American English Pronunciation: Intonation

今天我要談一下「語調」

Today I'm going to talk about intonation. I've touched on this subject in various other

我提過這個主題，但散佈在其他影片中

videos without ever explicitly defining it. And today, that's what we're going to do.

至今仍未明確解釋它

今天，我們就來做個說明

But I'm also going to reference these other videos, and I really encourage you to go watch

而我也會提到其他影片

並鼓勵你去看那些影片

those as well. If you've seen my videos on word stress, then you've already heard me

如果你看過我「單字的重音」影片

那多少聽我講過「音高」

talk a little about pitch. Stressed syllables will be higher in pitch, and often a little

「重音節」的音會念高一點

通常也念久一點、大聲一點

longer and a little louder than unstressed syllables. And there are certain words that

而「輕音節」則不會如此

某些字在句子中會重讀，這是「內容字」

will have a stress within a sentence, content words. And certain words that will generally

而某些字通常會輕讀，那是「功能字」

be unstressed, and those are function words. For information on that, I invite you to watch

想了解更多上述資訊，歡迎你來看我那些影片

those videos. Intonation is the idea that these different pitches across a phrase form

「語調」的概念如下：

這些高低不同、遍及片語的「音高」形成一種「模式」

a pattern, and that those patterns characterize speech. In American English, statements tend

而那些模式，展現說話的特性

在美語中，「直述句」往往以稍高音起頭，稍低音結尾

to start higher in pitch and end lower in pitch. You know this if you've seen my video

如果你看過我以下影片，就知道此事

questions vs. statements. In that video, we learned that statements, me, go down in pitch.

《疑問句與直述句的比較》

在那段影片，我們學到直述句中的「me」，音往下降

And questions, me?, go up in pitch at the end. So these pitch patterns across a phrase

及疑問句中的「me?」，尾音上揚

這些遍及片語、展現語言特性的「音高模式」

that characterize a language are little melodies. And the melodies of American English will

幾乎沒有旋律可言

美語的旋律完全不同於，舉個例子，如中文的旋律

be very different than, for example, the melodies of Chinese. If you haven't already seen the

如果你還沒看過我寫的這篇網誌

blog I did on the podcast Musical Language, I encourage you to take a look at that. It

講述一段播客「如音樂般的語言」

我鼓勵你去看一下，它談到「說話的旋律」

talks about the melody of speech. Understanding and using correct intonation is a very important

理解與使用正確的語調

是「美語口音」極為重要的一環

part to sounding natural. Even if you're making the correct sounds of American English, but

即使你的美語發音正確

you're speaking in the speech patterns, or intonation of another language, it will still

但你講話時，說話模式或語調，仍不脫另一種語言

這聽起來仍有明顯的外國腔

sound very foreign. Intonation can also convey meaning or an opinion, an attitude. Let's

語調也能傳達語意，或一種意見、態度

我們以這個直述句為例：「我目前休學中。」

take for example the statement 'I'm dropping out of school' and the response 'Are you serious?'

而回應是：「真的嗎？」

真的嗎？ 這是音往上揚的疑問句

Are you serious? A question going up in pitch conveys, perhaps, an open attitude, concern

可能傳達一種開放的態度，對此人的關心

for the person. Are you serious? But, are you serious? Down in pitch, more what you

真的嗎？

但「真的喔！」，音往下降

其含意超出你對直述句的認定

would expect of a statement, are you serious? The same words, but when it is intoned this

真的喔！

同一句話，但用這種平直方式講出來

way, it is conveying a judgement. Are you serious, a negative one. I don't agree that

這就傳達一種評斷

真的喔！ 一種負面的評斷

我不贊同你目前應該中斷學業

you should be dropping out of school. I'm dropping out of school. Are you serious? I'm

我目前休學中

真的嗎？

我目前休學中

dropping out of school. Are you serious? With the same words, very different meanings can

真的喔！

同樣的回話，傳達的語意卻截然不同

be conveyed. So intonation is the stress pattern, the pitch pattern, of speech. The melody of

所以，「語調」是說話的「重音模式」、「音高模式」

「說話的旋律」

speech. If you've read my bio on my website, you know melody is something I'm especially

如果你在我的網站上看過我的履歷

你就知道「旋律」是我特別喜歡的東西

keen on, as I studied music through the master's level.

因為我就是研究音樂而拿到碩士

我當時在地方性的演出中，飾演一位反串男性的角色 正在唱：Ariadne 在百萬人中，是獨一無二的

Yes, that was yours truly, thinking a lot about melody. Now, you know that in American

沒錯，那是當時的「本人」，一直想著旋律的事

你現在知道：在美語中，「直述句」往往會把音往下降

English, statements will tend to go down in pitch. Let's look at some examples. Here we

讓我們看一些例子

see two short sentences. Today it's sunny. I wish I'd been there. And you can see for

這裡可以看到 2 個短句

今天是個艷陽天；我希望我當時在場

你可以看到這 2 處，「音高」越往句尾就越低

both of them, that the pitch goes down throughout the sentence. Here we have two longer sentences,

這是 2 個較長的句子

and though there is some up and down throughout the sentences, for both sentences, the lowest

雖然整句中出現多次的起伏

但 2 個句子的最低點都位在結尾

point is at the end. I'm going to France next month to visit a friend who's studying there.

我下個月要去法國拜訪一位在那裡讀書的朋友

紐約終於開始有春天的感覺

It's finally starting to feel like spring in New York. The software I used to look at

這套軟體，我以前都拿來檢視句子的音高，它叫做 Pratt

the pitch of those sentences is called Praat, and there's a link in the footer of my website.

軟體的連結放在我網站的頁尾

So it's at the very bottom of every page. I hope you're getting a feel for how important

就在每個網頁的最下方

我希望你現能體會到：「語調」在美語中有多重要

intonation is to sounding natural and native in American English. I hope you'll listen

它讓你的美語口音自然，而且道地

我希望你在聽美語人士說話時，用心聆聽「語調」

for this as you listen to native speakers, and that if you haven't already done so, that

如果你還沒這樣做

那你要來我的網站，做一些語調的模仿練習

you'll go to my website and do some of those imitation exercises which loop patterns of

它會不斷循環「說話模式」

speech. So you hear them several times to get the melody in your ear before you're asked

這樣你就能多聽幾次，讓旋律不絕於耳

之後再依指示重念

to repeat. That's it, and thanks so much for using Rachel's English.

就這樣，非常感謝使用 Rachel 的英文