INTONATION 2

English Phonetics and Phonology

Le Ngoc Chi
Nguyen Thi Thanh Trang
 WHAT IS A TONE-UNIT?
- A tone unit is identified as a “pause”
- The tone unit has either one or two prominence syllables.
- It has a tonic syllable and a tonic stress (nucleus)

A syllable A syllable
carries a not carries a
tone tone but also
a type of
stress
 STRUCTURE OF A TONE-UNIT
THE TONIC SYLLABLE IS OBLIGATORY BUT ALL OTHER PARTS ARE
OPTIONAL.

(PH) (H) TS (T)

(Pre – head) (Head) Tonic syllables (Tail)

 pre-head: any unstressed syllables before the head

 head: all stressed syllable up to (but not including) tonic syllable
 tonic syllable: ‘carries’ the tone. Is obligatory
 tail: any unstressed syllables that follow the tonic
 1. TONIC SYLLABLE (TS)

A syllable that carries a tone

Example: Is that you?

2. HEAD(H)
3. PRE-HEAD (PH)
4. TAIL
PITCH POSSIBILITIES OF A SIMPLE TONE-UNIT
One syllable One syllable
Rise tone-unit utterance

Fall
Tonic syllable is
the final syllable
More than one
Level
syllable tone-unit
The tone-unit
has a tail
 Examples

here

shall we seat here

why did you go

PITCH POSSIBILITIES OF A FALL-RISE/RISE-FALL
Tonic syllable
A tail of one
Rise - fall syllable
One syllable tail

Fall - rise
Tonic syllable
A tail of more
than one syllable
More than one
syllable tail
 Examples

Some men No one

 Fall on the tonic syllable, remain low until the last
Fall - rise stressed syllable/last syllable in the tail, then rise to the
end of the tone-unit

I might have thought of buying it

 Fall on the tonic syllable, remain low until the last
Fall - rise stressed syllable/last syllable in the tail, then rise to the
end of the tone-unit

most of it was for them

 The syllable immediately following the tonic syllable
Rise - fall always higher and any following syllable are low

That’s a nice way to speak to your mo ther