Overview

Discourse Intonation is an approach to the teaching and analysis of everyday speech. It consists of four components: a theory, a set of categories & realisations, a notation, and transcription practice.

Discourse Intonation was developed at The University of Birmingham (UK) in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The originator of this approach was David Brazil (1925-1995), working with Professors John Sinclair and Malcolm Coulthard. It became influential in English Language Teaching (ELT) in the mid 1980s and 1990s, both for teacher training (language awareness) and classroom practice (pronunciation). This influence continues to grow, and DI is increasingly used in academic research.

• Read more about David Brazil here
• Read about Theory and the Tone unit here
• Read about Tone here
• Read about Key & Termination here
• Read about Notation and Transcription here
• Watch a video by Hisa Fujio ‘Discourse Intonation for Dummies’ here. It is addressed to International Teaching Assistants in the USA, but is useful for work on presentations.

 

Key Publications

Brazil, D., Coulthard, M., & Johns, C.
1980. Discourse Intonation and Language Teaching. Harlow: Longman.

Brazil, D.
1985. The Communicative Value of Intonation in English. [1st Edition]. Discourse Analysis Monograph No. 8. Birmingham: English Language Research, The University of Birmingham

Bradford, B.
1988. Intonation in Context: Intonation Practice for Upper-intermediate and Advanced Learners of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Hewings, M.
1993. Pronunciation Tasks. A Course for Pre-intermediate Learners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press/

Brazil, D.
1994. Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
1997. The Communicative Value of Intonation in English. [2nd Edition] Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Hewings, M. & Goldstein, S.
1998. Pronunciation Plus. Practice through Interaction. [North American English]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Cauldwell, R.
2002. Streaming Speech: Listening and Pronunciation for Advanced Learners of English. British/Irish version. Birmingham: speechinaction.
2013. Phonology for Listening: Teaching the Stream of Speech. Birmingham: Speech in Action.

Pickering, L.
2018. Discourse Intonation: A Discourse-Pragmatic Approach to Teaching the Pronunciation of English. Michigan Teacher Training. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.