Lisa: Hello, Tony. Did you go for your interview yesterday?

Tony: Hi, Lisa. Yes, I did.

Lisa: How did it go?

Tony: All right I think.

Lisa: All right? You don’t sound very sure.

1.2. Now listen to the same part of the conversation again.

1. In the transcript below try to identify the tones which are not marked.

Lisa: // HELLO, TONY // Did you go for your IN terview yesterday //

Tony: // HI Lisa // YES // I DID //

Lisa: // HOW did it GO //

Tony: // All RIGHT // I THINK //

Lisa: // All RIGHT // You DON'T sound very SURE //

2. Can you explain why Lisa or Tony have chosen to use a telling () tone or referring () tone in each case you have marked.

Speakers choose falling tones () when they think that what they say will increase their hearers knowledge. In Unit 2 we said that speakers choose fall-rise () tones when they are referring to smth. already started or implied in the conversation. It is not always easy to identify anything in the immediate context. What speakers say in this tone refers to smth. they know or assume is already known to both the hearers & themselves.

So speakers may use fall-rise tones to refer not to smth. which has been said, but to smth. which is part of the background knowledge or experience they share wit their hearers.

In the conversation you heard 3 ways in which the referring tone functions:

1. To refer to smth. already stated:

e.g. Lisa: // All RIGHT //

2. To check smth. is as it is assumed:

e.g. Lisa: // Did you go for your IN terview yesterday? //

3. To refer to smth. which is or has become part of their common background

knowledge/ experience:

e.g. Lisa: // You DON'T sound very SURE //

Listen again to this part of the conversation where Lisa refers to what Tony has already stated.

T: // ALL RIGHT // I THINK //

L: // ALL RIGHT //

Listen again and repeat both parts.

Listen to this part of the conversation where Lisa checks what she presumes is, in fact, true.

L.: // DID you go for your IN terview yesterday?

T.: // HI Lisa // YES // I DID //

L.: // HOW did it GO //

Listen again and repeat Lisa's part.

Listen to this utterance from the conversation in which Lisa refers to smth. which at that point has become part of their common knowledge.

L.: // You DON'T sound very SURE //

Listen again and repeat, this time including the previous tone unit.

L.: // ALL RIGHT // You DON'T sound very SURE //

4.1 You have already practiced this part of the conversation in which Lisa checks what she presumes is true.

L.: // DID you go for your IN terview yesterday? //

T.: // HI Lisa// YES// I DID //

L.: // (ALL RIGHT) // HOW did it GO //

The following short dialogues are similar. In each case A chooses a tone to check smth. & then chooses a tone to continue. Practice reading the dialogues before the listening to the recording.

1. A: // Is that the po LICE station //

B: // YES madam //

A: // I WANT to report a ROBB ery //

2. A: // Are these EAT ing apples //

B: // YES. // they're FRENCH //

A: // I'd like a KIL o please //

3. A: // Did you hear the NEW s this morning //

B: // YES // I DID //

A: // What do you THINK about it //

4. A: // Have you BEEN to the exhi BI tion //

B: // YES // I HAVE //

A: // Isn't it IN teresting //

5. A: // Did you hear what she just SAID //

B: // I DID //

A: // Thats really in CRED ible //

4.2 Listen to this example. B's reply is so general that it doesn't tell A anything which extends A's knowledge, and he uses a tone.

A: // Is he DOi ng his ESS ay//

B: // He's WRIT ing SQME ing//

This sort of reply is often used as a way of avoiding answering a question. Now go on. Practice the conversation in pairs before listening to the recording. You may be able to think of other replies to A 's questions, said with the same intonation.

1. A: // HAVE you had DIN ner//

B: // I've had SOME thing //

2. A: // Has he SENT the LET ter //

B: // He was GO ing to //

3. A: // WHEN will it START //

B: // It SHOULDn't be LONG now //

4. A: // WHERE have they gone on their HON eymoon //

B: // SOM Ewhere quiet//

5. A: // WHAT’s the TIME //

B: // It MUST be LATE //

4.3. Listen to this example. B first agrees with smth. A has just said & then goes on to add some new information.

A: // It's im POR tant // to get it RIGHT //

B: // Of COURSE // it's imPORtant to get it RIGHT // but it's VERY DIF ficult //

Now, working with a partner if possible, try these. B first agrees with what A has said, using " of course" or “I know”, then adds some appropriate information beginning with “but”. Try first and then listen to the recording.

1. A: // We DON'T a GREE with you //

B: // I KNOW // you don't a GREE with me // but (e. g. I'm right) //

2. A: // The eland's BEAU tiful //

B: // Of COURSE // it’s BEAU tiful // but (e. g. It’s too far) //

3. A: // She likes Dia monds //

B: // Of COURSE // she LIKES diamonds // but (e. g. they cost a fortune)

4. A: // THIS HAT ’s // a BAR gain //

B: // I KNOW // it’s BAR gain // but (e. g. I don't want / like / need it) //

5. A: // He’s a DIFF icult person to work with //

B: // Of course // he’s a DIFFicult person to WORK with // but (e.g. very important / clever / famous) //

4.4. Work with the partner if possible. In the first part of the reply B reminds A of things they both know, and then in the second part introduces a new idea. Listen to the example first, and then listen and repeat B 's part.

A: // I'm really enjoying my stay here // Where shall we go tonight? //

B: // We've seen all the good films// and we've been to the theatre// and' to a concerto // Lets go to the night-club //

4.5. Now go on in the same way. The intonations not transcribed for you this time. Try first and then listen to the recording.

1. A: // Did you get everything for the office? //

B: // Here, are the envelopes // and the stamps.// But there wasn't any paper. //

2. A: // Who's coming to the dinner party? //

B: // As you know, // we've invited the Whites and the Robsons. //

3. A: // Have we prepared everything for the party now? //

B: // Well, // we've organized the music and // the drinks.// But we haven't got the food yet. //

4. A: // What have you got for the fruit salad? //

B: // We've got apples and // pears and // peaches.// We ought to get some oranges. //

5. A: // Where shell we go for our holiday this year? //

B: // It’s difficult.// We've been to Italy and // Greece // and Austria.// How do you feel about Turkey? //

º 1. Listen to the polilogue and answer the questions.

a) Where did Bob and Sheila live?

b) What do they think is the most amazing about the city?

c) What is their worst impression about it?

I = Interviewer

B = Bob

S = Sheila

I: How long did you live in the States?

B: We were there for two years, in New York.

I: And did you enjoy it?

S: Oh, tremendously. We had a wonderful time.

B: Yeah, what we liked best was that we could work and yet still lead a normal life. I mean, the shops are open till ten o’clock.

I: All shop?

S: Yes, everything. Food shops, chemists…

B: There’s even a huge department store called Gimbles on 86^th Street that was open till nine o’clock.

S: and some supermarkets are open twenty-four hours a day. Most shops don’t open as early as in England, well, they don’t open until about erm … 10 or 11 in the morning.

B: Yes, that’s right.

S: Because they all work much later. And every thing’s open on Sundays.

B: And the holidays, the public holidays are much shorter than here, and in the States only the banks are shut. Everything else stays open, so it makes life much easier. You could do what you liked when you liked.

I: I see, erm … Do you think New York is as cosmopolitan as London?

S: Oh, yews, but it’s not mixed. Nationalities stay in their own areas; like there’s a Russian section.

B: …the German section. We were in German town, York Town, which is called German town and there was a row of German shops, all German –speaking.

S: I think the major difference was the height of the place. Everything was up. We lived on the twenty-ninth floor.

B: Yes, and I worked on the sixty-third floor.

S: Yes, but I like heights. And of course everything is faster. And the people are much ruder.

I: Oh! In what ways?

B: Well, pushing in the street, fights about getting on the bus. People don’t queue like they do in England. And of course the taxi drivers! New York taxi drivers must be the rudest in the world! Americans themselves are really friendly but the taxi drivers never speak. And they don’t seem to know where anything is. I asked one of them to take me to the Guggenheim Museum once and he was really angry with me because he’d never heard of it!

I: He angry with you? Are all American taxi drivers like that?

S: Oh, yes. Well, in New York, anyway. Not so much in other places. When we went to California it was very different.

B: Yes, I think we were aware that New York is quite a dangerous place. We never had any problems ourselves at all, but when there was a crime, it was horrendous.

S: Oh, yes. The subways are unusable. They’re dirty, uncomfortable.

I: Did you make any friends?

S: Well, that’s what’s interesting, really.

B: We made more friends in our two years there than we have after two years of living back here in London. I think Americans are more … open, they… you know, they speak their minds, so if they don’t like something, well, they actually tell you directly. Not like the British, who might think one thing and say another. So maybe the British are ruder than the Americans!

2. Listen to the polilogue and find the examples of telling and referring, at least three. Practise reading those sentences.

3. Then listen to the poliloague once more and pick up the examples that best illustrate the components of speech melody.

4. Practise a dramatic reading of the polilogue.