INTONATION

Pitch Accents:

sudden and steep rises and falls in pitch

He ought to have asked me first

 

The four important movements (not in the book)

Step up on ought and me:

me also has a move down, which increases its prominence

Step down on did:

I didn’t say that

   

that has a move up, which makes the utterance a little apologetic

Four types of movement

- step up: accent- step down: accent- move up: attitude, non-finality, question,

hesitation, modesty- move down: finality

Dividing line between “step” and “move” is vague.

He’s not in the least intelligentStep down on not and step up on least, followed by a move down (“high fall”)

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Four ways of saying “He didn’t”

 

Step up Step down (6) He didn’t (5) He didn’t

Example (4)

(9) He didn’t (or move up?)

(10)He didn’t

Three ways of saying “didn’t he go?”step down + move up

• (7) Didn’t he go?

• (8) Didn’t he go?

• (11) Didn’t he go?

NUCLEAR TONES

Nucleus = last pitch accentA nuclear tone is the way an utterance ends

(usually the final accent)

Examples of the various combinations of the four importantpitch movements as they are given on pp. 135-138 of PPP

1. High fall = step up + move down: strong accent(16) going away (20) John (38) for three hours

2. Low fall = just a move down: no accent(17) going away (21) John (39) for three hours

3. Low rise = move down + move up: weak or no accent(18) going away (22) John (53) are you going?(48) Are you coming to the meeting tonight?

4. High rise = just a step up: accent (questions)(19) going away (23) John (52) are you going?

5. Fall-rise = step up + move down + move up: strong accent(24) I go there usually (27) but I didn’t fail the exam

6. Rise-fall = move up + move down: moderate accent(25) He got a distinction (41) Did he. At Cambridge. Too.(43) You damned well ought to (44) always empty