The structure of the intonation groups

The stressed and unstressed syllables within a tune form several component parts according to their position and function in the tune: the prehead, the head, the nucleus, the tail.

Pre-head – Head – Nucleus – Tail

(Pr) – (H) – (N) – (T)

The pre-head:

Unstressed syllables before the head.

The head:

The section from the first fully stressed syllable (called the onset syllable) up to –– but not including the nucleus.

The nucleus:

The syllable which gets the strongest stress, associated with significant pitch movement (kinetic stress). This stress is called the nuclear, or tonic stress, and is almost always found in a notional word in utterance final position.

The tail:

Whatever syllables follow the nucleus, they continue with the pitch pattern of the nucleus.

The number of the component parts in a tune may vary. The only indispensable element of a tune is the nucleus. The other components may or may not be present in a tune. This depends on the length of the utterance, the phonetic structure of the words (monosyllabic or polysyllabic) and the number of prominent words in it. For example:

Table 1 - The structure of the intonation group

Prehead	Head	Nucleus	Tail
We have	‘met ‘Tommy at the	‵sea-	side.
	‘Joshua’s twenty-	‵two.
Here’s your		,mo-	ney, Miss Black.

Ex. 1 Compare the semantic prominence of the syllables bearing high, mid and low static tones.

1 I think you are being very silly. 2 Sometimes we’d get our clothes wet | and the nurse would get very cross. 3 Take your car with you, | if you’ve got one | choose a good ho tel | and you are sure to spend a thoroughly en joyable time. 4 Let me see, | half past e leven. 5 You can walk up and down the front, | listen to the band on the pier | and do more or less anything you like.

Ex. 2 Indicate the semantic centre in the following utterances by a kinetic tone.

2 You come out at the car park | and turn right | and after you’ve got a little way | you’ll come to the roundabout.

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Functions	\|	Ex. 3 Extend the following tunes pronouncing the phrases given in brackets a) as the head, b) as the prehead, c) as the tail.

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