Intonation and Meaning in English 語調(diào)與語義

① 語調(diào)影響詞義：

project: /pr?'d?ekt/ - 動詞；/'pr?d?ekt/ - 名詞
record: /r?'k?:d/ - 動詞；/'rek?:d/ - 名詞

② 語調(diào)影響句義：

例：You're hungry.
如果用falling intonation（降調(diào)）：表示make a statement
如果用rising intonation（升調(diào)）：表示ask a question

③ 語調(diào)影響說話人的意思：

In England, people don't mean what they say, and they don't say what they mean.
有時(shí)，一句話的表面意思并不是說話人真正表達(dá)的想法，所以我們需要依靠語調(diào)去判斷。

例：No.
降調(diào)：no and that's the end of it
升調(diào)：a question or go on
先降后升：no, but...
平調(diào)：一般是家長回答孩子

-Are you doing anything tonight?
-No. ( / )
Means: No, I'm not doing anything tongiht. Go on. Would you like to invite me to dinner?

-Can you lend me a pound?
-No. ( \ )
Means: No, definitely not. And it's the end of the conversation.

-Are you using the car?
-No. ( \/ )
Means: No, I'm not using the car, but neither will you. or You can't borrow it. or But I might need it later on.

-Can I borrow the car?
-No. ( — )
Means: 這個(gè)場景可能是十幾歲的兒子問父親，而父親顯然已經(jīng)無數(shù)次聽到這樣的問題，都有點(diǎn)懶得回答no了。于是就用了一個(gè)平調(diào)的no告訴兒子：上次不行，這次不行，下次再問還是不行。

語調(diào)的重要性：
通過口語夏令營上面這3方面的講解，大家應(yīng)該已經(jīng)了解到為什么語調(diào)那么重要：If you get the intonation wrong, you may find the people you're talking to don't understand your meaning. 如果對方?jīng)]有理解你的意思，再向你進(jìn)行確認(rèn)，這算是運(yùn)氣好的了；可是如果他直接會錯(cuò)了意呢？那你只能后果自負(fù)了。