Tuning into the melody of speech

In a groundbreaking new study, Cambridge researchers have mapped out the neurobiological basis of a key aspect of human communication: intonation. If you were to read out loud the words, "I'm absolutely delighted that Kate blamed Paul and Tessa Arnold" in a flat voice, with no rises or falls and placing equal weight on each syllable, you would quickly demonstrate the fundamental importance in human communication of intonation. Is Kate blaming Paul, while Tessa blames Arnold? Or is Kate blaming the Arnolds: Paul and Tessa? It would also be difficult to tell whether the speaker really is delighted, or whether they are being sarcastic. You would have suppressed a natural tendency to vary how high or low your voice is (pitch), to stress particular syllables, to hesitate where you would expect commas (rhythm), and to convey emphasis by varying volume. All of these elements constitute intonation. Dr Brechtje Post of the Phonetics Laboratory in the Department of Theoretical and Applied Linguistics describes intonation as "the melody of language". "It signals," she explained, "how the speech stream is structured and what category of statement you are making.