Principals of classifications of heads.

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

- descending heads. Нисходящая. The first full is stressed syllable is on a high pitch, each following stressed syllable is lower than the previous one. 

I ̍think you'd ̍better ̍go ̀home now. 

- ascending heads Восходящая. The onset syllable is set on a low pitch, each following full stressed syllable begins higher, that the preceding one. 

I ˌdon't ̍know ̍why she ̍didn't ̀tell me. 

- level heads Ровная. All the syllables pronounced on the same pitch level. 

̍Let's meet at the ̀theatre. 

ˌLet's ˌmeet at the ̖theatre. 

2. The pitch movement within each stressed group. (Unstressed syllables going after the syllable) 

- stepping heads. The pitch movement within each stressed group is even unchanging. 

You should ̍go to there by ̀train. 

- sliding heads. The pitch movement within each stressed group is downward. 

↷Tell him you ↷don’t ˙want to ̀´see them. 

- scandent heads. The pitch movement within each stressed group is upward. 

I ︣︣ thought you'd ︣ already ̀done it. 

3.  The distribution of relative prominence among the semantic items. 

- one-peak/compact heads. Only onset has full stress all either syllable are either partially stressed or unstressed. 

̍Let's ͘go to the ͘cinema with ̀Jim. 

- diffuse/double-peak heads. All semantically important words are fully stressed. 

̍Let's ̍go to the ̍cinema with ̀Jim. 

- mixed heads. There are several full stresses and partial stresses in the head. 

̍Let's ͘go to the ̍cinema with ̀Jim. 

Type	General contour	Pitch movement within stressed group	Distribution of relative prominence
Descending Stepping Head	descending	stepping (even unchanging)	diffuse	sounds formal, monotonous (sometimes normal)
High Level Head	level	stepping (even unchanging)	one-peak (compact)	sounds lively, more used in conversations

The Stepping (Gradually Descending Stepping) Head

General contour: a descending overall contour

Pitch movement within stressed group: even pitch throughout a stressed-group, each fully stressed syllable beginning with the second is lower in pitch that the preceding one. Unstressed and partially stressed syllables (which are optional) are said on the same pitch level as the preceding fully stressed syllable (stepping, even unchanging)

Distribution of relative prominence: a diffuse or mixed distribution of prominence.

How does it sound: sounds formal, monotonous, serious, weighty (sometimes normal)

You can ̍certainly ̍ask him to ̍wait in the ̀sitting room.

̍m ̍m ̗m ˴m

̍m ̍m ̍m ˴m

̍m ̍m ̀ ́m

The High Level Head

General contour: level

Pitch movement within stressed group: all the syllables are said on the same rather high pitch

Distribution of relative prominence: one peak of prominence

There is the stressed syllable of the first important word: the onset. The other semantic items in the prenuclear part are given a smaller degree of prominence indicated by a high partial stress

How does it sound: sounds lively, more used in conversations

He ̍keeps ͘making the ͘same ̀error.

̍Leave at ̀once.

The Broken Descending Stepping Head

Making an upward break somewhere in the middle of the head, after which a downward movement of the pitch is resumed. 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 high pitch-level that the preceding one. The pitch of the syllable caring such a special, or “accidental”, rise may or may not exceed the pitch of the onset.

The break generally occurs on any fully stressed syllable beginning with the third.

I ̍warned ͘Kathy aıbout it ̍three or ̍more ̀times.

The upward break is usually made on words of sufficient semantic importance:

nouns (often in plural) – crowds, hundreds, thousands, millions, scores;

adverbs – much, more, too, very, immediately, extremely, absolutely;

adjectives – terrifying, awful, glamorous, fantastic, bewildering;

verbs – cry, push, shout, scream.

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

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

You ̍know ıeverything’s been comp ̍letely ̀changed now.

2. by a straight upward arrow beside the high static tone while the preceding syllables are also marked with high static tones;

The ̍second ̍floor’s comp↑ ̍letely ̀different.

3. by an emphatic high static tone mark after a normal high static tone on the preceding stressed syllable.

The ̍second ̍floor’s compʺletely ̀different.