EMPHASIS

There are various ways in which a word group can be made to sound lively, more emotional, and more
emphatic by means of pitch. Compare for instance:

The fool. With The fool!

The use of the high-pre head in the second example gives a liveliness to the whole word group which is
greater than that shown by the first example, with the low pre-head. This is not a question of accent, which
affects single word groups, but rather of emphasis, which affects whole word groups. In the second example,
the use of the high pre-head makes the whole utterance more emphatic because the high pre-head contrasts
with what follows, thus giving as a result more emphasis. The fool! Sounds quite emphatic because of the
contrast between the high pitch of The and the much lower pitch at the beginning of fool. On the other hand,
The fool does not sound so emphatic, because of the lack of contrast between the high-pitched The and the
high pitch at the beginning of fool.

Another way of adding emphasis is by modifying the shape of the head. There are four types of head:

 The Stepping Head (or emphatic high head):

The high head can be modified for emphasis by making the stressed syllable of each accented word a step
lower in pitch than the previous one. This series of downward steps makes the whole word group sound
weightier than the normal high head does. We show this emphatic treatment by repeating the head mark
[ ] at each stress. For example:

 I simply don’t know what to do.

 The Sliding Head (or emphatic falling head):

The falling head is modified for emphasis by having a series of falls, one from each stressed syllable,
instead of a single fall of the normal falling head. We indicate this by the head mark [ ] before each
stressed syllable. For example:

 You can’t ex pect me to hold your hand.

If there are no unstressed syllables to carry the falls, the stressed syllables do so themselves. For example:

 I don´t really be lieve that.

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 The Climbing Head (or emphatic rising head):

The rising head is emphasised similarly: there is a series of rises, one from each stress, instead of a single
rise. This treatment is shown by repeating the head mark [ ]. For example:

 Why on earth did you want that?

If there are no unstressed syllables to carry the rises, the stressed syllables do so themselves. For example:

 John simply can´t bear it.

Even greater emphasis can be added by having a high fall nuclear tone at each stressed syllable in the head
(this occurs before a final high fall or fall rise nuclear tone). For example:

 Fancy anyone wanting to do that!

 It was an abso lutely terrible party!