28 Jul British English Prosody: Top 5 Must-Know Intonation Techniques
Key rules for British stress and intonation
The rhythm and melody of British English: top tips for British intonation
English, especially British English, has a very particular rhythm. British speakers of English make use of particular pitch patterns and stress patterns to indicate the communicative function of their utterance and their attitude toward what they’re saying. If you want to achieve your full potential when communicating in British English, it’s really important to know how to make full use of British English intonation patterns. This way, you will be able to convey your intended attitude and communicate professionally, politely, and with the self-assurance that you’re making your point effectively. Here are five things that you absolutely need to know.
1. Stress patterns in British English: content vs. function words
Content words include words like “dream, play, softly, loose” (nouns, verbs, adverbs, adjectives). These types of words are typically longer and louder than grammatical words in an intonation phrase (a chunk of speech marked out by punctuation). As well as being longer and louder, nouns, verbs, adverbs, and adjectives may also spark some pitch changes. Meanwhile, function words e.g. “my, a, it, is, this” (pronouns, articles, auxiliary verbs, and other grammatical words) typically don’t carry the stress. In other words, function words are usually weak in an intonation phrase. They are shorter, quieter, and don’t typically give rise to pitch changes.
2. Emphasising the final content word in neutral contexts
If we have an intonation phrase and our attitude to what we’re saying or communicative function is neutral the FINAL content word in that phrase will usually be the most stressed in the unit. In the example below, the word “done” carries the main stress. “Done” has one syllable. The most stressed syllable in the intonation phrase is known as the tonic syllable. In this intonation phrase, we are looking at a high fall. This pitch pattern is used to indicate genuine enthusiasm and involvement. Try it!
3. Stressing new information in British English
So, we’ve just learned that normally, the final content word in an intonation phrase carries the main stress – the tonic syllable. BUT, if that final content word happens to be old news – information that is repeated – this second rule applies. We don’t typically stress old information. We typically stress new information. For example, in the recording below, the word “Netherlands” is old information (because the word “Netherlands” was already mentioned – both parties know that we’re talking about the Netherlands). The new focus of this conversation is whether the person comes from the Netherlands, so that new information becomes the FOCUS of the intonation phrase and carries the main stress even though it’s a function word and not a content word.
4. Many English questions don’t use rising intonation
Unlike in many other languages, not all English questions have rising intonation. YES/NO type questions (e.g. questions starting with “be”, “do”, or “have”, etc.) often have rising intonation. However, WH questions and HOW questions in English typically have falling intonation. If we’re asking someone to do something for us or asking someone whether they’d like us to do something or give them something, we often use a fall-rise pitch pattern.
5. English words must have one main stress and stress can shift
We can have patterns like Xxx with first syllable stress, xXx, with middle syllable stress, and xxX with final syllable stress (and so on). Certain word endings (e.g. -ion, -ee) give us a clue about what the word stress pattern is going to be. Sometimes, the stress shifts when a word forms part of a compound. E.g. afterNOON but afternoon TEA.
Enhancing communication with native-like British intonation
You can find out more about the rules of word stress in the Complete English Pronunciation Course.