ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554

Vol. 1, Issue 2, June 2013 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

A STUDY OF ENGLISH INTONATION

IN INDONESIAN EFL LEARNERS
Roni Nursyamsu
Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia
E-mail: roninursyamsu@gmail.com

Lukluk Argita Munif

Department of English Education, University of Kuningan, Indonesia
E-mail: luklukargita94@gmail.com

APA Citation: Nursyamsu, R. & Munif, L. A. (2013). A study of English intonation in

Indonesian EFL learners. English Review: Journal of English Education,
1(2),223-230

Received: 12-02-2013 Accepted: 03-04-2013 Published: 01-06-2013

Abstract: This study examined the patterns of intonation and kinds of information structure
that occur in EFL learners. The objectives of this study were: (1) to know the patterns of
intonation that occur in EFL learners; (2) to know kinds of information structure that occur
in EFL learners. The method used in this study is descriptive qualitative and the subjects of
this study is a debater and also a student in English Department at one of private university
in Kuningan, West Java. Techniques of collecting data used in this research were library
research, observation and interview. Halliday’s theory and PRAAT Software Analysis use
in this research to analyze the data. Based on the data analysis, it can be known that: (1)
There were 5 kinds of intonation pattern used by the speaker: fall, rise (final), rise (non-
final), fall-rise (final), fall-rise (non-final); (2) There were 158 clauses with 25 independent
clauses and 133 dependent clauses from the respondent’s performance; (3) There were three
systems from information structure: tonality, tonicity, and tone; (4) In tonality system, H-
TS-T with the percentage 18% was the most pattern used by the respondent; (5) Given-New-
Given (G-N-G) with the precentage 36% was mostly used in her performance based on
tonicity system; (6) Incomplete information (rise non-final) was the most dominant
intonation pattern used by the respondent with the precentage 33%.
Keywords: intonation, information structure, EFL learners

INTRODUCTION are analyzed into phonemes, the smallest

Phonology is the study of the units of sound that can change the
organization of sounds in language meaning of a word. A phoneme may
(Marlett, 2001, p. 2). It is different from have several allophones relating to
phonetics, which is the study of the sounds that are district but do not
production, perception, and physical change the meaning of a word when they
properties of speech sounds; phonology are interchanged. In a brief explanation,
attempts to account for how they are phonology is the study of sound
combined, organized, and convey structure in language, which is different
meaning in particular languages. Only a from the study of sentence structure
fraction of the sounds humans can (syntax) or word structure (morphology),
articulate is found in any particular or how languages change over time
language. In phonology, speech sounds (historical linguistic) (Odden, 2005).
KUANG CHING HEI & MAYA KHEMLANI DAVID
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As the part of phonology, intonation those who prefer to reserve ‘intonation’

is the kinds of pitch modulation found in for pitch effects in speech, the word
whole utterances (Carr, 2008). The term ‘prosody’ is convenient as a more general
of intonation refers to mean for term to include patterns of pitch, timing,
conveying information in speech which loudness, and (sometimes) voice quality.
is independent of the words and their In recent years, “the focus has been on
sounds. Intonation is also often referred generative models of intonation, also
to in everyday language as speech form-based, that rely on metrical
melody or sentence melody, terms that representatives of text, indications of
focus on pitch variations and modulation stressed vs unstressed syllables, and on
(Chun, 2002). Central to intonation is the phrasal tunes represented by strings of
modulation of pitch, and intonation is two discrete tones, high (H) and low (L)”
often thought of as the use of pitch over (Chun, 2002 , p. 15).
the domain of the utterance. However, In linguistics, stress is the relative
the patterning of pitch in speech is so emphasis that may be given to certain
closely bound to patterns of timing and syllables in a word, or to certain words in
loudness, and sometimes voice quality, a phrase or sentence. Stress is typically
that we cannot consider pitch in isolation signaled by such properties as increased
from these other dimensions. The use of loudness and vowel length, full
an inappropriate intonation pattern may articulation of the vowel, and changes in
give rise to misunderstandings. The pitch. From the perceptual point of view,
misunderstanding can be major or minor all stressed syllables have one
depending on the context in which the characteristic in common, and that is
intonation pattern is used. As there is no prominence; stressed syllables are
one to one correspondence between recognized as stressed because they are
intonation and meaning, an appropriate more prominent than unstressed
meaning can often be found when it fits syllables (Roach, 1991).
with the ‘wrong’ intonation pattern. Stressed syllables are often louder
The aim of this research, for that than non-stressed syllables, and may
reason, is not to find fault, but to find out have a higher or lower pitch. They may
information functions such as the also sometimes be pronounced longer.
segmentation of discourse that There are sometimes differences in place
represents the speakers’ management of or manner of articulation – in particular,
the total message into separate pieces of vowels in unstressed syllables may have
information and then after that it is a more central articulation, while those
located on the most prominent word in in stressed syllables have a more
organization of information then the last peripheral articulation. Stress may be
is decision of status in each unit of realized to varying degrees on different
information, focusing attention on words in a sentence; sometimes the
important elements of the spoken difference between the acoustic signals of
message and also helping to regulate stressed and unstressed syllables are
conversational interaction. minimal.
The interaction of intonation and An important role of intonation is as
stress — the patterns of relative the ‘punctuation’ of spoken languages,
prominence which characterize an marking the division between
utterance — are particularly close in grammatical units and more generally
many languages, including English. For helping the listener to follow the
ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554
Vol. 1, Issue 2, June 2013 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

utterance. The function is brought we use intonation units to convey that

sharply into focus on occasion when the information in phonological terms.
words used allow more than one Each tone group has a tonic syllable,
grammatical parse. a place of prominence that the speaker
Intonation in English is organized in seeks to mark as most important and that
units Halliday calls tone groups. carries the most pronounced pitch
Halliday (1970, p. 3) says of the tone change. It often carries the burden of
group: “new information” in the clause and, as
The tone group is one unit of such, the normative place of a tonic
information, one “block” in the syllable is on the last word in a clause.
message that the speaker is Placement of the tonic syllable in places
communicating; and so it can be of any other than this is understood to be
length. The particular meaning that contrastive. The placement of tonic
the speaker wishes to convey may prominence is referred to as tonicity.
make it necessary to split a single Tonic segment is the most
clause into two or more tone groups, prominent stress (= tonic syllable) and
or to combine two or more clauses into carries the most significant pitch
one tone group. movement of the whole unit. The
Tench (2005) summarized the major location of the tonic syllable relates to
contribution in triple systems which is another sub-system, known as tonicity.
express information structure, those are: In English, there is a very high level of
tonality, tonicity and tone. The pattern expectation that the tonic syllable will be
by which tone groups are distributed found on the last lexical item in each
throughout speech, called tonality, is intonation unit (unit of information –
crucial to the sense of an utterance. The tonality). This expectation is in the order
speaker divides up the stream of spoken of 80% probability. It usually means that
words into groups, and this reveals to all the information in the intonation unit
the listener how to mentally organize the is new; thus the focus of information is
information. Almost always, tonality broad.
follows a predictable course, with tone The tonic segment is usually
groups basically corresponding to preceded in the intonation unit by a
grammatical clauses. stretch of sound known as the pre-tonic
Tone group is one of the intonation segment. In traditional terminology, the
feature of intonation that has three pre-tonic segment comprises a head,
primary system, those are unit of which consists of the first stressed
information, focus of information and syllable (the onset syllable) and all other
status of information. It is related to the stressed and unstressed syllables up to,
number of tone group in utterance and but not including, the tonic syllable. Any
each such tone group is seen as one unstressed syllables preceding the head
‘move’ in a speech act. are called the pre-head. The tonic segment
Tonality, the segmentation of comprises the tonic syllable, often also
discourse into individual units of called the nucleus or nuclear syllable, and
intonation in sequence, represents the any following stressed or unstressed
speaker’s perception of the number of syllables, called the tail.
units of information. We use clauses to Tonality reflects the experiential
convey information in grammatical function, tonicity at least one aspect of
terms in order to represent situation and the textual function. Tone also reflects
KUANG CHING HEI & MAYA KHEMLANI DAVID
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textuality in the sense that it represents been mentioned several times that
the speaker’s perception of the status of tonic syllables have a high degree
information - the relative importance of of prominence; prominence is, of
each successive piece of information course, a property of stressed
(status of information). It marks the kind syllables.
of activity involved, by a complex Chun (2002, p. 19) states that tone
pattern built out of a simple opposition is “the major pitch movement within the
between certain and uncertain polarity. If tone unit or it can be said that the overall
polarity is certain, the pitch of the tonic behavior of pitch is tone”. The total tone
falls, if uncertain, it rises. system to signal status of information is
Halliday (as cited in Roach, 1991) as follows:
has identified five basic tones, or pitch 1. Low fall : Polarity (truth value or
contours, in English. Tone interacts with validity) is known, stated or yes/no
tonality (distribution of tone groups) and question. The voice falls during the
tonicity (placement of tonic prominence) word from a medium to a very low
to create meaning in English intonation. pitch.
Following are the tones identified in 2. High rising: The polarity is
Halliday’s system: unknown and information is desired.
Simple Tone Groups: The voice rises during the word
tone 1 falling from a medium to a high pitch.
tone 2 high rising, or falling-rising 3. Rise fall : Not doubt in order to
(pointed) dismiss it. The voice first rises from
tone 3 low rising a fairly low to a high pitch, and then
tone 4 falling-rising (rounded) quickly falls to a very law pitch.
tone 5 rising-falling (rounded) 4. Fall rise
(Roach,: Something
1991, p. 143)
is known, but
In segmentation of tonality, there there is some doubt or reservation.
are some divisions of intonational The voice first falls from a fairly
contour. Roach (1991, p. 145) was the high to a rather low pitch, and then,
first one to divide the structure of tone- still within the word, raises to a
unit into four main segments: medium pitch.
1. Head is all that part of a tone-unit 5. Low rise : Imply uncertainty and
that extends from the first stressed that the assertation is conditional or
syllable up to the tonic syllable. something else. The voice rises
2. Pre-head is composed of all the during the word from a low to a
unstressed syllables in a tone-unit medium pitch or a little above.
preceding the first stressed syllable. Halliday drew attention to
3. Nucleus or tonic syllable is the differences between major information
most prominent syllable in the signalled by a falling tone and minor,
utterance or major pitch movement. signalled by a low rising tone. In this
4. Tail is any syllables between the case, the theme is highlighted, as if the
tonic syllable and the end of tone- speaker wished to say something like this
unit. present visit (is, in fact, my first visit to
Nucleus also has another name India). Thus the total tone system to
called tonic syllable. Roach (1991, p. 145) signal status of information is as follows :
states that: fall : \ = major information (but I saw
A syllable which carries a tone will him yesterday in the \library)
be called a tonic syllable. It has
ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554
Vol. 1, Issue 2, June 2013 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

(final) rise = minor information (but I saw considered appropriate since this study
him yester \day | in the /library) attempts to find out the kinds of
(non-final) rise : / = incomplete information structure that occur in EFL
information (but I saw him yester learners and to know the intonation
/day | in the \library) patterns of the learners for delivering
(final) fall-rise : \/ = implication (but I their messages.
saw him yesterday in the \/library) The respondent in this research was
(non-final) fall-rise : \/ = highlighting of purposively chosen because she is in the
theme (but \/ I | saw him yesterday 3rd grade who has followed the 4th
in the \library) semester of listening and speaking
(Tench, 2005, p. 10) classes in University of Kuningan. She
In this context of the research, the also is a debater who followed English
respondent is joining debate competition Debate Competition in IAIN Syekh
that uses British Parliamentary Debate as Nurjati Cirebon.
the system of the debate competition. Three data collection techniques
Debate is a formal discussion on a were employed in this study, which were
particular matter in a public meeting or library research, observation, and
legislative assembly, in which opposing interview. However, in collecting the
arguments are put forward and which data, the researchers have to employ
usually ends with a vote (Simpson & appropriate instuments such as library
Weiner, 2010, p. 2). Debaters - they who research, observation, and interview. All
do debate - challenge ideas, they do not data collection was recorded in order to
attack each other. As in other sports, the keep authenticity of the data.
fair play is crucial. In the library research, the
On the basis of the background to researchers found some theories to
the present study mentioned above, the support the data in this research from
research attempted to address the many references (printed book, e-book,
following research questions: what are journal, and online reading).
the patterns of intonation that occur in In the observation, the data was
EFL learner? and what are kinds of analyzed in several steps. First, the
information structure that occur in EFL researchers transcribed the transcription
learner ? of audio recorder when the respondent
followed English Debate Competition.
METHOD Then, analyzing the data based on
This study uses qualitative method intonation patterns and kinds of
to discover deep and whole information structure by using
comprehension on the information Halliday’s theory and PRAAT Software
structures that occur in EFL learner and Analysis to analyze the data. Next,
the patterns that exist in learner's speech identifying the data and interpreting the
when she used intonation for delivering findings of the data analysis.
the message. The goal of qualitative In the interview, the data and
research is to discover and develop the information were gained from the
new and to develop empirically respondent. The interview was
grounded theories (Flick, 2009, p. 15). conducted to clarify the result of data
Qualitative method is used for exploring, analysis from PRAAT in order to know
understanding and analyzing the respondent’s aim in delivering her
unstructured data. This method is speech.
KUANG CHING HEI & MAYA KHEMLANI DAVID
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RESULTS AND DISCUSSION division uses PRAAT software for

The findings of the study are accurate analysis. It is because we cannot
described in three categories. The first make decision about how high the pitch
category is unit of information. The or how loud the intensity with human’
second category is about the focus of hearing as we know that every human
information, and the third is the status of has different ability to hear clearly. There
information. All of them complete each are eight common patterns of unit of
other reaching the objectives of the information that are coded by different
research. In first step, the respondent’s colour. The first pattern is PH-TS with
speech will be divided into different 10% or there are 16 units of information,
clause segmentations based on grammar the second pattern is H-TS-T with 18% or
level and marking the stress syllable 29 units of information, the third pattern
using PRAAT software analyses. is TS-T with 17% or 27 units of
In clause segmentation, these clauses information, the fourth pattern is PH-H-
are differentiated into two units of TS-T with 10% or 16 units of information,
information using grammar level. It is the fifth pattern is TS with 17% or 27
because we use clauses to convey units of information, the sixth pattern is
information in grammatical terms as we PH-TS-T with 18% or 28 units of
use intonation units to convey information, the seventh pattern is H-TS
information in phonological terms. There with 7% or 11 units of information and
are 16 % or 25 independent clauses and the last is PH-H-TS with 3% or 4 units of
84 % or 133 dependent clauses, with the information.
total clauses are 158 clauses. The second system to organize
In stressing, the discussion can be information is focus of information
noted that the respondent put 279 (Tonicity). Focus of information is
stresses that draw 222 amounts of time in signaled by student’s stressing in the
a whole discourse. There are some words form of speech. Speech is produced in
that did not get any stresses in that batches of segments that are
utterances. It is because the speaker hierarchically ordered: within any such
decided to encode the message with batch except the lowest a smaller batch
stress placing. Languages differ, can be identified (Gussenhoven, 2002:
however, in what might be termed their 276). In the discourse, it is found four
prominence gradient, the steepness of patterns of focus of information. In the
change between prominent and non- first patterns is Given-New (G-N) with
prominent elements. It is because the 20 % or 31 units of information, the
prominence of information has relation second pattern is New-Given (N-G) with
to stress. As Chun (2002, p.148) states 21 % or 33 units of information in that
that “stress is the linguistic means of monologue, the third pattern is Given-
marking syllables or words as New-Given (G-N-G) with 36 % or 58
prominence or perceptually silent in units of information and the last pattern
relation to others no matter how is only New in the utterances with 23 %
prominence is achieved”. or 36 units of information.
Based on Halliday’s theory, there are The last system to organize
three kinds of information structure: information is status of information
tonality, tonicity, and tone. Tonality is (Tone). Tone reflects textuality in the
the chunking of speech into intonational sense that it represents the speaker’s
phrases or tone unit. The finding of this perception of the status of information -
ENGLISH REVIEW: Journal of English Education ISSN 2301-7554
Vol. 1, Issue 2, June 2013 http://journal.uniku.ac.id/index.php/ERJEE

the relative importance of each Given-New-Given was the highest

successive piece of information (status of formula in tonicity with the precentage
information). There are five status of 36%. It means that the respondent
information in whole utterances in form delivered the information in the simplest
of speech. The first is incomplete way, so that the listener would get the
information (/) with 33 % or 52 information easily, Given means known
incomplete information in whole or at least knowable by the listener at this
utterances. The second, is major point in the discourse, New means
information (\) with 15% or 23 major unknown or non-recoverable. The
information in whole utterances. The respondent mostly used incomplete
third, there are 13% or 21 implication information [ / : rise (non-final)] as her
information (\/) in whole utterances. tone means that the information is not
The fourth status information is final or needs other information to make
highlighted theme (\/) with 32 % or 51 it complete with the precentage 33%. It
in whole utterances and the last is minor happened because she could not control
information (/) with only 7 % or 11 over the content of her speech.
minor information. Third, from the interview, it can be
concluded that the respondent’s aim of
CONCLUSIONS her speech was to convince all of the
From the results and discussion in participants and audiences that
the previous chapter, there are several presented in debaters’ hall when the
conclusion that can be drawn. First, there debate competition began. The
are 5 kinds of intonation pattern used by placement of pauses and the use of
the respondent: fall \ , rise (final) / , rise intonation that inappropriate with the
(non-final) / , fall-rise (final) \/ , fall-rise aim of the respondent happened because
(non-final) \/. she was in spontaneous speech and did
Second, there are three kinds of not use any prepared text (impromptu
information structures: unit of speech). It made her very nervous so that
information (tonality), focus of she could not use appropriate intonation
information (tonicity), and status of and place the stress incorrectly.
information (tone). In tonality, H-TS-T,
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Not Careless But Weak: Language Mixing of Malaysian Chinese in a Business Transaction

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