FALLING INTONATION
Falling intonation is characterized by a clear fall of the pitch after the stressed syllable of the last content word towards the end of the sentence. In other words, the pitch will have to fall after the stressed syllable of the last content word. Falling intonation is used in many situations. Statements, WH-questions, and confirmatory tag questions (i.e., tag questions in which you expect the listener to confirm what you say) all use falling intonation.
Statements are those sentences that provide information for the listener. They may be either positive or negative. They may sometimes be imperative. All of these forms of statements require falling intonation. For statements, you should stress the nouns and let the tone fall at the end of the sentence (e.g., Dogs eat bones). Take the following examples:
Open the door, please.
Ali will go to Tehran tomorrow.
We've just come from the airport.
Her father makes sure she doesn't sell favor to friends.
WH-questions are those questions that ask for information by having the question word (e.g., where, when, how, what, which, why, who, etc.) placed at the front of the sentence (e.g., Where did she go?). You have certainly noticed that the pitch falls for the questions that begin with WH-words like where, when, etc. Take the following examples:
Hey! Where are you going?
What should we do in Senggigi?
Which temples should I visit?
Who would eat it?
How does her father ensure she doesn't sell favor to friends?
Why not visit the temples at Lingsar?
Where will we buy mangoes next time?
Tag questions are very small questions (usually in the form of auxiliary verbs followed by subject) that come at the end of statements (often for politeness purposes). They can receive either falling or rising intonation depending on the predictions the speaker can make. When the speaker believes that the listener will confirm what he says, he will use falling intonation; when, on the other hand, the speaker is not sure whether the listener will confirm his position, he may prefer to use rising intonation. Rising intonation is often more polite. Take the following examples:
Jack will come over to lunch, won't he?
You come from London, don't you?
Let's go to the movies, shall we?
