The rise tone in the English and Malay intonations of Malay learners of English

Abstract

English is a widely spoken language around the world and its intonation may vary significantly across its varieties. Miscommunication is possible given that intonation may function differently in different varieties. Given this context, this study sets out to describe functions of the rise tone in the English and Malay intonations of Malay learners, and to determine the influence of their L1 on the use of the rise tone in Malaysian English. Sixty ESL learners were asked to narrate a short story individually according to a series of pictures presented to them. Eight of them were also asked to narrate their stories in Malay. Their narrations were analysed acoustically using Praat and the tone functions were identified using Brazil’s Discourse Intonation model. Findings show that the learners used the rise tone in both languages mainly to: (i) convey new and shared information, (ii) continue speaking, and (iii) present items in a list. Findings may contribute details to Malaysian English phonology and shed some light on intonation usage among Malaysian English speakers.