Chapter Two Literature Review
This chapter first gives a brief introduction to some basic concepts involved inthe study. Then two theoretical frameworks related to the analysis of Englishintonation are presented. Besides, the findings of previous studies are summarized. Atlast，the problems of Chinese EFL learners' intonation are pointed out for furtherexploitation.
2.1 Basic Concept of the Terms Involved
In this section，some basic concepts of the terms involved in the study arediscussed in detail to lay a theoretical foundation for the study. IntonationIn linguistics，intonation is defined as variation of spoken pitch. It is not used todistinguish words; instead it is used for a variety of fimctions such as expressing theattitudes and emotions of the speaker，indicating the difference between statement andquestion，and between different types of question, focusing attention on importantelements of the spoken message and helping to regulate conversational interaction. Itcontrasts with tone, in which pitch variation in some languages does distinguishwords，either lexically or grammatically. The term tone is used by some Britishwriters in their descriptions of intonation, but this is to refer to the pitch movementfound on the nucleus or tonic syllable in an intonation unit.Although intonation is primarily a matter of pitch variation，it is important to beaware that functions attributed to intonation such as the expression of attitudes andemotions，or highlighting aspects of grammatical structure, almost always involveconcomitant variation in other prosodic features. Crystal and Davy (1975) pointed outthat “…intonation is not a single system of contours and levels, but the product of theinteraction of features from different prosodic systems—tone, pitch-range, loudness,rhythmicality and tempo in particular?”Halliday (1970) held that there are two general observations about the basicmeanings of tones: one is that a falling pitch related to certainty—specifically,certainty about polarity-and a rising pitch with uncertainty; the other is that a lowerpitch expresses a meaning which is intensified，indicating some additionalcommitment on the part of the speaker. PauseThe criterion most often mentioned in demarcation of intonation groups is that ofpause. The forms of pauses fall into two categories, the unfilled pause and the filledpause. And in this thesis only the unfilled pause during the speech will be discussed.In phonetics, pause is defined as a break in speaking and a moment of silence. Inphonetic analysis, a double vertical bar (||) is used to represent a distinct pause.According to Peter Trudgil (2000)，there are even rules about silence. It has beensaid that, in a conversation between two English speakers who are not close friends, asilence of longer than four seconds is not allowed (which means that pe
