Intonation Part 3

By Humberto Gallardo Based on English Phonetics and Phonology,

Peter Roach Profesor of Phonetics of the

University of Reading.

Intonation

Las semester we said that when a TS (tonic Syllable) is followed by a T (tail), that Tail is continues and completes the tone that started on the TS.

For Example: /When did you say TS

Fall-Rise and Rise-Fall followed by a Tail…

Rising or Falling are quite easy to identify. ..On the other hand, Fall-Rise and Rise-Fall tones

are quite more difficult to recognise.See the examples:

\/Some …then, what could we conclude by this? \/Some ·chairs\/Some ·men

Fall-Rise and Rise-Fall followed by a Tail…

Now let’s see what happens when Tails follow TS.

We have to keep in our minds the old rule about Tails after a TS. But also we need to add another rule: when we find a Tail with two or more syllables the original tone remains until the last stressed syllable in the Tail (only for Fall-Rise).

e.g.: a) I \/might ·buy it

I \/might have thought of ·buying it

b) \/most of them

\/most of it was for them

Rise-fall Examples now…

/\no /\no one /\no sir

When there are two or more syllables in the tail, the Syllable immediately following the TS is ALWAYS HIGHER and any following Syllables are LOW.

See examples in the following page…………………………

Rise-fall Examples now…

/\ beaut i ful /\all of them went

/\Thats a nice way to speak to your mo ther

HiGH and LOW Heads...

Head: All that part of a tone-unit that extends from the first syllable up to, but not including, the tonic syllable.

High Head: The stressed syllable which begins the head is HiGH in pitch; usually it is higher than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable.

For Example:

The ‘bus was \late Is ‘that the / end

HiGH and LOW Heads...

Low Head: The stressed syllable which begins the head is LOW in pitch; usually it is lower than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable.

The ,bus was \late Is ,that the /end

In the following examples the 3 syllables ‘if it had’ continue at the same pitch as the stressed syllable ‘asked’:

a) With high headWe ‘asked if it had \come

b) With low headWe ,asked if it had \come

When there is more than one STRESED SYLLABLE There is a different rule. In HIGH HEAD the pitch goes

downwards progressively to approach the beggining of the tone:

The ‘rain was ‘coming ‘down ‘fair ly \hard

In the next examle the head is LOW; since the tone also starts low, being a rise, there is no upward movement in the head:

,Thats ,not the ,sto ry you ,told in /court

When there is a LOW HEAD followed by a falling tone, successive stressed syllables in the head will tend to move upward towards the beginning pitch of the tone:

,I could have ,bought it for ,less than a \pound

When a HIGH HEAD is followed by a RISE the stressed syllables tend to move downwards, as one would expect, towards the beggining pitch of the tone:

‘Will there be a’nother ‘train /later

ENJOY PHONETICS NOW WITH THE FOLLOWING EXERCISES…

GOOD LUCK!!!!!