The pitch. The tune.

The pitch component of intonation, or speech melody, is commonly referred to as variations in the height of the voice during speech, & is generally described in terms of pitch-changes & levels.

A pitch-level is a certain height within the speaker's voice-range. The notion of a level may be applied to the whole stretch of an utterance, and then it means the average height of the voice during the pronunciation of the given utterance. In a narrower sense a pitch-level is associated with some particular point in an utterance, generally the boundary points of pronunciation units: syllables, rhythmic groups, intonation-groups. From the functional point of view the pitch-level plays an important role in marking the degree of semantic prominence attached by the speaker to this or that word or phrase in an utterance.

Pitch level is also significant for conveying various shades of modal-attitudional meanings and emotional colouring.

A pitch-change (whether a real glide or the result of a pitch contrast) is a feature perceived more easily than a pitch-level. Priority in identification is usually given to the direction of the pitch movement rather than to the height of the beginning and ending points of the pitch movement. The term t u n e is used to refer to the pitch pattern of the whole intonation-group. It is obvious that the notion of tune is wider than that of tone and the tune may comprise several tones while a tune of a minimal size coincides with a tone realized in a monosyllabic utterance.

The stressed and unstressed syllables within the tune are distinguished according to their position and function in the tune. Unstressed or partially stressed syllables which precede the first full stress (the onset) form the p r e h e a d. The portion of the tune extending from the first stressed syllable up to, but not including, the nuclear syllable is referred to as the h e a d. It consists of any number of stressed or unstressed syllables (at least one of the former). The syllable bearing the nuclear (terminal) tone is called the nucleus of the utterance. Unstressed or partially stressed syllables following the nucleus are called the t a i l.

The number of the component parts in a tune may vary. The only indispensable element of a tune is the nucleus. The other components may or may not be present in a tune. It depends on the length of the utterance, the phonetic structure of the words (monosyllabic or polysyllabic) and the number of prominent words in it.

6. Static & kinetic tones. Their functions.

Listening and speaking practice shows that we tend to single out from an utterance stretch only some of its elements while others are more or less overlooked as insignificant. The reasons for it lie in the specific contrastive character of the speech chain: some of its elements stand out phonetically and functionally among the others, i.e. they are prominent, or stressed. Prominent segments are usually associated with a pitch change or a pitch contrast of some kind combined with increased force of articulation, or loudness, and increased duration. Such a cooperation of different prosodic parameters is reflected in the notion of t h e t о n e - the basic element of

English intonation.

Tones are divided into two classes since they may be produced in two quite distinct ways: 1) by keeping the vocal cords at a constant tension thus producing a tone of unvarying pitch; 2) by varying the tension of the vocal cords thus producing a tone of varying pitch. Tones of the first type are known as static, while those of the second type are known as kinetic.

According to the actual height within the speaker's voice-range static tones may be high, mid and low with two relevant gradations within each type - very high, fairly high; mid high, mid low; fairly low, very low. In fact, the number of static tones corresponds to the number of significant pitch gradations, or levels.

Kinetic tones are generally classified according to the following criteria:

1) direction of the pitch change;

2) width of the pitch change, or its interval;

3) relative position of the pitch change within the speaker's voice range.

Static and kinetic tones differ in form and in their function in speech.

Static tones give prominence to words. In general, the degree of prominence is proportional to the pitch-height of the static tone:, the higher varieties are usually associated with greater prominence, which, in turn, signifies greater semantic importance.

Kinetic tones are more significant to the utterance. Besides giving prominence to a word, kinetic tones perform a number of other functions pertaining to the overall communicative meaning of an utterance. They

a) indicate the communicative type of an utterance;

b) express the speaker's attitude towards the subject-matter, the listener and the situation;

c) single out the centre of new information in an utterance or the point of greater semantic importance as viewed by the speaker.

7. The structure & functions of utterance-stress. Peculiarities of English utterance-stress.

Utterance-stress (sentence-stress) is a prosodic phenomenon of speech with a linguistic function of indicating the relative importance of various elements in an utterance. This function is manifested through phonetic contrastivity of successive syllables in an utterance perceived as their different phonetic prominence.

The effect of phonetic prominence is based on a complex of prosodic modifications which can be in a general way described as an increase of the force of articulation (intensity), length (duration) and pitch level (fundamental frequency of the voice).

The identification of utterance stress depends on pitch modifications more than on any other prosodic parameter. A word carrying utterance stress is at the same time the carrier of a tone which is defined as a combination of a pitch change (or pitch contrast) with the force of articulation, and the number of stresses in an utterance coincides with the number of tones.

Although utterance-stress is realised through syllabic prominence, it actually embraces the whole word. That is, when we deal with utterance-stress we speak about the prominence of words carrying greater semantic weight for the message being conveyed. Consequently, it would be more accurate to define peculiarities of English utterance-stress in terms of contrasts between prominent and non-prominent words.

The occurrence and the distribution of utterance-stress in an English utterance are determined by factors of two kinds: semantic and rhythmic.

The influence of the rhythmic factor manifests itself mainly in the placement of prenuclear stresses, the number and the distribution of which depend not only on the semantic weight of the words in this part of the intonation-group but also on the ten­dency towards alternating prominent and non-prominent elements in the speech flow.

The assumption that utterance-stress in English (as in Russian, Belarusian and many other languages) is predicted semantically means that its placement in a given sentence is determined by the circumstances of the speech situation and speech context.

The classification of English words according to their accentability as in most other languages is based on the following general principle: stress on notional words and absence of stress on function words.

Another difficulty is that monosyllabic function words, when unstressed, have in many cases a weakened vowel in English. In other words, the use of a vowel of full quality (or quantity), i.e. the use of a strong form, in this position leads to a considerable foreign accent and can even hamper correct understanding. The list of function words includes articles, particles, prepositions, conjunctions, some pronouns, auxiliary and modal verbs.

According to their pronunciation in an unstressed position function words can be divided into several groups. The first group consist of words that are never used in their strong form in an unstressed position in an utterance. The second group includes auxiliary and modal verbs as well as prepositions which are reduced when unstressed at the beginning or in the middle of an utterance, but retain their strong form when unstressed at the end of an utterance (or for some of the function words at the beginning of it). The third group is for words that retain their strong form regardless of stress or utterance position

8. The rising & falling nuclear tones in English.

The rising type of pitch-change in English has two structural varieties: a) the rise of the voice takes place on the stressed syllable; b) the rise is carried by the unstressed syllables following the stressed one while the latter is pronounced on a steady pitch.

4 variants of a nuclear rise should be distinguished in English.

1. The Mid Wide Rise. The voice rises from a mid-low to a high pitch-level.

2. The High Narrow Rise.The ending pitch-level is the same as for the M W R: near the top of the voice-range. But the H N R begins rather higher. 3. The Low Wide Rise. The rise of the voice in this case starts from the bottom of the voice-range and ends above the middle of it. 4. The Low Narrow Rise. The starting point of this tone coincides with that of the LW R: it is pitched at the bottom of the voice-range.

The difference in form as well as in meaning and usage is most conspicuous between the two narrow varieties: the High Narrow and the Low Narrow Rise. The former has a marked interrogative force bordering on surprise, incredulity, etc., and is typically heard in all kinds of interrogative repetitions, while the latter is most readily associated j§ with non-assertiveness and lack of interest. It is used in various casual reman afterthoughts, etc.

The meaning and usage of the two wide rising tones - mid and low - can be specified in terms of incompleteness in the most general sense of the word. The Low Wide Rise is commonly pronounced in unfinished parts of sentences indicating that a continuation is going to follow. When it is used in independent utterances there is an effect of the speaker s interest in the situation and in the listener s response.

The Mid Wide Rise is a typical nuclear tone of general, alternative {the first part) and disjunctive (the second part) questions.

From the Mid Wide and the Low Wide Rise there is only a small step to the Full Wide Rise covering the whole of the voice-range. This kind of the rising pitch-change is very often associated with an emotional colouring such as surprise, protest, enthusiasm, etc.

The falling type of nuclear pitch-change in English is realized by a downward move ment of the voice on the stressed syllable, while the syllables of the tail (if there arc any) form a level series on the pitch to which the nucleus has fallen, or they may continue the fall slightly to a still lower pitch. The difference, however, is not relevant since it can hardly be perceived by the listener.

According to the width of the fall and its position on the speaker's voice-range the following varieties of the given type of pitch-change are distinguished:

1. The Mid Wide Fall This is the most commonly used variety. It starts about the high-mid level and ends at the bottom.

2. The High Wide Fall The voice falls from a high or very high to a rathei pitch.

3. The High Narrow Fall The difference between the two high varieties is that the Narrow Fall ends rather higher: about the middle of the voice-range or even higher than that. 4. The Low Narrow Fall This tone begins about the mid-low pitch level and ends at the bottom of the voice-range.

A falling pitch-change is usually associated with finality and completeness, decisive­ness, assertiveness, etc. Each of the falling tones, naturally, has some peculiarity as far as its meaning and usage are concerned. The High Narrow Fall has the least degree of finality of all the falling tones. It sounds light and airy. It is typically used in direct address (the so-called calling tone) and short comments expressing agreement, etc.

The general meaning of a falling pitch-change can in full degree be applied to the Mid Wide Fall which is the most neutral (unmarked) variety. The term neutral here means, firstly, that this tone is commonly used in the so-called unemotional speech and, secondly, that its usage is least of all limited to a specific situation.

The High Wide Fall, alongside completeness, finality, etc., often conveys additional connotations of an emotional kind, such as insistence, protest, personal concern, and involvement.

The Low Narrow Fall is the opposite of the High Wide Fall in that it completely lacks personal interest or enthusiasm and often sounds phlegmatic, calm and rather dogmatic. As compared with the High Narrow Fall the Low Narrow Fall is much more independent: no continuation is signalled and the utterance sounds cool and reserved rather than light and airy.

9. The falling-rising & the rising-falling tones.

The falling-rising tone is a bi-directional tone which means that there is a change in the direction of the pitch movement associated with one stressed syllable.

The fall and the rise may be combined within one syllable, the pitch-change begin­ning about the high level (or slightly above or below it) and ending about the mid-low level, with an intermediate low pitch point which is a boundary between the two elements of the glide.

When the nuclear syllable is not the last syllable of the intonation-group the Fall-Rise is split in form, the fall being carried by the nucleus and the rise - by the tail.

According to the latter feature it is useful to distinguish between high and low

varieties of the falling-rising tone.

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, warning, apology, etc. In each case the exact implication is prompted by the contest.

The falling-rising tone has an important modification: the so-called Fall-Rise Divided. The two elements of the Fall-Rise in this case are realized on two different words, which both acquire nuclear prominence.

It must be emphasized that functionally the divided variant of the Fall-Rise is very j similar to the undivided falling-rising tone: it also imparts an implicatory meaning to the utterance. Fall-Rise Divided makes two ideas prominent instead of one.

The rising-falling tone is a bidirectional, or complex, tone (like the Fall-Rise), because it comprises two elements - a rise and a fall - which can be combined within one syllable: the voice first rises from a fairly low (or mid) to a high pitch and then quickly falls to the bottom of the voice-range.

According to the number of syllables involved in the pitch change three structured variants of the nuclear rising-falling tone are distinguished: one-syllable tvne, two-syllable type, three-syllable type.

Three-syllable type. It's natural that this type of the rising-falling tone may occur only when the last stressed (nuclear) syllable of an utterance is followed by no less than two unstressed syllables. The stressed syllable is uttered on a steady mid-low pitch while the first of the unstressed syllables is pitched high and the second is pitched at the bottom of the normal voice-range.

Two-syllable type. In this type the Rise-Fall is spread over two syllables, the first of which is stressed and pronounced on a steady mid-low pitch, while the second starts at the top of the normal voice-range and falls without stress to the bottom.

One-syllable type. In this type the entire Rise-Fall is concentrated on one syllable which carries both the rise and the fall.

The rising-falling nuclear tone can be compared with the falling-rising nuclear tone both in form and in function. The complex nature of their form leads to a specific functional characteristic, which might be called implicatory. The implications of the two tones, however, are of a different kind: in the Fall-Rise it is basically a continuation of the information already contained in the utterance, it is so-to-speak lexically predicted. In the Rise-Fall the implication is basically of a modal attitudinal kind: the Rise-Fall often gives the impression that what the speaker admits or denies is conflict with his own or his previous opinion.

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