English Intonation Patterns of Radio Broadcasters in Western Nigeria

It is an empirical fact that intonation meaning takes primacy over lexical meaning. As professional communicators, broadcasters are expected to be proficient in the use of intonation as what matters in verbal communication is not what you say but how you say it. This work examines some Nigerian broadcasters'' mastery of English intonation patterns to find out their awareness of the functions of intonation in effective communication and the extent to which intonation affects their dissemination of information to the audience. The analysis of the data for the study reveals that they were deficient in the use of English intonation as the incorrect intonation patterns used by them adversely affected their effective dissemination of information to the audience. The work therefore concludes that the selected broadcasters were generally poor in the use of English intonation for effective communication. This book is a good reference material for all researchers and students who are interested in the use of English intonation in Nigeria, and indeed West Africa, as broadcasters are often looked up to as models, worthy of emulation, in matters of appropriate language use.