Questions-Simply, these are questions to which a yes or no answer is given as a reply. The following questions are written in syllables. Therefore, a two syllable word like “go-ing” is separated by a hyphen, to reflect the two syllables in the word.
Are you go-ing? 2 2 2 3
Did he stop at the store? 2 2 2 2 2 3
Is he leav-ing now? 2 2 2 2 3
WH Questions-These questions begin with a question word such as “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, or “how”. These questions are characterized by a rising intonation on the syllable or word just before the last syllable or word.
Where is he go-ing? 2 2 2 3 2
How will he get there? 2 2 2 3 2
When is the par-ty? 2 2 2 3 2
Tag Questions-These questions consist of a statement followed by a question. The question is a request for clarification and expresses uncertainty and a response from the listener. There are two common patterns of intonation with tag questions.
Pattern 1 (Say the tag question with rising intonation)
He was-n’t rea-dy, was he? 2 2 2 3 2, 2 3 (rising intonation)
She isn’t com-ing, is she? 2 2 2 3 2, 2 3
He has a lot of mo-ney, does-’nt he? 2 2 2 2 2 3 2, 2 2 3
Pattern 2 (Say the tag question with falling intonation)
He was-n’t rea-dy, was he? 2 2 2 3 2, 3 1
She isn’t com-ing, is she? 2 2 2 3 2, 3 1
He has a lot of mo-ney, does’nt he? 2 2 2 2 2 3 2, 3 2 1
Choice Questions- In these questions, a listener is asked to pick one
of the choices given. There are two patterns, which vary depending upon when the choices are limited to those given (one or the other) or not.
Pattern 1- The choices are restricted to those listed.
Would you like rice or po-ta-toes? 2 2 2 3 (rising) 2 2 3 1
Pattern 2- The choices are not restricted.
Would you like rice or po-ta-toes? 2 2 2 3 (rising) 2 2 3 3
(If you don’t like either of these, I can offer you something else.)
Are you ready to try a few by yourself?
Read each question and then listen and mark the intonation pattern using the numbers 1, 2 and 3. Good Luck!
Where are you going?
You got the job, didn’t you?
What time do you have to be there?
Will he be coming late?
Did you join a union yet?
Is he your brother or your cousin?
You know the answer, don’t you?
Who gave you that information?
When are we meeting?
What do you like better, ProTools or Audacity Audition?
Questions rise…. Statements fall?
By Bonnie Engel Lee, Ph. D.
“The Speech Doc”
Rising and falling intonation patterns are what make a message sound interesting. Without them, we’d be speaking with the same pitch and drive ourselves and our listeners crazy! Enter the Golden Rule of Intonation. When you ask a question, the pitch of your voice rises toward the end, usually on the final word, to express uncertainty. Your pitch falls toward the end of a statement to express certainty or the termination of an idea. The Golden Rule doesn’t take into account that there are a variety of question types and they have their own unique intonation patterns.
Let’s take a step backward and a think about intonation, which is made up of a series of pitch levels that we use. If we use our optimum pitch level and assign it a number “2”, then a “1” signifies a lower pitch and a “3” signifies a higher pitch. The word optimum assumes that you are using the pitch that is best for your vocal mechanism. To find your optimum pitch, you can hum a song or vocalize an “ah” sound at a conversational level but don’t try to force it out. (J.Moncur and I. Brackett, Modifying Vocal Behavior, Harper and Row, 1974).
The numbers 1,2, and 3 are used below to indicate the pitch level to be used when saying each question. Number 2 relates to your optimum pitch, the pitch level from which you rise or fall. Each number relates to a syllable in each sentence.
Questions Types
Yes/No Questions-Simply, these are questions to which a yes or no answer is given as a reply. The following questions are written in syllables. Therefore, a two syllable word like “go-ing” is separated by a hyphen, to reflect the two syllables in the word.
Are you go-ing? 2 2 2 3
Did he stop at the store? 2 2 2 2 2 3
Is he leav-ing now? 2 2 2 2 3
WH Questions-These questions begin with a question word such as “who”, “what”, “where”, “when”, “why”, or “how”. These questions are characterized by a rising intonation on the syllable or word just before the last syllable or word.
Where is he go-ing? 2 2 2 3 2
How will he get there? 2 2 2 3 2
When is the par-ty? 2 2 2 3 2
Tag Questions-These questions consist of a statement followed by a question. The question is a request for clarification and expresses uncertainty and a response from the listener. There are two common patterns of intonation with tag questions.
Pattern 1 (Say the tag question with rising intonation)
He was-n’t rea-dy, was he? 2 2 2 3 2, 2 3 (rising intonation)
She isn’t com-ing, is she? 2 2 2 3 2, 2 3
He has a lot of mo-ney, does-’nt he? 2 2 2 2 2 3 2, 2 2 3
Pattern 2 (Say the tag question with falling intonation)
He was-n’t rea-dy, was he? 2 2 2 3 2, 3 1
She isn’t com-ing, is she? 2 2 2 3 2, 3 1
He has a lot of mo-ney, does’nt he? 2 2 2 2 2 3 2, 3 2 1
Choice Questions- In these questions, a listener is asked to pick one
of the choices given. There are two patterns, which vary depending upon when the choices are limited to those given (one or the other) or not.
Pattern 1- The choices are restricted to those listed.
Would you like rice or po-ta-toes? 2 2 2 3 (rising) 2 2 3 1
Pattern 2- The choices are not restricted.
Would you like rice or po-ta-toes? 2 2 2 3 (rising) 2 2 3 3
(If you don’t like either of these, I can offer you something else.)
Are you ready to try a few by yourself?
Read each question and then listen and mark the intonation pattern using the numbers 1, 2 and 3. Good Luck!
Where are you going?
You got the job, didn’t you?
What time do you have to be there?
Will he be coming late?
Did you join a union yet?
Is he your brother or your cousin?
You know the answer, don’t you?
Who gave you that information?
When are we meeting?
What do you like better, ProTools or Audacity Audition?
If you have any voice or speech questions for the “Speech Doc”, feel free to comment here or email your questions/comments to:
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