SPANISH INTONATION

Definition: Spanish Intonation is the variation of pitch in the pronunciation of words to convey an affirmation, question or exclamation. For example: “mi Madre está en casa” is an affirmation, and has a sound different from a question that is obtained by adding the symbols “¿?” in the same sentence: “¿mi madre está en casa?” has a different intonation even though the words are the same.

In Spanish the tone for a given word does not alter its meaning; however it varies its pragmatic interpretation:
¡Adelante!

¿Adelante?
Example: The following sentences have different sounds and different meanings.

• Is my father cooking? —> ¿Está mi papá cocinando?
• My father is cooking —> Mi papá está cocinando
  
  

Intonation in Spanish is used for several purposes:

• Marking of interrogative and exclamatory sentences.
• Marking of the topic (theme) – rheme and topicalization, etc.
• Paralinguistic and extralinguistic information: used to give expression to the feelings that accompany the emission of a certain statement. Such as anger, irony, doubt.

It is an important grammar topic in all languages, because it helps us with the correct pronunciation of a foreign language. There are other languages which involves stress and rhythm.

The intonation is a supra-segmental phenomenon because it transmits information to a level above lexicon. This information allows us to distinguish two complete sentences that are otherwise identical phonetically, for example:

• ¿Tú trabajas en el banco? (Do youwork in the bank?)
• Tú trabajas en el banco (You work in the bank)

Enunciative scheme:

The normal tone is reached, from the first syllable accented; with this tone is pronounced the whole message, until the last stressed syllable, where the pitch falls seriously.

Interrogative scheme:

The first accented syllable is raised something about the normal pitch. From here the following syllables form a slightly descending scale to the last syllable where the pitch rises again.

Exclamatory scheme:

The body starts above the normal pitch and quickly descends into its final branch below the normal pitch.

Intonation in Spanish

Alphabet: Alphabet Pronunciation

Letter	Spanish Name	Spanish Example	English Example
a	a	Papá	Father
b	be	Barco	Boat
c	ce	Carro	Car
ch	che	Muchacho	Change
d	de	Dado	Detective
e	e	Escoba	Egg
f	efe	Fabrica	Factory
g	ge	Gorra	Goverment
h	hache	Honra	“h” is always silent
i	i	Policía	Police
j	jota	Jarra	Justice
k	ka	Kilo	Kilometer
l	ele	Laguna	Laundry
ll	elle	Llama
m	eme	Marino	Mother
n	ene	Nariz	Nouse
ñ	eñe	Caña	Canyon
o	o	Votar	Vote
p	pe	Perú	Peru
q	cu	Química	Chemistry
r	ere	Paro
s	ese	Sopa	Soup
t	te	Texto	Text
u	u	Unicornio	boot
v	uve	Vendaje	bandage
w	Ve boble	Washington	Washington
x	equis	Excelente	Excellent
y	I griega	Yuca	Yucatan
z	zeta	Zorro	an ‘s’ sound, as in ‘socks’

Stress rules in Spanish words

• The word will have a written accent ( ´ ) if finishes in “n”, “s” or a vowel.
  E.g. camión (truck), ratón (mouse), perdón (sorry).
  
• If the stress is in the third last one or before, the word always has the written accent.
  E.g. ídolo (idol), cómpralo (buy it), teléfono (phone).
  
• If the stress is in the syllable just before the last one the word will have a written accent ( ´ ) if does not finish in “n”, “s” or a vowel.
  E.g. cárcel (prison), cráter (crater), mártir (martyr).
  

Examples of Intonation and rhythm

Spanish	Pronunciation	English
Carlos entiende	Car-los en-tien-de	Carlos understands
tu escuela	tu es-cue-la	your school
lluvia y nieve	llu-via y nie-ve	rain and snow
¿tienes sueño?	¿tie-nes sue-ño?	Do you dream?

Read more: Spanish Phrases for Meeting and Greeting