english tonality/tonicity
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FILOZOFSKA FAKULTETA
NADSEGMENTNEZNAILNOSTIANGLEKEGAGLASOSLOVJA
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INTONATION
Intonation is the melody of speech. This means that the study of intonation is mainly concerned with the
rising and falling of the pitch of the voice. The prosodic characteristics of speech are:
PITCH (height of voice)
LOUDNESS/VOLUME RHYTHM
TEMPO/SPEECH RATE/SPEED
Intonation is concerned only with the pitch changes within an utterance and is thus a narrower than
prosody or suprasegmentals. Speech without intonation does not exist (language without intonation sound
literally inhuman giving a robot-like effect). Intonation is an integral part of any language therefore part
of the linguistic study. Intonation helps convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning it is a bridge between
grammar and meaning. It is important in communication because it provides additional meaning to what
is supplied by the words themselves (It wasnt so much what they said, but how they said it). Intonation
varies considerably from one language to another.
Intonation roughly performs 4 functions (has 4 different meanings): Emotional colouring, attitude (pragmatic) - tone Conveys grammatical/syntactic structure of an utterance (e.g. statements vs. questions) Textual function / discourse function (how text, either written or spoken, are structured
coherence, cohesion. In speech (especially spontaneous speech) intonation adds to theorganisation of a text)
S i li i i ( h h i i f h k di l )
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Milk comes from cows. || Wool comes from sheep. two pieces of information
Milk comes from cows, | and wool comes from sheep. = two IPs
MARKED TONALITY:
WhenIPs occur within a clause, phrase, word, or even syllable
boundaries
, orone IP covers more than 1 clause or sentence
(division into IPs does not followthe division of clauses):
Milk | comes from cows. I don't | like it. Bor | ing!
Delicious, | cool | milk. Abso | lutely | de | licious!
Marked tonality requires some sort of context.
1.1 Ambiguous syntactic structures
In certain cases the division into IPs can disambiguate the grammatical structure (the presence or absence
of intonation breaks signals the syntactic structure of a sentence).
Help keep the dog off! Help! | Keep the dog off! What's that in the road ahead? What's that in the road? || A head? Do you like paw
paw? -I'm sorry, || I don't know. I'm sorry, || I don't, || no. You can have cheese, | salad | or quiche. You can have cheese salad | or quiche. This will give teachers time | to prepare and mark work. This will give teachers time to prepare |
d k k
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2. CHUNKING GRAMMAR
Tonality varies considerably according to the style of speech. Speakers can insert intonation breaks almost
anywhere they want in order to make their message as clear as possible. However, there are some strong
tendencies exerted by the grammar over tonality. Some components of syntactic structure are more likely
than others to be made into separate IPs, set off by intonation breaks.
General rule 1
: intonation break after eachsentence
|| orclause
|
When I cough, | it hurts my throat.
First take the lid off, | and then unscrew the base. I'll tell you, | but you must keep it a secret.
General rule 2
: intonation breakanywhere
to make thegrammatical structure clear
He was looking up the street. (possibly ambiguous) He was looking | up the street. (direction) He was looking up | the street. (searching)
2.1 Vocatives
Vocatives are not an essential part of the clause structure (the clause would be grammatically complete
even without them). This explains why under some circumstances they are given their own IP. Vocatives
are treated differently depending on the position theyre in:
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Under the circumstances | we've got no choice.Technically | we have to reject it.
In themiddle
of a clause:may
have their ownIP
Well we could | this year | do something different.The rest of us, | unfortunately, | will have to accept it.
At theend
of a clause:
Adverbs of manner: integrated into the clause structureShe dances beautifully.I just can't take him seriously.I'll pay you back soon.
Sentence adverbials (adjuncts)
that modify the whole clause or sentence: their own IPApparently, | she's getting divorced.I'm rather disappointed, | frankly.
Ambiguous
She talked to me honestly.(honestlymodifyingtalked= How did she talk to me?)
She talked to me, | honestly.(honestlymodifyingShe talked to me= She DID talk to me, I assure you)
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2.4 Parallel structures
With parallel words or phrases, there is likely to be an intonation break after each component if there aremore than two components or if the components are heavy. The decision whether to treat eachenumerated item on a list as a separate IP is to a large extent left to the speakers perception of the contextof interaction. If the parallel words or phrases are placed in contrast by the speaker, then they too are likelyto be separated by an intonation break.
Parallel words and phrases:separate IP if emphasized
I come on Mondays, | Wednesdays | and Fridays. (emphasis)
I want to buy some fruit | some milk | and some bread. (emphasis)I can see a sort of tree | and the outline of a person. (emphasis)Im not going to repeat the mistake I made last time | this time. (contrast)
Ambiguous; some coordinated structures are potentially ambiguous, and can optionally bedisambiguated by the insertion of an intonation break:
old men and women (ambiguous: who is old?)old | men and women (= both are old)
old men | and women (= men are old)
Strings ofletters or numbers: one IP unless explicit/very clearA: How do you spell to seize?B: S, E, I, Z, E.
A: What was that again?B: S, | E, | I, | Z, | E.
With a string of letters or numbers there are equally two possibilities. If we think they will befamiliar with the hearer, or if there is no need to be particularly explicit, we run them together inthe same IP. If we think they may be unfamiliar to the hearer or need to be made especiallyclear, we can make the message easier for the hearer to process by placing an intonation breakafter each item,
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London and the southeast | will have showers. || The rest of the country | will be dry.
2.7 Topics
English has a fixed SVO (subject, verb, object) order of sentence elements. In this sequence the subject is
the topic or theme, while the rest of the clause is the comment or rheme. Sometimes the context of
interaction requires topicalization of other sentence elements, such as objects ot complements, which
means that they occur in the initial position of the clause preceding the grammatical subject. All such
instances require their own IP. In other words, a marked theme is always followed by an intonation break.
Topical status of the subject & other sentence elements is signalled:
In various syntactic ways
By choosing an appropriate tone
By giving it a separate IP
Cleft & pseudo cleft structures
As for Jeremy, | he can do what he likes. (subject)Martha | will have to wait. (subject)His rudeness | I shall ignore. || But his actions | I cannot forgive. (objects)More important | is the question of what we do next. (complement)I chose Veronica. (not cleft)
It was Veronica that I chose. (cleft)It was Veronica | that I chose. (cleft, with focus on I for contrast between my and someone elses choice)
Wh h d d l k | h ( d l f )
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Within each intonation break, we select one word as particularly important for the meaning. This is wherewe place the
nucleus
(or nuclear accent), the syllable that is more prominent than others and bear the
nuclear tone. The syllable is made prominent thoughpitch change, extra length and loudness. The nucleus isthe syllable where one of five English tones is realized.
The most important decision the speaker makes in selecting an intonation pattern is to decide where thenucleus goes: which is the word to be accented. In doing this the speaker chooses the tonicity of theintonation phrase. In an IP there may be other accents besides the nuclear accent. If so, the nucleus is thelast
accent in the IP. Any other accents come earlier in the IP and are called prenuclear.
Tonicity can be either: NEUTRAL tonicity means that the nucleus is places within the last lexical item in an intonation
unit. This also implies, that the information of the whole intonation unit is in focus (=broadfocus)
MARKED tonicity means that the nucleus is not placed within the last lexical item but within anitem which comes earlier in the intonation focus. In this case, only the section up to the nucleus is
in focus (=narrow focus).
2. NEUTRAL TONICITY
In order for an IP to be neutral in tonicity, the nucleus should occur on the last lexical item. Content words: adjectives, lexical verbs, nouns, adverbs
l l b d l b
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Im very annoyed with her.Ask her what that noise is.
Function words
: no N (=generally speaking, we accent content words but not function words)Function words are words whose meaning may need to be explained in a grammar rather than adictionary, and which may not have exact equivalents in other languages: pronouns, prepositions, articles,auxiliary verbs, modal verbs
2.3 Compounds
Single-stressed
compounds: N on thefirst element
Most compounds in English are single-stressed (=front-stressed), i.e. the main lexical stress goes on the firstelement.Its well past your bedtime.Put the grass in the wheelbarrow.
Wheres your grandmother?
Open compounds (two-word compounds)Is that my library book? They were playing video games.Ive lost my credit cards. I need some new running shoes.
Are you still at high school? At ten we have a physics class. Nested compounds (one of the elements of the compound may itself consist of more than one
element. If the outer compound is single-stressed, the nucleus will still go on the first element:
C d d b ll
["[" d d] b ll]
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3. THE OLD AND THE NEW
3.1 Information status
The location of the nucleus is strongly affected by whether the words in the utterance contain old or newinformation. Information status is the status of how we want to express our ideas, pieces of information. Inaddition to syntax, it represents additional help in conveying the information structure.
The nucleus is always located onnew information.
When all pieces of information are new
information, the N is on the last lexical item:Yes madam? -Id like a gin and tonic.
If the last lexical item containsold information
, the N moves to the left and is placed on the firstlexical item which does contain new information
How about a gin and tonic? -Id prefer a vodka and tonic.
Repeated words
, even if they contain new information, do not become N.A green chair and a blue curtain. BUT: A green chair and a blue chair.Tina Rodman and Jane Stuart. BUT: Tina Rodman and Jane Rodman.
3.2 Synonyms, hypernims, hyponyms
Old information can also be repeated usingsynonyms
:no N
h ll h h l h h h d h l d ( h h l h d h l d )
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Narrow focus: only part of the IP is in focus
The nucleus shows where the focus domain ends. In bellow examples the focus domain is just the itemMary, and the intonation indicated that we are concentrating attention on the relevant part (Mary):Who brought the wine? - Mary.
-Mary did.-Mary brought the wine.-I think it was Mary that brought the wine.
5. Contrastive focusA particular kind of narrow focus. It is used to put two items in contrast; these two items can be eithergrammatical or lexical. Any following material within the same IP is unaccented:
You may have started your essay,| but have you finished your essay? (contrast between started and finished)Philip| can run faster than Jim can.I know what Peter wants,| but what do you want?I can send a fax to him,| but I cant receive one from him.
The speaker can make an explicit or implicit contrast between two pieces of information. The aboveexamples are all examples of
explicit
contrast; they presuppose a previous context in which these sentencesare uttered. If the contrast is
implicit
, the hearer is left to infer the other term in the contrast:I dont know what youre complaining about. (implicit contrast between the addressee (you) and some other possiblecomplainant who may have better grounds for complaint than the addressee).
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Emphatic: may attract N
Ill write to him myself.
Shes not very enthusiastic herself.
Reciprocal pronouns each other, one another): do not attract N
I think we all ought to help one another.At least Phil and Sue are talking to each other.
Indefinite pronouns someone, anything etc.): do not attract N
Can you see anyone?Can I get you anything?Ive just read something really funny.
6. Nucleus on function words
In some cases the nucleus always falls on a function word even when the focus is broad.
Polarity questions tags
Yes, no, sure, definitely, no way as direct answers to yes-no questions take N
A: Have you finished?B: Yes. / Definitely. / Oh sure. / No. / Not really.
A sentence fragment without yes or no: N on the auxiliary
A: Have you finished?
h
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Thats Mary. Whos she with?A: You know my essay?
B: Yes, what about it? Wh + to be
Direct or indirect wh-questions with the pattern: wh-word + be + pronoun: N on be
How are you?Tell me how you are.
Who is it?
Tell me who it is.How would it be if we met for lunch?The man over there who is he?
When was it that you came back from Canada?
Function words with N
Function words which regularly attract N: too, as well, either, anyway, anyhow
A: Im going to the library.B: Oh, Ill come, too.
Were going to the beach. Why dont you come along as well?I dont like Jim, and I dont like Tammy, either.This idea may not work, but lets try it anyway.
Anyway, why were you looking at my letters?She doesnt smoke - not nowadays, anyhow.
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I dont believe it, she explained.
Adverbs of time place In final position (although they contain new information) do not attract N
I had an unexpected visitor yesterday.Does a Mr. Pomfrey live here?Did you see Big Brother on television last night?Theres a fly in my soup.
In final position when they are obligatory: they attract N
Put it on the table.Write the details in the book.
7. PHRASAL VERBS
Phrasal verb: verb + particle (adverb or preposition) = primary stress on the particle N on theparticle
How are you getting on ?The prisoner broke down.The next month she passed away.Ill leave you to carry on, then.
Phrasal verb: verb + adverb + preposition N on the adverbShe felt that her mother-in-law always looked down on her.
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Various intonation models of the English language recognize different number of nuclear tones. However,regardless of the intonation model, it seems that the English language uses five different pitch movements
or tones. Anything else is just a variation of these tones1
:
1.
(low/high)FALL
()2.
(low/high)RISE
()3. FALL-RISE
()4. RISE-FALL
()5. LEVEL
()
The high/low fall, the high/low rise and the level tone are all simple tones (include one pitch movement).The fall rise and rise-fall tones are complex tones (include two pitch movements).
`
wonderful _
wonderful
wonderful?
wonderful? wonderful wonderful >wonderful
pitch
range
high fall low fall high rise low rise fall-rise rise-fall level
FALLING TONES
For the simple fall () the pitch of the voice starts relatively high, i.e. between the mid and the high part
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RISING TONES
For the simple rise () the pitch of the voice starts relatively low, i.e. between the low and the mid part of
the pitch range, and then moves upwards to the mid to high part of the pitch range. The differencebetween the fall and the rise is that the latter has a rising tail, the former a low level one.
3. LOW RISE
(7 )The voice rises during the word from a low to a medium pitch or a little above.
EXAMPLE: 7Chicken? 7All of us?
4. HIGH RISE
(' )The voice rises during the word from a medium to a high pitch.
EXAMPLE: 'Chicken? 'All of us?
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EXAMPLE: Wonderful. Take physics then.
MID-LEVEL
7.LEVEL
( > )The voice maintains a pitch between high and low, neither rising nor falling.
EXAMPLE: >Actually.
DIFFERENT MEANINGS OF ENGLISH TONES
Intonation is multi-functional. It is difficult to discuss the grammatical meanings of tones separately fromthe attitudinal and discourse meanings when discussing the grammatical meaning of tones, we have to
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When thefall-rise
is used in statements it means that the IP which bears this tone is part of a largersyntactic structure. In addition to this non-finality, the fall-rise often expresses semantic non-finality where
the remaining part of the message is implied in the context of interaction. The implication is usually acontract or a reservation. Sometimes the implied message is explicitly pronounced in the following IP:
No matter"what you say,| Im"going to buy it.Well I"like his acting. (But not his singing)Daddy thinks| its"too expensive. (But Mummy may not agree.)
We"could meet on Monday| but"later Im away.
2. QUESTIONS
The default tones used in various questions are different.
WH-QUESTIONSdefault:
fall
"Which way is the Covent Garden?
YES-NO QUESTIONSdefault:
rise
Have you"ever been to Slovenia?
TAG QUESTIONSrise
(asks for information; suggests)
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"Stop that noise!
"Come to Daddy!"Dont worry."Blow your nose, dear.
INTERJECTIONSdefault:
fall
marked:rise
(encouraging)
Thank you.Mygoodness!
A: Oh mary!B: Yes?
GREETINGS
default: fall (formal, businesslike)rise (personal, encouraging)
Good morning.Good morning.
FAREWELLS
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THE HEAD
The first pitch-prominent pre-nuclear segment is called the head = the head begins with the stressedsyllable of the first accented word (before the nucleus).
Wheres John?head nucleus
The pre-head and head may occur together or separately, or they may not be present at all if the nucleus isthe first syllable of a word group.
There are four different types of head:
1. THE HIGH HEADAll syllables are said on the same rather high pitch. The high head is always level (the high levelhead).
It was" easier than I expected.
The high head is symbolized by placing the mark ["] before it. If there are other accented words inthe head they have [] before their stressed syllables:
"Why did you tell me you couldnt`come?
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Everyones bound to see itsometime. Dontfall.
4. THE RISING HEADIts first syllable is low in pitch and any following syllables gradually carry the pitch higher. It onlyoccurs before the high-fall tone.
Itsabsolutely in`tolerable.
The symbol for the rising head [] is placed before the stressed syllable of the first accented word
in the head. The stressed syllable of any other accented word in the head is marked with []:
How did you manage to do`that?
Dont`pay him.
THE TAIL
All syllables following the nucleus are called the tail. The seven nuclear tones correspond to the seven tuneendings:
high fall ending rise-fall ending low rise ending high rise ending
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22
THELO W
D R O P
THEHIGH
DROP
THE
TAKE OFF
THELO W
BOUNCE
THE
SWITCHBACK
THELONGJUMP
THEHIGH
BOUNCE
THE
JACKKNIFE
THEHIGH
DIVE
THE
TERRACE
PRE HEAD
(low) (low) (low) (low) / (high) (low) (low) (low) (low) (low) (low)
H EAD
(high) (high) (low) (high) (falling) (rising) (high) (high) (high) (high)
TON E
low fall high fall low rise low rise fall-rise high fall high rise rise-fall high fall + low rise mid-level
STATEMENT
no head :
detached, cool,
reserved, full, grimwith head :
categoric, weighty,
judicial
conveying a sense
of involvement,
light, airy
encouraging
further
conversation,guarded, reserving
judgement,
deprecatory
soothing,
reassuring, hint of
great self-confidence; in
echoes:
questioning
grudgingly, admitting,
reluctantly or
defensively dissenting,concerned, reproachful,
hurt, reserved;echoes:
astonished
protesting, as if
suffering under a
sense of injustice
questioning, trying
to elicit a
repetition, butlacking any
suggestion of
disapproval or
puzzlement;non
final: casual
impressed, awed,
complacent, self-
satisfied,challenging,
censorious,
disclaiming
responsibility
appealing to the
listener to
continue with thetopic of
conversation;
expressing
gladness regret,
surprise
in non final word
groups: marking
non-finality,without conveying
any impression of
expectancy; calling
out to someone as
from a distance
W H Q U ES T ION
no head :
detached, flat,
unsympathetic
with head :
searching, serious,
intense, urgent
brisk, businesslike,
considerate, not
unfriendly, lively,
interested
n on the
interrogative
word: wondering,
puzzled
otherwise: very
calm but resentful
n on the
interrogative word:
puzzled;echoes:
disapproving;
otherwise:
sympathetically
interested
echoes : greatly
astonished;otherwise:
interested and
concerned as well as
surprised
protesting,
somewhat
unpleasantly
surprised
n on the
interrogative word:
calling for a
repetition;n on
the following int.
word: echoing;
non echo
questions:
tentative, casual
challenging,
antagonistic,
disclaiming
responsibility
very emotive,
expressing
plaintiveness,
despair, gushing
warmth
in non final word
groups: marking
non-finality,
without conveying
any impression of
expectancy
YES NO
QUESTION
no head :
uninterested,
hostile
with head :
serious, urgent
willing to discuss
but not urgently,
sometimes
sceptical
disapproving,
sceptical
genuinely
interested
echoes : greatly
astonished;otherwise:
interested and
concerned as well as
surprised
willing to discuss
but protesting the
need for settling a
crucialpoint
eitherechoing the
listeners question
or light and casual
impressed,
challenging,
antagonistic
very emotive,
expressing
plaintiveness,
despair, gushing
warmth
in non final word
groups: marking
non-finality,
without conveying
any impression of
expectancy
C OM M A N D
no head :
unemotional,
calm, controlled
with head : very
serious, very
strong
suggesting a
course of action
and not worrying
about being
obeyed
beginning with
dont: appealing to
the listener to
change his mind;
calmly warning,
exhortative
soothing,
encouraging,
calmly patronising
urgently warning with a
note of reproach or
concern
recommending a
course of action
but with a note of
critical surprise
querying all or
part of the
listeners
command or
interjection, but
with no critical
intention
disclaiming
responsibility,
sometimes hostile
pleasing,
persuading
in non final word
groups: marking
non-finality,
without conveying
any impression of
expectancy
INTERJECTIONS
no head : calm,
unsurprised,reserved
with head : very
strong
mildly surprised,
not so reserved orself-possessed as
with the low-drop
sometimes
reservingjudgement,
sometimes calm
airy, causal, yet
encouraging, oftenfriendly, brighter
than when said
with the take-off
scornful protesting,
surprised
querying all or
part of thelisteners
command or
interjection, but
with no critical
intention
impressed,
sometimes a hintof accusation
intensely
encouraging,protesting
in non final word
groups: markingnon-finality,
without conveying
any impression of
expectancy; calling
out to someone as
from a distance