Tone groups
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Exploring Language: Tone Groups
In English, the intonation patterns are on groups of words.
These groups can be called tone groups. Some books call them tone units, intonation groups, or sense groups.
Tone groups can contain only one word or as many as seven or eight.
/no / I really can't put up with it / good-bye/Because tone groups are said on a single breath, they are limited in length and average about two seconds, or about five words.
An understanding of tone groups is important to understanding the difference between written and spoken language. In written language, the basic unit is the sentence; in spoken language, it is the tone group. We break up spoken language into tone groups because we need to breathe, and so there is a physical reason for this structure. But there is also the need to think; that is, tone groups also have a cognitive basis. While we are speaking one tone group, we are planning the next one, and so the tone group carries only one idea at a time. Thus the pace of the tone groups, and the information they convey, matches the speaker's thoughts.
From time to time, it is necessary to pause and draw breath, and also to plan.
These planning pauses are often marked by um or er, which are technically called voiced hesitations.
The tone group boundaries have been marked in the following dialogue. The division of a sentence into tone groups can affect the meaning in some cases.
a)/Who shall we invite to the party?/ b) /Well, //we could ask Helen./ a.) /OK,// but what about Ben?/ b) /OK// we could ask Helen & Ben,// & don't forget Josh./ a) /Yes,// Josh.// What about Sarah & John?/ b) /OK.// So,// that's Helen & Ben,// Josh //& Sarah & John./ a) /Yes./
The division of the thought groups in line 6 tells us that Josh will be going on his own but Helen will go with Ben & Sarah with John.
Do you take sugar?
/ I don't / no / Meaning: I don't, no.
/ I don't no/ Meaning: I don't know.
The teacher thinks the student is an idiot.
/ The teacher thinks / the student is an idiot./ Meaning: The teacher thinks (that) the student is an idiot.
/ The teacher / thinks the student / is an idiot. / Meaning: "The teacher," thinks the student, "is an idiot."
Source: http://english.unitecnology.ac.nz/resources/resources/exp_lang/tonegroups.html(adapted)