ASSIMILATION AFFECTING THE PLACE OF OBSTRUCTION

At the junction of the alveolar consonants / t, d, n, l, s, z / and the interdental consonants / θ, ð / regressive assimilation affecting the place of articulation is observed: the alveolar consonants are represented by their subsidiary dental variants: ni nth, abou t the text.

The meaning and use of the high / low falling tone.

The meaning and use of the high / low rising tone.

The meaning and use of the Falling-Rising tone.
Fall-rise. A strongly emotional tone; a straight or 'negative' face conveys uncertainty, doubt, or tentativeness; a positive face conveys encouragement or urgency.
The Fall-Rise is a complex tone which consists of two elements: the Falling and the Rising. The Fall-Rise may be realized in different forms. The choice between the forms depends on the structure of the word on which this tone is pronounced.

The falling-rising tone may be spread over two or more syllables or it may be compressed into one syllable.

The falling-rising tone may cover several words or even a whole utterance. This form of the Fall-Rise is called Fall-Rise Divided. The Fall-Rise Divided is used when a speaker desires to emphasize the words that are between the two elements of this tone and to link them with that feeling conveying by the falling-rising tone. In such all the syllables falling between the two elements of this tone are pronounced on a low pitch level or they may gradually rise one after the other.

e.g.: I’ve never met them before.

From the semantic point of view the falling-rising nuclear tone has an implicatory meaning: utterances with this nuclear tone give the impression that the speaker intends the hearer to understand more than the words themselves convey. The implication expressed in an utterance may be that of emphasis, contrast, contradiction, correction, hesitation, doubt, uncertainty, apology, warning, etc. In each case the exact implication stands out clearly from the context:

The meaning and use of the Rising-Falling tone.
Description: the Rise-Fall is a complex tone which consists of two elements – the rising and the falling. The voice first rises from a fairly low to a high pitch and then quickly falls to a very low pitch.

Advice to Russian Learners: to acquire the Rise-Fall it is advisable to pronounce the Russian sentence Ишь ты! ironically.

Use: this tone is as definite as a High Wide Fall but may suggest mockery, irony, sarcasm, impatience and so on. It also expresses what may be

called a quizzical feeling. That is why the Rise-Fall is often called a quizzical tone.

The main types of heads.
The head of the intonation group stretches from the first fully stressed syllable and extends up to the nucleus.

The head plays an important role in conveying the speaker’s attitude towards the listener, the subject-matter and the situation.

The head is the most variable part of the intonation group.

Classifications of heads are based on the following major criteria:

1. The general contour of pitch movement over the head;

2. Pitch movement within each stress group;

3. The distribution of relative prominence among the semantic items in the pre-nuclear part of an utterance.

According to the first criterion head patterns of English are classified into 3 types:

1. Descending:

e.g.: Don’t forget to remind him about it.

2. Ascending:

e.g.: You never miss your Saturday lunch.

3. Level:

e.g.: I don’t think I can.

As far as the pitch movement within a stress-group is concerned (the second criterion) this may be stepping, sliding, scandent.

1. Stepping:

e.g.: He’s two hours late again.

2. Sliding:

e.g.: Tell him exactly what you think.

3. Scandent:

e. g.: Come next Sunday.

According to the criterion of relative prominence distribution heads can be subdivided in the following way:

1. One-peak head:

e.g.: I thought you’d already gone.

2. Double-peak head:

e.g.: It isn’t as different as you imagine.

3. Mixed prominence head:

e.g.: John says he won the first prize.

The intonation of imperative sentences.

The intonation of direct address.
Direct address at the beginning of the sentence is stressed. It’s pronounced with the low-falling nuclear tone in formal serious and with the falling-rising to to attract the listener’s attention in a friendly conversation.
Direct address in the middle or at the end of the sentence is ordinarily pronounced as the unstressed oa half-stressed tail of the preceding intonation-group. After the low-falling nucleus it can be also pronounced with the low-rising tone.

The intonation of special questions.
1.The most common intonation pattern for Special questions is a Falling tune (High or Low) with a Normal or High Pre-head and a High or Stepping Head. Special questions pronounced with this intonation pattern are used in all kinds of situations and regarded as Normal, or Neutral.

2. The interrogative word of a special question may become the nucleus of the tune while the remaining part of the utterance forms the tail. This kind of structure is used when the speaker wants to draw the listener’s attention to a particular detail or he hasn’t been satisfied with what he has been told and insists on a more exact answer. Such Special questions may be defined as Specifying or Insistent.

3. Special questions pronounced with the Low nuclear tone convey the speaker’s interest and his warm attitude to the listener:

This is a friendly way of making inquiries and this type may be defined as a Friendly Special question.

The intonation of general questions.
1. General Questions are often pronounced with the High Rising nuclear tone preceded by a High Level or Stepping Head, normal or high Pre-head. These questions may be defined as Neutral since they ask information only and don’t convey any additional connotations such as the speaker’s personal interest, surprise, skepticism, etc.

2. A common way of asking General questions is with the nuclear Low Rising tone. Questions taking this intonation pattern show the speaker’s interest not only in receiving information but also in the listener himself. Therefore, they may be called Friendly General questions.

3. General Questions may be also pronounced with the Falling nuclear tone (high, mid or low).

A High Falling nuclear tone gives the question a note of suggestion, offer, invitation:

A low Falling nuclear tone gives an insistent or a skeptical note to the General question. Such questions are often used when the speaker is not satisfied with the listener’s answer and has to repeat his original question, or when he is sure of the negative reply:

The intonation of disjunctive questions.
The typical intonation patterns of these questions are combined tunes of the following types:

Fall (High, Low) + Rise (Low, High) and

Fall (High, Low) + Fall (High, Low).

1. The intonation pattern of the first type shows that the speaker is not sure of the answer he will get or is asking the listener’s opinion. This type may be defined as a Uncertainty Disjunctive question.

2. The intonation pattern of the second type shows that the speaker is sure of the answer he will get or expects the listener to agree with him. This type may be defined as a Certainty Disjunctive question. Disjunctive questions of this type are used be the speaker rather to keep the conversation going than to get new information.

The intonation of alternative questions.
Alternative questions generally form a combined tune in speech. The most common nuclear tones in the first and the second intonation-groups are:

Low Rise + Fall (High, Low) and High Rise + Fall (High, Low).

1. The first pattern is suitable in all kinds of situations. This pattern may be defined as a Friendly Alternative question.

2. The second pattern conveys a more formal attitude and may be defined as a Neutral Alternative question.

The Falling nuclear tone in the last intonation-group shows that the list of alternatives is complete. When the list of alternatives is incomplete the last intonation-group has the same nuclear tone as the preceding one (ones) – the High Rise or the Low Rise

The intonation of statements (straightforward, implicatory, friendly).
Statements are represented in speech by their modal variants, which are distinguished by intonation. Each variant conveys a certain type of the speaker’s attitude to the listener and to the subject-matter.

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