The seven tones are:
Low Fall: the voice falls during the word from a medium to a very low pitch.
High Fall: the voice falls during the word from a high to a very low pitch.
Rise-Fall: the voice first rises from a fairly low to a high pitch, and then quickly falls to a very
low pitch.
Low Rise: the voice rises during the word from a low to a medium pitch or a little above
High Rise: the voice rises during the word from a medium to a high pitch.
Fall-Rise: the voice first falls from a fairly high to a rather low pitch, and then, still within the
word, rises to a medium pitch.
Mid-Level: the voice maintains a level pitch between high and low, neither rising nor falling.
heads There are four different types of head, the low head, the high
head, the sliding head and the rising head.
the low head In the low head, which in this book occurs only before the Low Rise
nuclear tone, all the syllables are said on the same low pitch as the
beginning of the Low Rise. For example:
,Someone's ,bound to ,come a,long ,soon.
The low head is symbolised by placing the mark [,] before it, that is, before the first stressed syllable of the head. In some word groups there is only one accented word in the head, and so
this is the only mark used. However, if there are other accented words within the head, their stressed syllables are preceded by [,], the low placing of this sign showing very low pitch. Unstressed syllables are left unmarked.
the high head In the high head all the syllables are said on the same rather
high pitch. Accent is again indicated by stress alone, and words which are not
accented do not bear stress. For example:
'Plenty of people ˚don't really ^care.
In this example, the words people and really are not felt to be important, so no syllable in either word bears a stress because such a stress would indicate accent. The high head is symbolised by placing the mark ['] before it. If there are other accented words in the head they have [˚] before their stressed syllable.
In this book the high head occurs before all nuclear tones except the Fall-Rise tone.
The SLIDING head The first syllable of the falling head is rather high in pitch and any following
syllables gradually carry the pitch lower. For example:
↘ Everyone's↘ bound to ↘tee it ˇsometime.
In this book the falling head occurs only before the Fall-Rise nuclear tone and the last syllable of the head is always lower than the beginning of the Fall-Rise.
The symbol for the falling head is [↘] placed before the stressed syllable of the first accented word in the head. If there is only one accented word in the head, then that is the only symbol used; but if there are other accented words, the mark [↘] is placed before the stressed syllables of each of them.
the rising head The rising head is the opposite of the falling head: its first syllable is low in
pitch and any following syllables gradually carry the pitch higher. For example:
„How did you „manage to do ‛that?
________________________
In this book the rising head occurs only before the High Fall nuclear tone, and the last syllable of the head is lower than the beginning of the High Fall.
The symbol for the rising head is [ „] placed before the stressed syllable of the first accented word in the head. The stressed syllable of any other accented word in the head is marked with [„].
In this book ten tone groups are described and practiced.
Each has been given a mnemonic, a name which will serve to remind the learner of some or all of the pitch features in the tone group by evoking for him some commonplace situation:
1. The Low Drop: imagine a small child, standing on the bottom stair and then jumping down to the foot of the staircase: Low Fall.
2. The High Drop: now imagine a parachutist descending from a great height and finally landing:
High Fall.
3. The Long Jump: imagine you are at the Olympic Games. You watch the long jumper running along the track: Low Pre-head. He then hits the board and his leap carries him forwards and upwards: Rising Head. And finally he falls into the sand pit: High Fall.
4. The Jackknife: at the swimming-pool you catch sight of a spring-board diver in the middle of his Jackknife dive. He is bent double, head and feet both pointing to the water: Rise-Fall.
5. The Take-Off: your plane taxis along the runway at speed: Low Pre-head and Low Head. Then finally it begins to rise into the air: Low Rise.
6. The Low Bounce: first you hold a ball at arm's length high in the air: High Head. Then, when you have thrown it to the ground, it rebounds into the air: Low Rise.
7. The High Bounce: you are about to make a winning smash at table-tennis. You hit the ball hard, shoulder-high: High Head. Then the ball bounces up from the surface of the table, some feet above the floor: High Rise.
8. The Switchback: now you are enjoying a ride on the switchback at a fair. It takes you down: Sliding Head. Then up and down and up again: Fall-Rise.
9 The High Dive: then you watch the swimmer make his dive from the high board. He plunges in: High Fall. He disappears for a second and then rises to the surface again further down the pool: Low Rise.
10 The Terrace: now back at your hotel, you see a fellow visitor walk across the terrace: High Head. He then descends to the rose-garden overlooking the river: Mid-Level.
I. The low drop
(Low Pre-head+) (High Head+) Low Fall
E.g. ˎNo. ˎNobody. Imˎpossible. It's ˎArthur's ˌturn. 'Sit ˎdown. I 'don't beˎlieve it.
2. The high drop
(Low Pre-head+) (High Head+) High Fall
E.g. ‛No. ‛Splendidl It's a‛mazing. 'What's ‛that? I 'liked it im‛mensely.
3. the LONG jump (Low Pre-head+) Rising Head + High Fall
E.g. „Try it a‛gain. You „didn't ‛ask me to. „How on „earth did they „manage to ‛get there?
4. the jackknife (Low Pre-head+) (High Head+) Rise-Fall
E.g. ^No. ^Certainly. ^Lots of ,people ,do it. It's ri^diculous. I can 'hardly ˚wait to ^hear about it.
5. the take-off (Low Pre-head+) (Low Head+) Low Rise
E.g. ,No. I ,think so. ,Don’t ,worry about it. ,Nobody's going to ,take it a,way from you.
6. the low bounce (Low Pre-head+) High Head+ Low Rise
or High Pre-head+Low Rise
E.g. 'What's ,that? 'Will you be ˚staying to ,lunch, Tony? ‾Is ,John ˚going to ˚be there?
7. the high bounce (Low Pre-head+) (High Head+) High Rise
E.g. ′Sugar? Is ′this the one you mean? 'Why don't I ˚write to the ′secretary, did you say?
8. the switchback (LowPre-head+) (Sliding Head+) Fall-Rise
E.g. vNo. vPossibly. vSome people can ,do it. You can vtry.↘No-one ↘wants to vforce you to ,play.
9. the high dive (Low Pre-head+) (High Head+) High Fall+(Low Accents+) Low Rise
E.g. ‛Andrew was the,winner. ‛Most people,tell me,that. Yes, I‛thought his,face was fa,miliar.
10. the terrace (Low Pre-head+) (High Head+) Mid-Level
E.g. >Then | (I went out for a walk.) Oc>casionally | (I meet him on the train.)