The Description of English Intonation. Rationalization vs irrationality or, objectivity vs subjectivity

The description of English intonation as a system shows that intonation is as systematic as other parts of the phonology. Because it is systematic, it can be presented in terms of differences of meaning, which in turn implies that intonation can be taught and learned. There is no need to think of intonation as a nebulous phenomenon that can only be appreciated in subjective, emotional terms, as one of the prosodic features which is so personal that it defies careful analysis. Intonation seems to be mainly conventional. Nevertheless, there is a strong personal, subjective, emotional element to it. If intonation was not conventional, we could never know what meanings it conveys; in order to interpret an intonation’s meaning, we have to assume that the intonation pattern that a person uses means the same thing when somebody else uses it. It is because intonation is conventional and we know what different patterns mean that we can make the comment about not liking the ‘way’ something was said. Thanks to the conventionality of intonation, we can analyse it reasonably objectively and describe it reasonably succintly.