Linguistics,October, 2013,Lecture 6 Chapter 2 Stress tonicity decides the focus of information; and tone decides the concrete meaning of information except the lexical meanings which is decided by words.,how the three Ts works in intonation system,Structure of Intonation,In a tone unit, there are words with different significance. Speakers usually want to make some words stand out as the focus of the information by adding accent and pitch movement. Each tone unit contains one piece of information, namely one focus of information. The nucleus is attached to the focus of information,Structure of Intonation,Stressed syllables in these words are the nucleus of this tone unit and they are obligatory. Syllables before or after the nucleus are optional and are termed as “pre-head”, “head” and “tail” according to the traditional British approach. The most common position for the tonic or nucleus is on the last lexical term (i.e. content words) such as nouns, verbs, adverbs of the tone unit.,Structure of Intonation,All the syllables that follow the nucleus compose the tail of the tone unit which is composed of an unspecified number of stressed and unstressed syllables (at least of either),Structure of Intonation,The head extends from the first accented syllable in the tone unit to the last syllable before the nucleus. The first accented syllable is called the onset. The part before the onset, is the pre-head.,Structure of Intonation,Given the above, the structure of the tone unit can be summarized as: (Pre-head) (Head) Nucleus (Tail). All the possible tone unit structures: 8 PHNT, N, PN, NT, HNT, PNT, PHN, HN.,Structure of Intonation,Execise,A: A |dog is a |mans |best company.(PHNT) B: Yes, | it is. (N) (PN) A: Cats are also |mans |best |company.(NT) B: |Men |like animals. But I hate |cats.(HNT) (PNT) A: They |behave mild. |Animals are |mens friends.(PHN) (HN),Structure of Intonation,Types of nuclear tone,(1) Low Fall (2) High Fall (3) Low Rise (4) High Rise (5) Fall-Rise (6) Rise-Fall (7) Mid-level,Functions of intonation,(1)Grammatical function: Some sentences are ambiguous when written and their ambiguity can only be removed by using differences of tonality and tonicity. Different pitch patterns or tones in English can signal different types of sentences, or different meanings of the same word group.,Removal of ambiguity,下雨天留客天留我不留 （1）下雨天，留客天，留我不留？ （2）下雨天留客，天留，我不留。 （3）下雨天留客，天留我不留？,Removal of ambiguity,My sister who lives in Endinburgh has just had twins. (a)My sister, | who lives in /Endinburgh, | has Ijust had /twins. (b)My I sister who lives in /Endinburgh | has Ijust had /twins. 句(a): non-restrictive attribute My only sister, who happens to live in Enginburgh. 句(b): restrictive attribute I have several sisters. That one who lives in Edinburgh has just had twins.,One more example,Those who sold quickly I made a profit. Those who sold I quickly made a profit.,Signal different types of sentences,the distinction between a statement and a question You can do it. (statement) You can do it. (question),Functions of intonation,(2)Attitudinal function: Intonation indicates the speakers attitude: friendly, polite, angry, excited, surprises, bored and so on and so forth.,Attitudinal function,Was it there? (a)Was it / there?(very calm) (b)Was it /there?(insistent) (c)Was itthere?(quizzical, intolerant) (d)Was Vthere? (impatience) (e)/Was it othere?(incredulity or reluctance to accept sth) (f)|Was it /thcre?(genuinely interested),Functions of intonation,(3) the accentual function That English intonation has accentual function imply that the placement of the nucleus within the tone unit should be regarded as the most important part in a tone unit.,the accentual function,(a) David likes Marys new books. (It isnt Damon, Daley, or others) (b) David likes Marys new books. (He does not love or hate her books) (c) David likes Marys new books. (He does not like Marianas, Marisas or others books) (d) David likes Marys new books. ( He does not like her old books),the accentual function,I can t see very well with my glasses now. (a)but John can (b)but I can see well with yours (C)but I can see quite well. (d)but I could when I bought hem (e)but I can see well if I don t wear them,英音和美音,通俗的来讲，美国英语外向，英国英语内向；美国英语声音外露，英国英语声音内含；美国英语嗓门大，英国英语声音小；美国英语张扬，英国英语说话谨慎而显得绅士；说美国英语时要穿上牛仔裤指手画脚带动作才行，否则声音大而没动作就别扭；说英国英语时要板起面孔来穿上燕尾服手拄着拐杖“装”贵族才行，要是指手画脚就别扭。以上是文化上的差别。 美国英语里见r要发卷舌音，英国英语里没有卷舌音；美国英语用的是口腔“后部发声方法”，英国英语用的是口腔“深后部发声方法”；美国英语速度慢，语调爱用平拖腔，就像汉语里的一声，英国英语愿意用降调，就像汉语里的四声；美国英语因发音外露而音形对应规律明显，英国英语因发音内含而音形对应规律被隐藏。总结一下，就是老美的发音多数比较懒散，嘴张的没有英国人发音那样标准。,英音和美音,BBC British Broadcasting Corporation 标准英语发音（Received Pronunciation, 简称R.P） VOA Voice of America 美国普通话（General American , 简称GA）,Summary,2.3.6 suprasegmentals: 1 stress: (1)word stress: (Primary stress or main stress & secondary stress) (2)sentence stress,Summary,2 intonation: Definition of Intonation System of Intonation: 3Ts Structure of Intonation: 4 parts Types of nuclear tone: 7 Functions of intonation: 3,公