Tone and Register
Tone:
Mandarin Chinese, of course, has four tones: 妈,麻,马,and 罵. The word’s tone is an integral (important and not removable) part of the word; if you change the tone, the meaning of the word changes too. The English language uses tones as well, with two important differences. First, English tones are generally used over sentences or groups of words rather than on single words. Secondly, tones in English do not carry discrete meaning; rather, they change the emotional value of a statement, or add additional meanings. Let’s talk about two of the most common English tones:
Rising Tone:
The rising tone in English is somewhat like 2nd tone in Chinese, except that it works over many words instead of one word. Native speakers of English use rising tone to show several different things:
1. Questioning/uncertainty:
All questions that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no” will have a rising tone at the end of the sentence. Also, rising tone is often used in spoken English to show uncertainty or lack of surety. In a way, it turns statements into questions. By saying “I am smart and handsome” with a rising tone, it turns into this: “I am smart and handsome?” You suggest that you do not believe what you have said.
2. Surprise/confusion:
Surprise and confusion are also show with rising tone. By adding a rising tone to words like “really?” and “what?” you show that you were not expecting to hear whatever someone just said to you.
3. Lack of finality in conversation:
This is the least obvious of all of the uses of rising tone. Native English speakers will mark long pauses in their speech by ending the sentence or phrase before the pause with a rising tone. If you have to pause for longer than a second to breathe, think, drink some water, or whatever else, and you are not finished talking yet, mark your pause with a rising tone so that the person you are talking to knows that you have more to say:
Falling tone:
Falling tone is somewhat like 4th tone in Chinese, and like rising tone, it works over groups of words rather than single words. Falling tone has many of the opposite meanings from rising tone:
1. Confidence/certainty/surety:
Falling tone, combined with strong stress on important words, is used to show that you are sure about what you are saying, or that you want to convey confidence. If we look at our sentence from earlier, we can see how this works:
“I’m smart and handsome.”
If we add stress and falling tone to this sentence:
“I’m smart and hand
some.”
It sounds much more confident and factual.
2. Shows that you are finished speaking:
More on this after we talk about…
Register:
“Vocal register” or “register,” very simply, is high or how low your voice is when you talk. It can get pretty complicated, but to keep it easy, let’s assume that there are three different vocal registers: high, normal, and low. Talking in a high voice or a low voice or changing from one register to another is one of the main ways that native English speakers show their emotions when they speak English.
1. First register or, low register, speaking at the bottom of your voice, is generally associated with negative emotions. Sadness, dislike, and doubt are all conveyed by speaking in a very low voice. Sarcasm, or saying the opposite of what you mean in order to be funny or to hurt someone’s feelings, which Americans use very often, is also shown by using a flat tone in low register. Finally, when you are angry with someone, but are still in control of yourself, you will usually use low register to show these feelings, and to deliver any threats that might be on your mind.
2. Second register is simply your normal speaking voice, and there is nothing particularly special shown by speaking that way.
3. Third register, or high register, involves speaking at the top of your real voice. Speaking this way is normally associated with positive emotions. Happiness, excitement, and enthusiasm are all normally shown by speaking this way. Speaking in high register is also an important and effective means to show that you care about what someone is saying. Saying things like “oh, I see,” “that’s interesting,” and “tell me more” in high register conveys interest, shows that you are paying attention, and makes it sound like you are engaged in what someone else is saying. It is also polite. Generally speaking, comments made in high register sound more friendly and polite than normal.
As a final note, you should try very, very hard to master the standard tonal pattern for many English sentences. I noted before that falling tone is often used in spoken English to show that you have finished speaking. You do this by using a 2-3-1 pattern. This means that for most of the sentence, you will speak in second register, then near the end of the sentence, you will rise up higher in your voice to third register, and then fall down to first. It looks like this:
Tone:
Mandarin Chinese, of course, has four tones: 妈,麻,马,and 罵. The word’s tone is an integral (important and not removable) part of the word; if you change the tone, the meaning of the word changes too. The English language uses tones as well, with two important differences. First, English tones are generally used over sentences or groups of words rather than on single words. Secondly, tones in English do not carry discrete meaning; rather, they change the emotional value of a statement, or add additional meanings. Let’s talk about two of the most common English tones:
Rising Tone:
The rising tone in English is somewhat like 2nd tone in Chinese, except that it works over many words instead of one word. Native speakers of English use rising tone to show several different things:
1. Questioning/uncertainty:
All questions that can be answered with a “yes” or a “no” will have a rising tone at the end of the sentence. Also, rising tone is often used in spoken English to show uncertainty or lack of surety. In a way, it turns statements into questions. By saying “I am smart and handsome” with a rising tone, it turns into this: “I am smart and handsome?” You suggest that you do not believe what you have said.
2. Surprise/confusion:
Surprise and confusion are also show with rising tone. By adding a rising tone to words like “really?” and “what?” you show that you were not expecting to hear whatever someone just said to you.
3. Lack of finality in conversation:
This is the least obvious of all of the uses of rising tone. Native English speakers will mark long pauses in their speech by ending the sentence or phrase before the pause with a rising tone. If you have to pause for longer than a second to breathe, think, drink some water, or whatever else, and you are not finished talking yet, mark your pause with a rising tone so that the person you are talking to knows that you have more to say:
Falling tone:
Falling tone is somewhat like 4th tone in Chinese, and like rising tone, it works over groups of words rather than single words. Falling tone has many of the opposite meanings from rising tone:
1. Confidence/certainty/surety:
Falling tone, combined with strong stress on important words, is used to show that you are sure about what you are saying, or that you want to convey confidence. If we look at our sentence from earlier, we can see how this works:
“I’m smart and handsome.”
If we add stress and falling tone to this sentence:
“I’m smart and hand
some.”
It sounds much more confident and factual.
2. Shows that you are finished speaking:
More on this after we talk about…
Register:
“Vocal register” or “register,” very simply, is high or how low your voice is when you talk. It can get pretty complicated, but to keep it easy, let’s assume that there are three different vocal registers: high, normal, and low. Talking in a high voice or a low voice or changing from one register to another is one of the main ways that native English speakers show their emotions when they speak English.
1. First register or, low register, speaking at the bottom of your voice, is generally associated with negative emotions. Sadness, dislike, and doubt are all conveyed by speaking in a very low voice. Sarcasm, or saying the opposite of what you mean in order to be funny or to hurt someone’s feelings, which Americans use very often, is also shown by using a flat tone in low register. Finally, when you are angry with someone, but are still in control of yourself, you will usually use low register to show these feelings, and to deliver any threats that might be on your mind.
2. Second register is simply your normal speaking voice, and there is nothing particularly special shown by speaking that way.
3. Third register, or high register, involves speaking at the top of your real voice. Speaking this way is normally associated with positive emotions. Happiness, excitement, and enthusiasm are all normally shown by speaking this way. Speaking in high register is also an important and effective means to show that you care about what someone is saying. Saying things like “oh, I see,” “that’s interesting,” and “tell me more” in high register conveys interest, shows that you are paying attention, and makes it sound like you are engaged in what someone else is saying. It is also polite. Generally speaking, comments made in high register sound more friendly and polite than normal.
As a final note, you should try very, very hard to master the standard tonal pattern for many English sentences. I noted before that falling tone is often used in spoken English to show that you have finished speaking. You do this by using a 2-3-1 pattern. This means that for most of the sentence, you will speak in second register, then near the end of the sentence, you will rise up higher in your voice to third register, and then fall down to first. It looks like this:
By rising slightly in your
pitch (going to a slightly higher register) you draw attention to the fact that
you are using a falling tone. When native
English speakers finishes speaking, they will very often use this pattern to show that they have finished their
thought and that it is now the other person’s turn to talk. This is a very valuable skill to be able to
recognize and reproduce, and I encourage you to attempt to master it.