Intonation

Ch. 15

Segmental vs. suprasegmental phonology (e.g. stress, intonation)

Pitch (auditory sensation) vs. fundamental frequency

Pitch differences are linguistically significant when

1) they are under the speaker’s control,

2) they are perceptible.

Utterance: a continuous piece of speech beginning and ending with a clear pause.
Minimal utterance: one syllable.

Tone: the overall behaviour of the pitch: level vs. moving (e.g. falling, rising)

_yes _no
ˎyes ˎno
ˏyes ˏno

We ignore differences between high and low level tones.

Is English a tone language?

Simple tones vs. complex tones

yes no (fall-rise)

yes no (rise-fall)

In ordinary speech, the intonation tends to take place within the lower part of the speaker’s pitch
range (extra pitch height is symbolised by ↑, e.g. ↑ˎyes).

Form vs. function of English tones

(It is not always possible to state what the function of a tone is.)

Fall: “neutral”, finality

Rise: invitation to continue (e.g. in instructions or directions)

(1) A: You start off on the ring road…

B: ˏyes
A: turn left at the first roundabout…
B: ˏyes
A: and ours is the third house on the left.

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(2) A: Have you seen Ann?
B: ˏno (vs. ˎno)

(3) A: Do you know what the longest balloon flight was?

B: ˏno (vs. ˎno)

Fall-rise: limited agreement

(4) A: I’ve heard that it’s a good school.

B: yes

(5) A: It’s not really an expensive book, is it?

B: no

Rise-fall: strong feeling

(6) A: You wouldn’t do an awful thing like that, would you?

B: no

(7) A: Isn’t the view lovely!

B: yes

Level: routine, uninteresting (e.g. roll-call, routine questions)

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Ch. 16

is it ˏyou three-syllable utterance consisting of one tone-unit;

the only syllable that carries a tone (i.e. the tonic syllable or nucleus) is the third one.

John is it ˏyou four-syllable utterance consisting of two tone-units;

Simple tone-unit:

Head: the part of a tone-unit that extends from the first stressed syllable (the onset of the head) up
to the tonic syllable. Remember that stressed words are (usually) content words (nouns, adjectives,
verbs, adverbs), but see also below.

(8) ˈBill ˈcalled to ˈgive me ˎthese

Pre-head: all the unstressed syllables preceding the first stressed syllable.

(9) in a ˈlittle ˈless than an ˎhour

Tail: all the syllables following the tonic syllable up to the end of the tone-unit

(10) ˎlook at it

(11) ˎboth of them were ˙here

If there is a tail, the pitch movement is not completed on the tonic syllable, see e.g. (4). In such
cases, the tonic syllable is the syllable on which the pitch movement of the tone begins.

In sum: (PH) (H) TS (C)

where (usually) H begins with the first stressed content word and TS belongs to the last stressed
content word. But the issue of tonicity (i.e. where the nucleus goes), in particular, deserves closer
scrutiny (see Wells 2006: Ch. 3). More generally, we’ll be dicussing the following cases:

1. Onset on a function word

2. Final, but not nuclear
3. Phrasal verbs
4. Nucleus on last noun
5. Event sentences (an instance of 4.)

We’ll see that there is a tendency for the nucleus to go on the last nominal element which is in
focus (i.e. it is not given) and is outside a locational/temporal adverbial phrase.

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Onset on a function word (from Wells 2006: 237-40)
(In the following examples the head is in blue and tonic syllable in red.)

Interrogative wh-words are stressed:

(12) ˈWho wrote the reˎport?

(13) ˈHow do you ˎfeel?

but: (14) ˈThis is the ˏofficer ƒ who ˈwrote the reˎport.

What happens to nucleus placement when a (direct or indirect) question has the pattern wh-word +
be + pronoun (i.e. it contains only function words)?

The nucleus goes on the verb be.

(15) ˈHow ˎare you?

(16) ˈTell me how you ˎare.

(17) ˈWhat ˎis it?

(18) ˈTell me what it ˎis.

(19) (Welcome back!) ˈHow’s it ˎbeen?

(20) ˈTell me how it’s ˎbeen.

but:

(21) ˈWho’s ˎshe? (pointing at somebody)

(22) ˈWho’s ˎthat? (hearing somebody at the door)
(23) ˈWho ˎis that? (knocking at the door continues)
(24) ˈHow ˏold are you?
(25) ˈWhat’s it ˎfor? (see Wells 2006: 144)
(26) ˈWhat’s this ˎbutton for? (see Wells 2006: 144)

Demonstratives and place adverb there are readily stressed:

(27) ˈThat’s an interesting ˎpoint.

(28) ˈThere he ˏsat ƒ ˈdrinking his ˎbeer.

but: (29) That ˈanyone should forˏget ƒ was unˎthinkable.

(30) There’s ˈnothing we can ˎdo.

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In yes-no questions, an initial auxiliary or modal is optionally stressed:

(31) ˈDid you reˏmember? or Did you reˏmember?

(32) ˈCan you ˏswim? or Can you ˏswim?

An initial contracted negative verb is almost always accented, so too is the word not.

(33) ˈHaven’t we been here beˏfore?

(34) I’m ˈnot really ˎsure.

The modals ought, used, need, dare are usually stressed even in statements. The other auxiliaries
and modals are also often stressed in statements if by doing so we avoid an awkwardly long
prehead. May, might, and should are usually stressed. Deontic must, unlike epistemic must, is
usually not stressed.

(35) I ˈused to live in San Diˎego.

(36) I’m ˈgoing to be late for ˎwork. or I’m going to be late for ˎwork.
(37) She ˈmust be ˎlate. (epistemic must)
(38) You must reˈmember to brush your ˎteeth. (deontic must)

Pronouns are stressed not only when contrastive, but also when coordinated or to signal a change
of grammatical subject or object.

(39) ˈYou do the ˏironing ƒ and ˈI’ll wash the ˎfloor. (contrast)
(40) ˈYou and I ƒ could ˈsort it out ˎquickly. (coordination)
(41) ˈBill told ˏMary ƒ and then ˈshe told ˎJennifer. (object Æ subject)

Prepositions and subordinating conjunctions which have considerable semantic content or are
polysyllabic may be stressed.

(42) (ˈ)On the ˏtable ƒ you’ll ˈfind a ˎglass. vs. By a reˈmarkable coˏincidence ƒ …
(43) Alˈthough I tried my ˏbest ƒ … vs. If you ˈreally can’t ˏwait ƒ …

When prepositions or other grammatical items are coordinated, they are usually stressed (see also
above on coordinated pronouns):

(44) ˈTo and (ˈ)from ˎwork.

(45) ˈIf and (ˈ)when he reˏturns ƒ …

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Final, but not nuclear
Empty words and pro-forms

(46) I ˈkeep ˎseeing things.

(47) ˈWhat are you going to ˎtell people?
(48) They’re ˈreally ˎgoing places.

(49) ˈHave a ˎword with the guy. (=ˈHave a ˎword with him.)
(50) I ˈcan’t ˎstand that woman. (= I ˈcan’t ˎstand her.)

(51) For Ísome reason ƒ (I keep forgetting to do it.)

(52) In Ísome cases ƒ (the answer is obvious.)
(53) ÍSome days ƒ (I feel very depressed.)

(54) (ˈCan I borrow your ˏruler? ƒ) I ˈhaven’t ˎgot one.

(55) (ˈCan I borrow some ˏsugar? ƒ) I ˈhaven’t ˎgot any.

Adverbs of time and place

(56) ˈDid you see Big ˏBrother on television last night?

(57) He’s ˈgot a tatˎtoo on his arm.
(58) There’s a ˎfly in my soup. (vs. C’è una mosca nella miˎnestra.)

But they can bear the nucleus in a separate intonation phrase:

(59) We’re ˈgoing to ˎBrighton tomorrow.

(60) We’re ˈgoing to ˎBrighton ƒ toˏmorrow.

Adverbs of time and place are stressed if the sense of the verb would be incomplete without the
final adverbial:

(61) ˈPut it on the ˎtable.

(62) ˈWrite the details in the ˎbook.

Descriptive adverbs (e.g. adverbs of manner), on the other hand, tend to bear the nucleus:

(63) She exˈpressed her views ˎhonestly.

(64) She ˈwalks with a noticeable ˎlimp.

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Phrasal verbs
(65) ˈHow are you getting ˎon?
(66) It’s ˈtime to drink ˎup.
(67) (Here are the photos. ƒ) ˈMay I ˎlook at them?
(68) ˈWhich of them can you really reˎly on?

But if the particle is separated from the verb by an object which is given (i.e. out of focus), then the
particle is not stressed:

(69) ˈTake your ˎshoes off.

(70) ˈTake them ˎoff.
(71) (to someone who has just heard a good joke) You ought to ˈwrite these jokes ˎdown.

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Nucleus on last noun
The nucleus is put on a noun where possible.

(72) ˈWhich ˎcolour do you prefer?

(73) ˈWhich do you preˎfer?

(74) ˈWhat did ˎMary do?

(75) ˈWhat did she ˎdo?

(76) I’ll ˈget the ˎtable ready.

(77) I’ll ˈget it ˎready.

This is very common with defining relative clauses:

(78) ˈLook at what she’s wearing!

(79) ˈLook at the shoes she’s wearing!

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Chapters 18-19

Functions of intonation (they can’t always be neatly separated from one another):

i) attitudinal
ii) accentual
iii) grammatical
iv) discourse

i) tendencies:

fall: finality, definiteness

rise: general questions, listing, “more to follow”
fall-rise: uncertainty, requesting
rise-fall: surprise

Statements, commands and wh-questions typically involve falling tones, whereas yes/no questions
and non-final clauses usually have rising nuclei:

Statements: (80) She ˈcarefully read the inˎstructions.

Commands: (81) ˎTell me about it.
Yes/No questions: (82) ˈWill it be ready by ˏFriday?
Wh-questions: (83) ˈWhat’s the best way to roast a ˎgoose?
Non-final clauses: (84) Alˈthough Oliver promised to ˏhelp ƒ (he ˈlet us ˎdown.)

What about lists? E.g.: (85) This train is for Leeds, York, Darlington and Durham.

(see the written exercises in Roach 2000: 161 and 191-2)

But remember that these are just general tendencies. For example, wh-questions may be said with a
rising pattern. The rising pattern makes them sound more friendly (whereas the falling pattern
makes them sound more distant):

(86) ˈWhat’s your ˎname? (e.g. a policeman interviewing a suspect)

(87) ˈWhat’s your ˏname? (e.g. meeting someone you like)

ii) while word stress is independent of intonation, the placement of tonic stress is a function of
intonation

Tonic stress is usually put on the last __________ word of the tone-unit. One exception is contrast
or emphasis. Another is when the last part of the tone-unit is “predictable” (see also pp.198-199),
see also above:

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(88) I have plans to leave. (ambiguous)
(89) Here’s the book that you asked me to bring.
(90) I’ve got to take the dog for a walk.

Notice the difference between English and Italian:

(91) I have a ˎbook to read.

(92) Ho un libro da ˎleggere.

(93) I don’t like the ˎshirts he wears.

(94) Non mi piacciano le camice che ˎporta.

iii)

(95) The Conservatives who like the proposal are pleased. (ambiguous)
(96) The price is going up. (used as a statement vs. question)
(97) They are coming on Tuesday, aren’t they? (provide confirmation vs. request for
information)

iv)

1) attention focussing:

a) “most important” word:

(98) I’ve got to take the ˎdog for a walk.

(99) I’ve got to take to dog to the ˎvet.

but with event sentences (this is also a case of “nucleus on last noun”; see also Wells 2006:
174-7):

(100) The ˎradio’s gone wrong.

b) “given” vs. “new”:

(101) Since the last time we went when we had that huge dinner I’ve been on a diet.

c) “intonational subordination”:

(102) The Japanese for some reason or other drive on the left like us.

2) regulation of conversational behaviour

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Summing up (nucleus in red):

… noun verb
adjective
particle

… pronoun/Ø verb
adjective
particle

NB Final prepositions are never stressed (although strong forms, with the exception of to, are used)
unless all other elements in the intonation phrase are function words (e.g. What is it for? vs. What is
it?)

Locate the nucleus:

(103) Switch over to the BBC.

(104) I need some new running shoes.
(105) I’ve lost my credit card.
(106) I’ll tell them.
(107) Have you forgotten me?
(108) What are you looking at?
(109) Where does she come from?
(110) Who’s she with?
(111) What’s it about?
(112) Take your umbrella with you.
(113) His tie’s got a stain on it.
(114) When is it?
(115) See who it is.
(116) You mustn’t annoy people.
(117) I’ve got something to say to you guys.
(118) (Why are you looking so worried?) I’ve got an exam this afternoon.
(119) (Evrything OK?) It’s a bit hot in here.
(120) Take some of them off.
(121) They ran away.

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(122) It’s time to take the plates away.
(123) They brought the meeting forward.
(124) Take them away.
(125) They brought it forward.
(126) I wonder how the project’s going.
(127) I’ve got to essays to write.
(128) How often do you have the house painted?
(129) This is the book I mentioned.
(130) Which dress did you choose?
(131) Which route should we take?
(132) Which did you choose?
(133) Which should we take?
(134) Where is Martin going?
(135) Where is he going?
(136) How can we keep the salad fresh?
(137) He held his hands up.
(138) How can we keep it fresh?
(139) He held them up.
(140) My ankle’s hurting again.
(141) You’ve got your collar turned up.

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Solutions:

(142) Switch over to the BBC.

(143) I need some new running shoes.
(144) I’ve lost my credit card.
(145) I’ll tell them.
(146) Have you forgotten me?
(147) What are you looking at?
(148) Where does she come from?
(149) Who’s she with?
(150) What’s it about?
(151) Take your umbrella with you.
(152) His tie’s got a stain on it.
(153) When is it?
(154) See who it is.
(155) You mustn’t annoy people.
(156) I’ve got something to say to you guys.
(157) (Why are you looking so worried?) I’ve got an exam this afternoon.
(158) (Evrything OK?) It’s a bit hot in here.
(159) Take some of them off.
(160) They ran away.
(161) It’s time to take the plates away.
(162) They brought the meeting forward.
(163) Take them away.
(164) They brought it forward.
(165) I wonder how the project’s going.
(166) I’ve got to essays to write.
(167) How often do you have the house painted?
(168) This is the book I mentioned.
(169) Which dress did you choose?
(170) Which route should we take?
(171) Which did you choose?
(172) Which should we take?
(173) Where is Martin going?
(174) Where is he going?
(175) How can we keep the salad fresh?
(176) He held his hands up.
(177) How can we keep it fresh?
(178) He held them up.
(179) My ankle’s hurting again.
(180) You’ve got your collar turned up.

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Appendix

Stress guidelines for compounds:

The general rule is for compounds to have stress on the first element. But there are various
“exceptions” where primary stress is on the 2nd element:

1) heavy-ˈhanded (but: $heavy-handed ˈsentence)

2) second-ˈclass (but: $second-class ˈcitizen)
3) downˈstream (but: $downstream ˈsettlement)
4) downˈgrade (but: $downgraded ˈworker) [BrE only]

(see Roach 2000: 109 on 1) to 4))

More cases with stress on the 2nd element (see Collins and Mees 2003: 113-5 and Wells 2006:
106):

5) manufacturers rule:

apple ˈpie ˈapple tree

plum ˈbrandy ˈpaper clip
paper ˈbag ˈplum stone
cotton ˈsocks ˈcotton reel
diamond ˈbracelet ˈdiamond cutter

6) location rule:

Turkish deˈlight East ˈAnglia Church ˈRoad

Russin rouˈlette New ˈYork Trafalgar ˈSquare
Burmese ˈcat Castle ˈBromwich Thorner ˈPlace
Scotch ˈmist Notting ˈHill Churchill ˈWay
Lancashire ˈhotpot Silicon ˈValley Fifth ˈAvenue
Bermuda ˈshorts Land’s ˈEnd
but:
Brighton ˈrock Botany ˈBay
ˈChurch Street
London ˈpride Hyde ˈPark
ˈTrafalgar Street
(the) Severn ˈBridge
Paddington ˈStation
Carnegie ˈHall
Manchester Uˈnited

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7) parts of a building 8) positioning and (to some extent) time

back ˈdoor left ˈwing

bedroom ˈwindow Middle ˈAges
garden ˈseat upper ˈclass
office ˈchair bottom ˈline
front ˈroom morning ˈstar
but: afternoon ˈtea
ˈliving room January ˈsales
ˈdrawing room April ˈshowers
summer ˈholiday

9) food items (they are covered by the ‘Manufacturers Rule’ or the ‘Location Rule’)

Worcester ˈsauce but:

Welsh ˈrabbit ˈchicken liver
Christmas ˈpudding ˈvine leaves
fish ˈsoup -bread: ˈshortbread
-cake: ˈChristmas cake, ˈcarrot cake
-juice: ˈorange juice
-paste: ˈfish paste

10) nouns ending in –er or –ing + participle:

hanger-ˈon
passer-ˈby
washing-ˈup

11) –ing + noun if the compound suggests a characteristic of the object, with no idea of aiding an
activity:

leading ˈarticle ˈsewing machine

running ˈwater ˈrunning shoes
casting ˈvote ˈscrubbing brush
sliding ˈscale ˈwashing machine

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