INFLECTION

How we say things depends greatly on inflection. It is the rise and fall of the voice in the vocal scale. The voice slides between the high notes and the low notes on any syllable, word, or phrase. This sliding of the voice from one note to another gives variety and meaning to the language. There are two types of inflection:

SIMPLE INFLECTION

which is further divided into RISING and FALLING Inflection.

And COMPOUND (or DOUBLE) INFLECTION.

· SIMPLE RISING INFLECTION: is used for questions(?), exclamations(!), pleading, and unfinished statements. For example:

· SIMPLE FALLING INFLECTION is used for commands and finished statements (ending in full stop).

For example:

Oh, spare him (Plea or Entreaty)

Are you going now? (Question)

Why are you crying?

What a lovely dress! (Exclamation)

Avoid over-inflection. If you keep thinking, “This could be a rising inflection, I must practice it for hours if I don’t get it”, you will destroy your work, which will become artificial and forced. What is important is to get across the meaning and the emotion.

This is my book. (Statement)

Give me that pen. (Command)

I’ll not stay here any longer. (Strongly emphatic negative sentence.)

· COMPOUND (or DOUBLE) INFLECTION is the rise and fall of the voice in the same word. It is used to express irony, sarcasm, uncertainty, or doubt, and for antithesis (two opposite ideas expressed in a single sentence.) For example:

Oh! (Understanding)

Oh! (Surprise)

“Are you going out?” “Yes.” (Doubt)

“I didn’t say shoes, I said boots.” (Antithesis)

The actor should avoid over-inflection. If you constantly think, “This could be a rising inflection, I have to practice it for hours if I don’t get it.”, you will destroy your work, which will become artificial and forced. What is important is to get across the meaning and the emotion.

Intonation

Intonation refers to the distinctive use of patterns of vocal pitch. Particular kinds of questions and statements are conveyed through the use of speech melodies (pitch variation). E.g. Indians speak English with a sing song intonation or speech melody.