1- Utterances made up of ‘arguments’ and ‘predicates’ which show a marked prevalence of

ARGUMENTS in matters of accentuation:

a) EVENT SENTENCES:

 Both, the noun and the intransitive verb are new information, but just the noun is accented.
 Those sentences referring to historical events, in which something was an event; a past, present, future
or presumed event.
 News sentences; the whole of them is news and predicates receive lower stress than their arguments.

The ՝water’s running. An ՝accident happened.

The ՝baby’s crying. The ՝children will walk in.
The ՝kettle’s boiling. Your ՝taxi’s waiting.
There’s a ՝bus coming. The ՝phone’s ringing.
The ՝car broke down. My ՝head aches.

b) WH-QUESTIONS ENDING WITH A VERB

 The nuclear accent normally goes on the noun rather than the verb. The noun represents the object.

‘How’s the ՝homework going? ‘Where does ‘most of our fruit go?
‘Whose um՝brella have I taken? ‘What ՝brand do you buy?
‘How much ՝sugar do you add? ‘Whose ad՝vice did you follow?

 If the verb has further complementation, the nuclear accent will not go on the object.

‘Whose ad’vice did you ‘find most ՝useful?

‘Which ‘programme do you ‘use to make ՝drawings with?

c) FINAL RELATIVE CLAUSES

 The nuclear accent usually goes on the argument, irrespective of the condition of new or given
information in the clause, and the length of it.

‘Can you see a ՝necklace here you’d like?

˅Pam, | have you got any ‘old maga՝zines you wouldn’t mind giving away?
‘Where’s the ՝book you borrowed? ‘What about that ՝story you were telling me?
(Restrictive relative clauses within noun phrases)
I’m putting a’way some of the ՝junk that’s been lying around since last Christmas.
I’m in’trigued by these ՝flashes that scientists have observed round here at this time of the year.

d) OBJECTS OF GENERAL MEANING

 It happens when objects are colorless substantives, practically equivalent to pronouns. They are used in
a wide or unspecific sense. These nouns are of a wide denotation and tend to be unaccented.

‘Jack is for’ever dis՝pleasing people. I must ex՝plain the matters.

I must be՝lieve in things. We’ve lived in ՝several places.
‘Let’s go to ՝my place vs. (Let’s ‘go to my ՝office)
 English treats indefinite negatives like arguments and the non-negative ones as personal pronouns.
I ‘saw ՝nobody. (I ‘saw ՝Mary)
She ՝heard something. (She heard some ՝footsteps)

e) FINAL VOCATIVES

 Final vocatives are considered to be the tail of the nucleus.

The ՝taxi’s waiting, love. Good ՝morning, doctor.
 See the difference between vocatives and apposotions.

She’s my ‘next-door ՝neighbor, Pamela. She’s my ‘next-door ՝neighbor, | ՝Pamela.

(Vocative) (Apposition)

f) FINAL REPORTING CLAUSE

 They are treated as incapable of carrying nuclear accent. (For intonation purposes they will be the
continuation of the Falling & Rising movements)
I ‘don’t want to go ՝out, he said.
 Reporting + Adverbial can take separate intonation groups.

‘Who are ՝you, said the caterpillar | ˎsternly.

g) FINAL ADVERBIALS

 Adverbials of Time and Place: They take a minor information point, they are secondary or dependent.

‘Autumn seems to be ar’riving a little ՝early this year.

‘Britain’s ‘trade balance was in the ‘red by a ‘hundred and ‘ninety ‘three ‘million ՝pounds last month.
Ex˅cuse me. Does Mr. ՝Henderson live here?
It sounds pretty ՝lively at your end. (On the phone)
Waiter! There’s a ՝fly in my soup.
There’s a mos՝quito on your arm.

 They can be accented for contrastive or emphatic purposes.

A: You had a ˅dental treatment this morning?
B: ՝Yeah!
A: The e’leventh this ́ year?

 Adverbials of courtesy, degree and proper function:

 Courtesy subjuncts ‘Please’ and ‘Thanks’/‘Thank you’

‘Have another ՝helping, please. I ‘really had eˎnough, thank you.

 They can change for pragmatic reasons, either to emphasize the courtesy, or to indicate attitudes such as
insistence or annoyance.

՝Yes, | ՝please!
 Degree subjuncts can be ‘down-toners’, which reject nuclear accent.

Your ‘rucksack ‘weighs a ՝ton, practically. I’m ‘just going ՝out for a bit.
I was be’ginning to ‘think I ‘didn’t be՝long in there, sort of.

 Intensifiers are usually accented.

She ‘lost her ‘head com՝pletely. I’m ‘sure she won’t ‘mind in the ՝slightest.

 The informal intensifiers ‘This’ and ‘That’ can pre-modify other adjectives and adverbs representing given
information and therefore attract nuclear accents themselves.

A: I suppose he has a very negative approach to his work.

B: Well, it ‘isn’t at all ՝that bad, | ͵actually.

 Adverbs of proper functioning tend to reject nuclear accent.

A: Shall we consider the arrangement about the cleaning and cooking?

B: Do you ‘think it’ll ՝work O.K?
A: What’s wrong with Granny?
B: She ‘can ́t ՝hear properly.

 SENTENCE ADVERBIALS

 Some adverbials may function as disjuncts (sentence) or adjuncts (non-sentence).

‘John speaks ՝English, naturally. ‘John speaks ‘English ՝naturally.

(Disjunct) (Adjunct)

It’s natural for the speaker to know John speaking English. The way John speaks.
We went ՝home, happily. We went ‘home ՝happily.

‘Alice ‘tried to inter՝fere, between you and me. ‘Alice ‘tried to inter’fere between ‘you and ՝me.

 The word ‘Then’ can act as a non-sentence meaning ‘at that time’, in this case it is accented; on the other
hand, it can be an interferential conjunct not being capable to carry the main stress.

I’m ‘told that ‘Alan will be ՝in on Tuesday. Do you ‘think you could ‘talk to him ՝then?
(When he comes back; Adjunct)
You ‘say that ‘Alan is the ‘only one who ‘solves my ՝problem. Do you ‘think you could ՝talk to him then?
(In that case; Conjunct)
2- Final items with low semantic weight.

b) REFLEXIVE VS. EMPHATIC PRONOUNS

He ‘won’t ‘worry unless you ՝hurt yourself. I ‘don’t quite ‘feel my՝self today.
That ‘nice-looking ‘girl in the ‘middle really ՝fancies herself.
We’ve ‘already ՝proved ourselves. ‘Now we can re’lax for the ‘rest of our ՝lives.
A: Sometimes you scare me. B: Sometimes I scare my՝self.
A: Believe me. I’m a different person now. A: I ‘have to ‘see it for my՝self.
c) PREPOSITIONS
 They can have nuclear accent in contexts where the last lexical item is given.
If you ‘can’t ‘count on your ˅brother, | ‘who can you count ՝on?
A: Can we talk for a little while?
B: ‘What is it you ‘want to talk a՝bout?
A: Where shall I run?
B: This is an at’omic ՝bomb. There’s ‘nowhere to run ՝to.
The ‘view to the ‘summit is ‘said to be mag՝nificent - if you can get ՝to the summit.