The High Level Head. The Gradually Descending Stepping Head. The Broken Head.

In the High Head all the syllables are said on the same rather high pitch. There is only one fully stressed syllable, i.e. one peak of prominence, in the High Head. This is the stressed syllable of the first important word: the onset. The other semantiс items in the prenuclear part are given a smaller degree of prominence indicated by a high partial stress.

The High Head and the Gradually Descending Stepping Head are opposed to each other in that there can be no more than one full stress in the former and, vice versa, there must be more than one full stress in the latter. In fact, the Stepping Head presents an intensification of the High Head which is achieved through pitch contrasts between the successive stressed syllables.

When the head of an utterance contains only one notional word, i.e. it cannot be expanded, the difference between the Stepping and the High Heads is neutralized. The High Head is commonly used in conversation, where it occurs more frequently than the Stepping Head.

The Gradually Descending Stepping Head is a combination of a descending overall contour, even pitch throughout a stress-group, and a diffuse (or mixed) distribution of prominence.

Each fully stressed syllable beginning with the second is lower in pitch than the preceding one. Unstressed and partially stressed syllables (which are optional) are said on the same pitch as the preceding fully stressed syllable.

This type of head may be associated with any nuclear tone in utterances of different communicative types.

The Gradually Descending Stepping Head is sometimes called the most typical, or normal, kind of head in English. It is certainly the most frequently occurring single category of head. In fact, the Gradually Descending Stepping Head is characteristic of only some kind of English reading aloud, formal conversation, lecturing or some other kind of didactic monologue, although it may be heard in any other variety of spoken English.

The Gradually Descending Stepping Head may have a monotonous effect, especially when the intonation-group contains more than three stressed syllables. This monotony can be avoided by making an upward break somewhere in the middle of the head, after which a downward movement of the pitch is resumed. The pattern is described in this case as the Broken Descending Stepping Head, and a tune containing such a head may be called a broken tune. The effect of an upward break is achieved by pronouncing one of the stressed syllables on a rather higher pitch-level than the preceding one. The pitch of the syllable carrying such a special, or ' accidental'' ', rise may or may not exceed the pitch of the onset, depending on the pitch-level of the latter and the intended degree of pitch prominence of the former. The break generally occurs on any fully stressed syllable beginning with the third.

The upward break is usually made on words of sufficient semantic importance. These are frequently words that stand out on account of their inherent emotional coloring or because they express an unusual degree of some quality or quantity, some extraordinary, unexpected actions, etc.

The syllable on which a special rise is made can be indicated in different ways:

a) by a high static tone mark - while the preceding stressed syllable is marked by a mid static tone (or even a low static tone, if the preceding part of the head contains three or more stresses);

b) by a straight upward arrow beside the high static tone while the preceding syllables also carry high level marks;

c) by an emphatic high static tone mark after normal high static tones on the preceding syllables.

Clearly, the various ways of indication reflect differences in the realization of the Broken Descending Head in speech. The most important feature of the first pattern seems to be the lowered pitch of the stressed syllable immediately preceding the one carrying an accidental rise. The last two patterns involve a widening of the speaker's voice-range as compared to its normal characteristics (the widening is especially noticeable in the third variant).

Не нашли, что искали? Воспользуйтесь поиском: