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Unit 18 Intonation of Imperatives

Imperative sentences are used in speech for different communi­cative purposes, the most typical of which are to express a command or an instruction, to ask for a favour or to give a warning. Accordingly, we can talk about different communicative subtypes of imperatives: commands and instructions, requests and warnings. They are distinguished in speech primarily by intonation.

Commands and instructions are usually pronounced with a Falling nuclear tone with the preceding high or stepping head. In an Instruction it is typically a Mid Fall:

e.g.: 'Open the 'books at 'page nine.

In Commands High Fall gives an energetic and insistent note to the utterance:

e.g.: 'Leave the 'room at once.

Commands with Low Fall produce a calm, serious and categoric effect:

e.g.: 'Wait for the others.

Actually, Requests can also be pronounced with a Falling tone, but in this case the word "please" which is placed either at the beginning or at the end of an imperative shows that the speaker's intention is to ask and not to order:

e.g.: 'Stay a 'little longer, please.

More typically, Requests are pronounced with a L о w Rising nuclear tone preceded by a high prenuclear pitch (a high prehead; a high, a stepping or a sliding head) or with a Falling-Rising nuclear tone; Requests with these intonation patterns sound sincere and friendly:

e.g.: 'Try 'not to be late. 'Get me a 'pair of scissors.

When a Fall-Rise is used, especially of a divided variant, there is an impression that the speaker is asking a greater favour and such Requests are often called polite.

Warnings have the same intonation pattern as polite Requests: they are normally pronounced with a Falling-Rising nuclear tone. When a Warning contains only one stressable word, Fall-Rise Undivided is used. When there are more than one stressable words, Fall-Rise Divided is preferable:

e.g.: Be careful.

Imperatives of all kinds can be pronounced with a Low Rising nuclear tone preceded by a low prenuclear pitch: (a low head or/and a low prehead). Such imperatives sound casual (in the case of a request) or unimportant (in the case of a command):

e.g.: Steady on.

Ex. 1 Listen to the following imperatives. Identify their intonation patterns and imitate them.

1 Take the dog with you. 2 'Pay for them right now. 3 'Come a bit later, 'please. 4 'Give him a 'hand with those books. 5 Be careful with it. 6 Make 'sure to lock the door when you leave. 7 You'd better not. 8 Mind you switch off the TV before you go to bed. 9 'Come a gain to morrow. 10 'Do the 'exercise in writing. 11 'Post this letter for me, please. 12 Wait a minute.

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