Intonation

Тhе monotony of American speech is created bу regular recurrence of similar pitch patterns: mid -level wavy head plus high fall or level-rise. Thus compared to RP the intonation group in GА starts at а lower level (like in Russian) but the pitch configuration is specifically English: sliding on еасh accent group within а narrow range until it comes to the terminal (final) fall with аn initial rise, similar to аn RP intensified fall or а rise-fall.

Sentence stress in English

Not all syllables of a disyllabic or a polysyllabic word are equally prominent: one is more prominent than the other(s). A property of syllables which makes them stand out as more noticeable than the others is called stress. Word stress is the stress pattern of a word.

Another term used in phonetic literature to refer to nearly the same notion is accent. It can be defined as the placement of pitch prominence , i.e higher or lower pitch than the surroundings, on a syllable. For example, in the word po’tato, the middle syllable is the most prominent; if you say the word on its own, you will probably produce a fall in pitch on the middle syllable, making that syllable accented.

The difference between stress and accent is based on the fact that in the case of stress the dominant perceptual component is loudness, in the case of accent it is pitch.

The word accent is also widely used as a synonym of sentence stress to refer to a greater prominence given to a syllable or a word of a particular sentence. In a sentence of five or six words, we tend to break a string of words into separate tone units each of which will be likely to have a strong stress. For example:

If she hadn't been 'rich I she couldn't have 'bought it.

It is widely believed that the most likely place for sentence stress to fall is on the appropriate syllable of the last lexical word of the sentence. In this case, “appropriate syllable" refers to syllable indicated by the rules of word stress, while "lexical word" refers to words such as nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs. This rule accounts for the stress patterns of many sentences (80%), but there is considerable controversy over how to account for the many exceptions: some linguists say that sentence stress tends to be placed on the word which is most Important to the meaning of the sentence, while others say that the placement of the stress is determined by the underlying syntactic structure.

In tone-groups stress may undergo alternations under the influence of rhythm, but there are some rules concerning words that are usually stressed or unstressed in an utterance.

Given below is the list of words that are usually stressed:

Nouns. Adjectives. Numerals. Interjections. Demonstrative pronouns.

Emphatic pronouns. Possessive pronouns (absolute form). Interrogative pronouns. Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything (used as subject). Indefinite negative pronouns: no, none, no one, nobody, nothing. Indefinite pronouns some, any (expressing quallity). Deferminatives: all, each, every, other, either, both. Proclitics: much, many, a little, a few. Notional verbs. Auxiliary verbs (negative contracted forms). Two-word prepositions. Two-word conjunctions. Particles: only, also, too, even, just.

The words that are usually unstressed:

Personal pronouns. Reflexive pronouns. Reciprocal pronouns. Relative pronouns(The pronoun which in non-defining clauses is usually stressed, e.g. I gave him a spade, which tool he hid in the barn.) Possessive pronouns (conjoint form). Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything (used as object). Indefinite pronouns some, any (when expressing quantity). Auxiliary verbs (affirmative form). One-word prepositions and conjunctions.

Articles. Particles: there, to. Modal verbs (contracted forms and general questions are exceptions).

The meaning of the verbs may, should, must changes depending on whether they are stressed or unstressed, e. g. You ,may go - possibility. You may ,go - permission.

Pauses, their functions and types

The tempo of speech is the third component of intonation. The term "tempo" implies the rate of the utterance and pausation.

The rate of speech can be normal, slow and fast. The parts of the utterance which are particularly important sound slower. Unimportant parts are commonly pronounced at a greater speed than normal.

Any stretch of speech can be split into smaller portions, i.e. phonetic wholes, phrases, intonation groups by means of pauses. By "pause" we mean a complete stop of phonation. It is sufficient to distinguish the following three kinds of pauses:

1. Short pauses which may be used to separate intonation groups within a phrase.

2. Longer pauses which normally manifest the end of the phrase.

3. Very long pauses, which are approximately twice as long as the first type, are used to separate phonetic wholes.

Functionally, there may be distinguished syntactic, emphatic and hesitation pauses.

Syntactic pauses separate phonopassages, phrases, intonation groups .

Emphatic pauses serve to make especially prominent certain parts of the utterance, e.g .

She is the most| charming girl I've ever seen.

Hesitation pauses are mainly used in spontaneous speech to gain some time to think over what to say next. They may be silent or filled, e.g.

She is rather a ... good student.

- Where does she live? - Urn, not very far from here.

Pauses play not only segmentative and delimitative functions, they show relations between utterances and intonation groups, performing a unifying, constitutive function. They play the semantic and syntactic role, e. g. There was no love lost between them (they loved each other). There was no love | lost between them (they did not love each other).

Speech melody as the most important part of the prosodic components. Structure of intonation group

Speech melody or pitch of the voice is closely connected with sentence stress. Crystal states that "the only realizations of stress, which are linguistic, which are capable of creating an effect of relative prominence, of accent, are those which are effected with the complex help of pitch, quantity and quality variations. The most important is pitch."

Speech melody or pitch of the voice takes the leading place in a complex of prosodic features and a lot of foreign scholars only restrict the definition of intonation to pitch movement. That is why melody is the most investigated component of intonation. It is closely connected with sentence stress.

Successive contours of intonation singled out of the speech flow may be defined differently: sense-groups (semantic approach), breath-groups (extra-linguistic approach), tone groups (phonological definition), intonation groups, tone (tone tic) units, pitch and stress patterns. Each tone unit has one peak of prominence in the form of a nuclear pitch movement and a slight pause after the nucleus that ends the tone unit and is usually shorter than the term "pause" in pausation system.

The tone unit is one of the most important units of intonation theory.