Relative Prominence through Stress Reduction and Nuclear Tone-Shift

In a normal utterance the syllable bearing the nuclear tone is more prominent than the stressed syllables in the prenuclear part.

When it is desired to reinforce the semantic weight of the nuclear word it can be done a) by reducing or eliminating the prenuclear stresses , thus giving the nucleus greater relative prominence .

B)by using the so-called nuclear tone- shift, which means displacing the nuclear tone from its normal position – on the last word in an utterance-to a word at the beginning or in the middle of it.The effect of a departure from final position is that of special semantic prominence or contrast.

The effect of a contrastive tone-shift is greater when the nuclear stress is given to a function word or a pronoun.

Nuclear shifts are often combined with emphasis which , naturally , increases the prominence of the word.

p.310-311.

Compound Tunes

Expressiveness of speech is often the result of using more than one kinetic tone in an intonation-group , since kinetic tones are by their nature more expressive and colourful than static.Intonation-groups having more than one kinetic tone are called compound tunes.

The expressive power of a compound tune is the greatest when all or most of the kinetic tones in it are made emphatic.

The most common types of compound tunes are: High Rise+ High Rise , Low Rise + Fall , Fall +Fall- Rise,Fall-Rise +Fall, Fall+Fall.

High Rise +High Rise typically occurs in general questions. It gives them a feeling of surprise or incredulity

Low Rise +Fall has a feeling of mystification ,puzzlement to questions, persuasiveness to statements ,wonderment to exclamations .

Fall +Fall-Rise serves to give special emphasis to some word earlier than the nucleus.

Fall + Fall imparts a feeling of : a) insistence to special and general questions ; b) dogmatism to statements; c) energy to imperatives; d) extra emphasis to exclamations .

Fall-Rise + Fall serves to emphasize and to give a sense of contrast to some word coming earlier than the nucleus.

p.321-323

section 10

Correlation between Extralinguistic and Lingustic Variation

The type of language we are using changes with the situation in which communication is carried on.We use one variety of language at home , another with our friends , a third at work and so on .Varieties of language correlating with certain extralingustic , i.e social situations are known as styles .Among the distinctive features of style the leading role in oral speech belongs to phonetic features , and to prosodic features , in particular .English speech is divided into formal and informal styles .

The formal style covers those varieties of English that we hear from a lecturer , a public speaker , a radio announcer ,etc .These types of communication are frequently reduced to monologue , addressed by one person to many, and are often prepared in advance . They also include official and business talks .

The informal style is used in personal every-day communication .Most informal speech takes the form of a conversation , although monologue is not infrequent either.

According to the degree of formality in one case and familiarity in the other, the two styles can be subdivided as follows :

1. Formal:

1. Formal-official ( public speeches, official talks)

2. Formal-neutral (a lecture, a teacher explanation, a business talk etc.)

2. Informal

1. Informal-ordinary ( a conversation on a train,bus ; an everyday talk between friends , neighbours etc. )

2. Informal-familiar (everyday conversation between intimate friends, relatives, etc.)

p.331-333