6.2.Prosodic unites.

1) The syllable is the smallest prosodic unit. It’s features depend on its position in bigger units.

2)A rhythmic groups are :

a) a stressed syllable

b) a stressed syllable with some unstressed one group around it.

The stressed syllable is the nucleus of the rhythmic group. The unstressed syllables are clitics, the unstressed syllables before nucleus are called proclitics, the unstressed syllables after the nucleus are called enclitics.

3)Intonation group is a stretch of speech between 2 pauses. Intonation group may coincide with a sentence but it doesn’t have to coincide with it.

Ex. Yesterday/ I came home very ‘late//.

Intonation group has 1 obligatory element- nucleus. It is a stressed syllable in the most important word. This syllable is not only stressed but also marked by the movement (fall, rise or their combinations) of the tone. There are also optional elements. They are pre-head- all the unstressed syllables before the first stressed one, head –all the stressed and unstressed syllables before the nucleus beginning with the first stressed one, tail- all the unstressed or partially stressed syllables after the nucleus.

Ex. Yesterday I came home very late.

The other name for intonation group- syntagme.

4)Utterance. It may coincide with the intonation group but it doesn’t have to.

Ex. I have a pat.

Yesterday/ I came home very late.

The utterance is a complete thought, it has its grammatical structure and prosodic structure , but unlike a sentence it doesn’t have to be grammatically correct,because its meaning can be expressed through intonation as well as through gramma and grammatical flaws are compensated by intonation.

6.3.Prosodic subsystems.

6.3.1.Pitch.

Pith is an element of intonation or prosody. It is speech melody, that is the variation in the pitch of voice. The pitch level of the utterance or intonation group is defined by the highest pitched syllable. The higher is the pitch level, the more important and emotionally charged the utterance is.

The pitch range of an utterance or intonation group is the interval between the highest and the lowest-pitched syllable. Pitch range may be vaillant or narrowed. Narrow pitch range sounds unemotional, vaillant pitch range emotional and enthusiastic. Another component of pitch is TONE. Tones are staffic and kinetic. Staffic tones have the unchanged pitch level- high, mid or low. Kinetic tones change the pitch level and are divided into falling and rising (simple tones) and their combination (complex tones):

1)Low-fall yes

2)High-fall yes

3)Low-rise yes

4)High-rise yes

5)Fall-rise yes

6)Rise-fall yes

7)Rise-fall-rise yes

The nucleus together with tail is called the TERMINAL TONE- is the tone in the end of the intonation group. Not only nucleus is important here, because sometimes the unstressed and partially stressed syllables in the tail follow the line of the nucleus, down or up.

Ex. I came home very late last night.

And sometimes the general movement of the unstressed and partially stressed syllables is opposite to that in the nucleus.

Ex. He didn’t go away ?

Types of pre-head: HIGH and LOW

Types of head: HIGH, LOW, FALLING AND RISING.