Preface.

There is only one way to master the pronunciation of a foreign language: to repeat the sound features of the language over and over again, correctly and systematically, until they can be said without any conscious thought at all, until the learner is incapable of saying them in any other way. This is the drill method, and it has been used for many years in teaching the sounds of English; the major aim of this book is to provide material suitable for use in learning English intonation. The material given in the chapter devoted to the Anatomy of English Intonation will help students understand the functions of intonation in English. The attitudes that different intonation patterns convey are described in chapter II, Intonation and Meaning, and are arranged according to what types of sentences they are, showing that both sentence structure and speaker’s attitude play a very important part in determining intonation pattern. The intonation drills, given in this book for practice reading and analysing, have two purposes: first, to help the learner to say the tunes in the English way, to get the notes right, and to provide practice in this; and secondly, to get him to use the tunes appropriately, so that he automatically chooses the tune which will express his own attitude of mind in any circumstances.

For the first purpose a teacher is almost certainly needed; there are some gifted people who can acquire the tunes of English by simply imitating what they hear around them, but most foreign students cannot do this and would be unwise to think that they can. For these it is essential to have a teacher to serve as a model and to correct them whenever they go wrong. It is worse than useless to drill the wrong tunes. For the second purpose a teacher is perhaps less necessary, and the intelligent student can probably get a good deal of benefit from using the drills on his own. On the other hand, a good teacher will certainly help the process.

TO THE STUDENT:

The student must be sure that he understands at every point what is required of him, what the tone marks mean, what basic attitude the tone group under consideration reflects, and that he keeps this constantly in his mind. The questions for discussion and the practical assignments will help him achieve this aim. He must make a careful note of his errors in each tune and work to avoid them. He must pay attention to every context sentence as well as to every drill sentence and try to think himself into the kind of situation at which the sentences hint. In private work and revision just as much attention should be paid to the verbal context and the attitude expressed as to the actual speaking of the drill sentence, and repetition should be done aloud.

When all the tunes of all the tone groups have been drilled to the point where a correct intonation pattern is used in the appropriate place, we still cannot say that English intonation has been mastered; there will still be plenty to learn. But hard and intelligent work will provide a firm basis for advance.

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