Up to this point we have used the term tune in a very general way; we shall now define it as the complete pitch treatment of a sense group. Tunes, like sense groups, may be long or short, but we shall start by dealing with the shortest possible tunes, those found in sense groups consisting of a single, monosyllabic word. Below are six examples showing different tunes for the word Two in different contexts.
1. PETER: Would you like one packet, or two?
JOHN:\ Two.
2. PETER: How many shoes in a pair?
JOHN:\ Two.
PETER: Did you know Richard has two wives?
JOHN: ^Two!
3. PETER: How many cigarettes have you got?
JOHN: / Two.
4. PETER: I’ve only got two pounds.
JOHN: / Two?
5. PETER: You’ve got one brother, haven’t you?
JOHN: \ / Two.
The six tunes are:
Low Fall: the voice falls during the word from a medium to a very low pitch.
High Fall: the voice falls during the word from a high to a very low pitch.
Rise-Fall: the voice first rises from a fairly low to a high pitch, and then quickly falls to a very low pitch.
Low Rise: the voice rises during the word from a low to a medium pitch or a little above.
High Rise: the voice rises during the word from a medium to a high pitch.
Fall-Rise: the voice first falls from a fairly high to rather low pitch, and then, still within the word, rises to a medium pitch.