TSLB3043

Phonetics and Phonology

INTONATION
Part 2
 Review
Tone languages substituting one distinctive
tone for another on a particular word or
morpheme can cause a change in the lexical
meaning of that word or morpheme, or in
some aspect of its grammatical categorisation.
Languages such as English are sometimes
called intonation languages.
 The tone-unit
For the purposes of analysing intonation, a
unit generally greater in size than the syllable
is needed the tone-unit.
In its smallest form the tone-unit may consist
of only one syllable, and usually it could be
more than one syllable.
 Example
is it /you
It is an utterance of three syllables, consisting
of one tone-unit
The only syllable that carries a tone is the
third one
 Tonic Syllable
A syllable which carries a tone will be called a
tonic syllable (nucleus).
It has a high degree of prominence, a property
of stressed syllables.
It does not only carries a tone but also a type
of stress that will be called tonic stress
(nuclear stress).
 Example
John is it /you
A fall-rise tone is used quite commonly in
calling someones name.
There are two utterances but a speaker may
say it without pause, sp the four syllables
make up a single utterance.
The utterance is divided into two tone-units:
John and is it /you.
 The tone-unit, in summary...
Speech consists of a number of utterances.
Each utterance consists of one or more tone-
units.
Each tone-unit consists of one or more feet.
Each foot consists of one or more syllables.
Each syllable consists of one or more
phonemes.
 The structure of the tone-unit
Most tone-units are of a type that we call
simple, and compound.
Each simple tone-unit has one and only one
tonic syllable, which is an obligatory
component of the tone-unit.
The other components are: the head, the pre-
head, and the tail.
 The head
A head is all of a tone-unit that extends from
the first stressed syllable up to (but not
including) the tonic syllable.
It follows that if there is no stressed syllable
before the tonic syllable, there cannot be a
head.
 Lets try
Identify the head in the utterances below and
state the number of syllables it consists.
give me \those
Answer: The first two syllables (words) are the head of the
tone-unit.
Bill called to give me \these
Answer: The head consists of the first five syllables.
in an \hour
Answer: There is not stressed syllable preceding the tonic
syllable, there is no head. The syllables in an form a pre-
head.
 The pre-head
It is composed of all the unstressed syllables in
a tone-unit preceding the first stressed
syllable.
Thus, they are found in two main
environments:
When there is not head, e.g. in an \hour
When there is a head,
e.g. in a little less than an \hour
The pre-head consists of in a, the head consists of
little less than an, and the tonic syllable is \hour.
 The tail
It often happens that some syllables follow
the tonic syllable.
Any syllables between the tonic syllable and
the end of the tone-unit are called the tail.
Each tone-unit consists of an initial tonic
syllable and a tail (stressed mark ), e.g.
\look at it
/what did you say
\both of them were here
 The components, in summary...
This completes the list of tone-unit
components.
If we use brackets to indicate optional
components, we can summarise tone-unit
structure as follows:
(pre-head) (head) tonic syllable (tail)
or more briefly, as:
(PH) (H) TS (T)
 Lets try
And then nearer to the front. On the left theres a
bit of forest coming down to the waterside. And
then a bit of a bay.

|| and then nearer to the front ||on the /left |

theres a bit of \forest | coming down to the
\waterside || and then a bit of a /bay ||

|| and then : nearer to the : front ||on the : /left|

theres a : bit of : \for : est | coming down to the :
\wa : terside || and then a : bit of a : /bay ||
 Symbols
|| - pause-type boundaries
| - non-pause boundaries
: (dotted lines) to show divisions between
tone-unit components
 Analysis
The passage contains five tone-units.
In the third tone-unit, since it is the syllable
rather than the word that carries the tone, it is
necessary to divide the word forest into two
parts.
In the fourth tone-unit the word waterside is
divided into wa-(the tonic syllable) and -
terside (tail).
 Tutorial
Choose a few very short passage and ...
1. identify the tone syllable and the words
which are stressed.
2. mark the symbols ||, | and : (dotted line) to
show the boundaries of pauses and non-
pause.
3. label the tone-unit components accordingly
PH, H, TS, and T.