英語語調漫談 (7) - 平調與升降調對比的例子

 

But he didn’t see me leave the house.

Did you see me leave the house?
 

Broadly speaking we can classify all the English intonation patterns under two types – rising and falling. Both types normally begin with the first stressed syllable fairly high, and fall step-wise from stress to stress until the most  significant (meaningful stress is reached. Type I then falls, remaining low for any further unstressed syllables; type II rises from a low tone, continuing the rise for any further unstressed syllables.