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Intonation idiom?
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Jan 31, 2009 18:54 PST
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Dear all
I'd appreciate your comments on the intonation of the following expressions intended as a warning, threat or irony, respectively. Do you see any commonality or similarity among them?
(1) A: Perhaps Alan may lend me some money.
B: You'll be lucky.
(2) A: I've decided to do it after all.
B: You'll be sorry.
(3) A: You'll see.
(4) A: Who do you think did it? Gideon?
B: Possibly.
A: Or Tex?
B: Possibly.
A: You're a lot of help.
In the movies I saw recently, it sounded to me like each example sentence started with a high pitch or perhaps an accent on 'you', then dipped a bit low, then ended with a low rise on 'lucky', 'sorry', 'see', and 'help', respectively, but I might be wrong. I was wondering if the 'fall-rise' tone was peculiar to such sentences with emotive sense.
The following deviates from the above, but I also heard a fall-rise in it:
Dylan: (approaching her) Sarah.
Sarah: (a)\I know /you.
(b) I \know /you.
Dylan: Dylan.
Sarah: I know. How’re you doing?
My question is: which is more probable, (a) or (b) ? While listening to this sequence on the CD over and over again, I strained my ears for its distinction but couldn't tell which. Your comments are welcome. Thank you in advance.
Tami
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