The word in connected speech

(ii) Post-vocalic /r/ (for words spelt with a final "r" or "re")

/r/ is pronounced at the end of words preceding words that begin with vowels or diphthongs. The following transcriptions would therefore be appropriate:

At the end of sentences, when produced in isolation, or preceding a pause, no /r/ is pronounced:

/ðə kɑ:/ the car

Before words that begin with consonants, no /r/ is pronounced:

Before words that begin with vowels, /r/ is pronounced:

Exercises

No language is spoken on a monotone. Every language has a melody of its own. It has a limited number of pitch patterns, which are common to the community of speakers. They are to a considerable degree, languagespecific and are used to produce definite meaningful effects  the meaning of an utterance derives not only from its changing sound pattern and stress pattern but also from associated variations in pitch. It is possible to describe these fluctuations and to give rules for their use.

Pitch variations can be described as " speech tones or melodies", the musical features of the language. Abercrombie makes a distinction between pitch fluctuations in words and in sentences  " Tone is a speech melody when it is a property of the word, while intonation is a speech melody when it is a property of the sentence. (Abercrombie, 1967, 104).

Languages are divisible into tone and intonation languages. In intonation languages, a change in pitch pattern brings about syntactical differences in meaning, and not a lexical one. For instance:

You are ‵sick  is a statement

You are ʹsick  is a question
These two sentences have different meanings but they are not different words. Arabic, Russian and French are some of the intonation languages. Chinese, Thai among other Asian languages are examples of the tone languages. In such languages, the word “ma”, for example, has different meanings depending on the tone used by the speaker.

Thus, By pitch variations, we mean the changes in fundamental frequency of the vocal cords vibration i.e. the change in its rate of vibration per second. Vibration of the vocal cords has thus a double role  it provides the voicedvoiceless distinction at the segmental level, and it provides pitch fluctuation at the suprasegmental level. Such pitch variation usually occurs on a stressed syllable giving it prominence of both stress and intonation. "Pitch fluctuation in its linguistic function may be conveniently be called speech melody “ Abercrombie, (1967: 104).

The term intonation refers to the linguistically significant functioning of fundamental frequency at the sentence level. Lehiste, (1970, 83).
Generally, scholars have restricted the formal definition of intonation to pitch movement alone, but when coming to the study of its semantic effect, other criteria also come into consideration. Therefore Crystal (1969: 196) prefers to say that though pitch contrast is central to intonation, a periphery of reinforcing those contrasts also occurs.

Lieberman (1967:3847) observes that the universal aspects of breathgroup are manifested in the cries of newborn infants. A normal breathgroup produces the acoustic patterns characteristic of a declarative sentence and a marked breathgroup, those of the yes/no questions. Thus children employ, in the very first moments of their life, meaningful intonation signals. When they are three months old, they start responding positively to friendly tones and negatively to angry tones. They also mimic the intonation patterns of their parents. For all these reasons, Lieberman concludes that intonation is an innate rather than an acquired mechanism. To modify Lieberman's statement, it is better to consider intonation as both innate and acquired at the same time.

The universality of intonation is also ascertained by Bolinger (1964: 833848). He found universality in the tensionrelaxation dichotomy, which depends on the psychological frame of human beings. Thus emotional tension increases the tension of the vocal cords, which consequently rises pitch. Physiologically, increase in subglottal pressure which results from the effect involved in speaking, rises pitch in its turn.

According to O'conor and Arnold (1967), intonation is based on three major premises:

A change in the intonation pattern of a sentence changes the meaning of the sentence.

In any language there is a fixed number of pitch patterns. They are used to produce defined meaningful effects. These frequently recurring patterns of intonation are governed by a system of rules.

Usually the pitch patterns of one language, say English, differ from those of other languages, i.e., they do not produce the same meaning or effort. So if the pitch patterns of some other languages are used in English, they sound wrong and this makes understanding difficult.

Accentuation in sentences is brought about in the following ways:

A primary stress is uttered with a strong buff of air. The onset of the syllable is preceded by this mark ( ˡ ) to indicate the primary stress.

The third degree of stress is sometimes marked with ( ˅ ) to indicate the tertiary stress in words with four syllables and more.

They do not have any of the pitch prominences above (left unmarked).

A change of pitch direction with the nucleus (falling, rising, or the combination of the two) on the syllable on which the speaker wishes to draw attention manifests the primary accent. For example in the sentence,

He is ˡmad,

the speaker wishes to draw the attention of the listener to the word 'mad', and so he initiates the pitch movement on this word. Where there is no particular focus in a sentence, the tonic accent is located on the last accented syllable in a sentence.
11.3.2. Nonaccentual:
Intonation does not alter the meaning of individual words but affects the tonality of the meaning of a sentence. It divides long utterances into grammatically relevant word groups. It has a semantic function and is used to make a distinction between sentence types, for instance, the same sentence is said with a falling tone can be a statement and when said with a rising tone, is interpreted as a question. Given below are examples:

He's come ‵(statement)

He's comeʹ (question)

11.3.3. Attitudinal:
Intonation also expresses the speaker's attitude to the situation in which he is, and also his physiological state such as anger, excitement, sex, happiness and so on. Intonation indicates if the speaker is saying the sentence with politeness or authority. Given below are the examples:

Sit downʹ Sit down ‵

(politeness) (authority)

O’Connor and Arnold say " we may regard the words as a rough guide to the meaning and the intonation as giving greater precision and point..." (O’Connor & Arnold, 1970: 3).

The unit of intonation in English is the tone group. It contains a number of feet, has a tendency to correspond to a "sense group"  where by "sense group", we mean those closely knit groups of words which form a single unit of thought  and contains a significant pitch movement.

Good morning | How are you?

Sometimes the number of tone groups in a sentence also changes the meaning.

She dressed and fed the baby|

She dressed | and fed the baby

Taken as one-word group in the above sentence, it is the baby that dressed and fed. When treated as two groups, it would mean that she fed the baby after dressing herself.

Every tone group contains one and only one nucleus or tonic. It is the most prominent syllable in a tone group, which carries the main burden of the pitch movement in it.

The location of the tonic syllable is "tonicity". Tonic syllable is the syllable on which the speaker initiates the pitch movement. For example:

What a 'pity.

Here the first syllable in "pity" is the tonic syllable.

A shift in the tonic accent changes the meaning. For example:

‵He works for me.

He ‵works for me.

He works ‵for me.

He works for ‵me.

Sentence (1) means that he and not anyone else works for me. The second sentence means that he works and does not do anything else. Sentence (3) is that he works for me and not against me. Sentence (4) means that he works for me and not for someone else. The situation of the nucleus is therefore important in conveying the meaning.
11.6. Tone types:
The word "tone" denotes the pitch movement which takes place on the tonic. Some tones may be fairly simple with a unidirectional pitch movement  a falling movement (usually indicated with the mark ‵ ) or a rising tone (usually marked as ( ʹ ). or even a level tone (usually marked as  ). Simple tones are the most common ones in English. There can also be being complex pitch movements involving one change of direction. Fallrise

( ˅ ), and risefall ( ˄ ), are such complex tones.

The first fully stressed syllable of a tone group is its "head". It is an optional element and has got a pitch movement on it. Body "consists of any syllables, whether stressed or unstressed, lying between the Head and the Nucleus." Palmer and Blandford, 1924  1976 ed,20). Syllables which follow the nucleus form the "tail". In English the pitch contour of the tail is only a continuation of what has taken place on the nucleus.
The choice of tone (falling, rising or a combination of both) to be used on the tonic syllable is "tone".

‵ yes  falling

ʹ yes  rising

˅ yes  falling rising

˄ yes  rising falling

Gimson gives the following types of nucleus:

A rising glide extends from low to mid, or from glide to high or with other variations of starting and end points between low and high.

Can she / cook? /Coming
c. The falling rising nucleus (∨ )
The fall and rise may be confined within on syllable, the glide beginning at about mid level and ending at the same level (or slightly above or below).

The fall rise may be spread over two words also.

A fall may be reinforced by an introductory rise.

It was ^ raining
Prenuclear and Postnuclear:
The syllables preceding the nucleus are called prenuclear syllables, and those following the nucleus are called postneuclear syllables. The first prenuclear-accented syllable is the head. The syllables between the head and the nucleus constitute the body. The syllable before the stressed syllable of the first accented syllable, i.e., the head, constitute the prehead. The syllables which follow the nucleus constitute the tail.
11.7. Choice of tones:
a. Falling tone:
Whether high or low, a falling tone is generally assertive, reparative, matter of fact. The higher the fall the more the degree of finality. WH questions are spoken with this tone. Commands and exclamations too are spoken with falling tone.
b. Low fall:
This sounds detached, calm, unexcited, impatient, neutral, polite, resigned, and unconcerned. Given below are a few examples:

1. \No. \Yesterday. (detached)

2. \Tragic (unmoved and distant)

3. Are you \going? (peremptory, impatient)

4. Put it over \there. (polite, neutral )

5. What are you going to \do? (resigned, bored)

6. How anno\ying (unconcerned, sarcastic)

7. Good \morning. (routine, perfunctory greeting)

1. \why? \How can she? (surprise, incredulity, indignation)

2. \Drop it. \Cancel it. (energetic command)

3. (He \does) \doesn't he? (demands agreement)

4. Good \morning (a bright cheerful greeting)
d. Rising Tone:
This is used for yesno questions, Wh questions said in a friendly manner, echo question of the speaker repeated by the listener, incomplete utterances leading to another tone group, requests, statement expressing sympathy, for counting etc.
e. Lowrise
Essentially unfinished and continuative, with overtones of politeness, encouragement, pleading difference, suspicion etc. Here are few examples:
1. /No. /Possibly. (encouraging)

2. Is /he? (doubtful, indifferent)

3. /Wait. /Hold it. (gentle command or request)

4. What's the /time? (polite inquiry)

5. Sit /down. (encouraging invitation)

6. I am /so sorry (sympathetic)

(i) an elliptical question (showing eagerness, brightness,

enthusiasm or asking for repetition).

1. /Coffee?

2. /John?

3. /when?

1. It /is? You /did? (surprise, incredulity)

2. Can we af/ford it? (concern, apprehension)

3. You actually /saw him? (indignation, horror)

1. ∨No (doubtful or encouraging)

2. I'm ∨waiting (so do hurry up)

3. ∨When? ∨How? (forceful prompting)

4. \He /could (but I doubt whether you could)

5. \When can you /come? (a politeness questioning rise preceded by a fall on

when to insist on the precise time)

6.\Mind how you /go (strong but sympathetic warning)
h. Rising  falling tone:
This shows special interest, sometimes with a bit of suspicion, irony or honour. There are a few examples:

If a ridiculous article is read from newspaper, the answer will be with a rising falling tone.

Allan: Hey, Sarah! The king of Orunia wants to invade the isle of Wight.

Sarah: ∧Does he?

When impressed by something, this tone is used.

∧marvelous

∧fantastic

12. Chapter 12

Exercises