Staircase Intonation

So what is intonation in American English? What do Americans do? We go up and down

staircases. We start high and end low.

We

///////// go

///////// /////////

up

///////// and

///////// ///////// down

///////// ///////// /////////

stair

///////// cases.

///////// /////////

///////// /////////

Every time we want to stress a word or an idea, we just start a new staircase. That sounds simple

enough, but when and where do you start a new staircase?

Statement Intonation with Nouns

Intonation or pitch change is primarily used to introduce new information. This means that when

you are making a statement for the first time, you will stress the nouns.

Dogs             bones

///////// eat       /////////

///////// /////////  /////////