Academic English Advanced
Nagoya University
Chad Nilep, instructor

Intonation for Presentation
English speakers use intonation and prosody (sometimes called stress) to express
information beyond what the meaning of the words. For example, raising the pitch ofyour voice can tell and audience that you are telling an important detail in the middle ofan explanation, while lowering it suggests that you have completed your point.
Changes in loudness and speed can also signal a contrast or the introduction of new
information.
The following information will help you understand how changes in intonation andprosody can allow you to add information to your presentations beyond the meaning ofwords. Practice varying the speed, pitch, and loudness of your voice to make yourpresentations more interesting and more informative.
New Information
Put stress on nouns when they introduce new information. In other words, if you aretalking about a person or a thing that you have not been talking about before,
pronounce that word slightly louder and slightly longer than the other words in thesentence. After you have introduced that person or thing by mentioning it once, do notstress later mentions of the same person or thing, either with the same noun or withpronouns.
James Watson and Francis Crick discovered the structure of DNA. Watson and Crickfound that DNA has a double helix structure. This double helix is composed of two longpolymers.
Contrast
When contrasting two things that are diﬀerent, stress the words that name them.
Similarly, when introducing information that contrasts with what you said before, orcontrasts with normal expectations, stress the contrasting or unexpected information.
Sociolinguistic research began in the United States and Great Britain in thenineteen-sixties. But in Japan, such research began in the nineteen-forties.
Japan exports nearly ten million automobiles per year, but it imports only about ahundred and fifty thousand.
Note that it is possible to stress verbs to show a contrast. Be careful not to stressmodal verbs such as can, should, or might or verbs of perception such as look or seem.
Stress on verbs like these suggests a contrast with expectations, and makes youraudience expect a contrasting point.

You can eat natto (… but you won’t like it)
People should exercise (…but they don’t)
Kyoto seems interesting (…but it really isn’t)Intonation curves
Certain grammatical structures are associated with particular changes in intonation,
particularly the pitch of your voice. Statements (ordinary sentences that end with aperiod) generally have falling intonation on the last word, meaning the pitch of yourvoice falls, often after rising slightly. Questions that can be answered with yes or nousually end with rising intonation. Other questions, those that ask who, what, when,where, why, or how, end with falling intonation, similar to statements.
I like apples.↓Do you like apples?↑Where can I buy some apples?↓When a sentence has two independent clauses, there is a slight rise at the end of theﬁrst clause and an ordinary fall at the end of the second. Similarly, when you start asentence with an introductory phrase, use a rise at the end of that phrase. When listing
several items, use a rising tone on each item in the list, but a falling tone on the lastitem.
I like apples, ↑ but my sister likes oranges. ↓As you know, ↑ I like apples. ↓My brother likes, apples, ↑ oranges, ↑ bananas, ↑ and grapes. ↓Practice
Practice saying these sentences with stress on diﬀerent words. Notice how varying thestress varies the meaning of the sentence, suggesting the introduction of new
information, a contrast, or information contrary to expectations.
I don’t think Tom stole the money.
Japanese companies make popular electronic devices.
Many young people say that they want to get married some day.