Explanation

Informational (formal) style is characterized by predominant use of intellectual intonation patterns. It occurs in formal discourse where the task set by the sender of the message is to communicate information without giving it any emotional or volitional evaluation. This intonational style is used, for instance, by radio or television announcers when reading weather forecasts, news, or in various official situations. It is considered to be stylistically neutral.

When using informational the speaker is primarily concerned that each sentence type, such as declarative or interrogative, command or request, dependent or independent, is given an unambiguous intonational identity. The sender of the message consciously avoids giving any secondary values to utterances. It might interfere with the listener’s correct decoding the message and with inferring the principal point of information in the sentence. So in most cases the speaker sounds dispassionate.

The characteristic feature of informational style is the use of (Low-Pre-head +) Falling Head + Low Fall (Low Rise) (+ Tail), normal or slow speed of utterance and regular rhythm. Less frequently the Stepping Head (characterized by an even, unchanged pitch level over each of the stress-groups) may be used instead of the Falling Head. In certain cases the Fall-Rise occurs, with the falling part of the tune indicating the main idea and the rising part making some addition to the main idea.

In informational style intonation never contrasts with lexical and grammatical meanings conveyed by words and constructions. Internal boundaries placement is semantically predictable, that is, an intonation group here always consists of words joined together by sense.

Besides, it is important to note that intonation groups tend to be short; duration of pauses varies from medium to long. Short pauses are rather rare.

The following examples illustrate the use of informational style:

(A) News Bulletin ♫