Timoteo Mazzilli Albistur

PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY II

Speciality: English

Teacher: Ma Elena Bugna

Group: 2°B

Year: 2019

CONTENT
Intonation ................................................................................................................................................... 2
Concept ................................................................................................................................................. 2
The prosodic features ........................................................................................................................... 2
The three T’s ......................................................................................................................................... 2
Form of intonation ................................................................................................................................. 3
High and low heads............................................................................................................................... 5
Functions of intonation .......................................................................................................................... 6
Features of Connected Speech............................................................................................................... 10
Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 10
Ordinary linking ................................................................................................................................... 10
Elision .................................................................................................................................................. 11
Assimiliation ........................................................................................................................................ 11
Bibliography ............................................................................................................................................. 14
Appendix .................................................................................................................................................. 15
Adrian Underhill’s Phonetic Chart ....................................................................................................... 15
Clasification of Consonants ................................................................................................................ 15
 Timoteo Mazzilli Albistur
Second Year Notebook
PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGY II

INTONATION

CONCEPT

Intonation refers to the study of how the voice pitch rises and falls, and the way speakers use this variation
to convey linguistic and pragmatic meaning. It also involves the study of rhythm, speech and the study of how
the interplay of accented, stressed and unstressed syllables functions in attachment to intonation patterns.

THE PROSODIC FEATURE S

The prosodic (or suprasegmental) features of speech are those of PITCH, LOUDNESS and SPEED
(or tempo, or speech rate). These combine to make up the rhythm of an utterance and they combine with
stretches of silence (pauses) to break up the flow of speech.

The stress is a result of loudness, pitch and duration in combination; stressed syllables are louder, longer
and carry a pitch variation on them. Some languages, such as Spanish or Greek, use stress placement lexically
to distinguish different words; others, like English or French, don’t. In English, words that differ in stress usually
differ in their vowel sounds.

The pitch of the voice determines the tone, which can be fall (\), rise (/), level (-), rise-fall (/\) or fall-rise (\/).
Some languages (not English) use tone lexically and change the tone to mean something different. English
uses tone in a intonational way, not changing the ‘dictionary’ meaning of the word, but still conveying a different
meaning in what we are saying.

THE THREE T’S

TONALITY
The division of the spoken material into ‘chunks’. These chunks are known as intonational phrases (or
IPs) and are associated to only one intonational pattern. Usually, the speaker may find many different kinds of
‘chunking’ an utterance.

TONICITY
It is used to highlight the most important words according to the meaning they wish to convey. In order to
highlight it, speakers accentuate these most important words (more precisely, the stressed syllable), adding
pitch prominence (a change in pitch) and making it louder and longer.

The stressed syllable, as the most important part of the IP, becomes the nucleus, and it’s usually located
at the end of the IP. Everything unstressed after the nucleus is called tail; everything unstressed before the
nucleus is called prehead. If the IP contains an accented syllable before the nucleus, this (the first one in case
there’s more than one) is called the onset, and everything from it up to the nucleus is called the head. Every IP
must contain a nucleus, yet not necessarily any of the others. This parts not necessarily coincide with the word’s
boundaries but must coincide with the syllable’s.

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TONE
Refers to the pitch movement associated to each nucleus. Here, the speaker can choose amongst the
three basic and two complex tones, each one carrying their meanings. The tone associates with the nucleus of
the IP.

FORM OF INTONATION

Each tone is carried by the tonic syllable in each intonational phrase, while intonation is carried by the IP
itself. Stated this, intonation can be analysed in every IP by knowing the tone carried by its nucleus, using the
following diagrams, representing the pitch range.

SIMPLE TONES

RISING TONE
Regardless of the number of syllables of the IP, the tonic syllable must carry of the five tones. In cases
when there is no tail, the pitch movement is started and finished on the tonic syllable. For example, the
utterance ∕ what could be produced like this:

In cases when there is a tail, the pitch movement starts on the tonic syllable but continues moving slowly
upwards from the pitch of the tonic syllable and be completed by the tail. For example, ∕ what did you say could
be said like this:

FALLING TONE
As well as with the rising tone, an IP with no tail carries the pitch movement only in the nucleus. The
utterance ∖ why could be said like follows:

If there is a tail, the fall won’t be completed in the tonic syllable. The syllables in the tail will continue
falling slowly as long as the tail goes or the speaker’s range allows. For example, ∖ why did you go:

The nucleus of the IP will always stand out given its characteristics of higher volume, long duration and
clear articulation.

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LEVEL TONE
The level tone does not evidence any variation along its production, and therefore not be analysed in
detail.

COMPLEX TONES

FALL-RISE
In one-syllabled IPs, the fall-rise tone with occur only on its nucleus. The pitch movement on ∨ some could
be something like this:

If a syllable is added after the nucleus, the “fall” part will be carried by the nucleus, while the “rise” part
will occur on the tail. The result can be very similar as in the one-syllabled IP if there are no voiceless medial
consonants that cause a break in the voicing. For example:

∨ some men

If the continuity of the voice is broken, the pitch could be more like follows.

∨ some chairs

If there is a tail with two or more syllables, the pitch movement will start in the “fall” in the nucleus and
remain flat until the last stressed syllable in the tail, where the “rise” begins. For example:

i ∨ might ⋅ buy it

i ∨ might have thought of ∙ buying it

If there are no stressed syllables in the tail, the “rise” occurs on the last syllable.

∨ most of them

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RISE-FALL
The rise-fall tone occurs alike the fall-rise in those cases of IPs with no tail or with one-syllabled tails. For
example:

∧ 𝐧𝐨 ∧ 𝐧𝐨 𝐨𝐧𝐞 ∧ 𝐧𝐨 𝐬𝐢𝐫

When there are more than two syllables in the tail, the syllable immediately following the nucleus is always
higher, while the following ones are low. For example:

∧ 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐮𝐭 𝐢 𝐟𝐮𝐥 ∧ 𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭

∧ thats a nice way to speak to your mo ther

HIGH AND LOW HEADS

The head is the part of the utterance that covers from the first stressed syllable (called onset) up to but
not including the nucleus. The tone choice of the speaker does not affect the head, but there are different pitch
possibilities that state the difference between high and low heads.

In the high heads, the onset is high in pitch, usually even higher than the beginning pitch of the main tone
in the IP. For example:

𝐭𝐡𝐞 ′ 𝐛𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 ∖ 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬 ′𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ∕ 𝐞𝐧𝐝

In low heads, the onset is low in pitch, and usually lower than the beginning pitch of the main tone in the
IP. A different symbol is used to indicate this:

𝐭𝐡𝐞 ′ 𝐛𝐮𝐬 𝐰𝐚𝐬 ∖ 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐬 ′ 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 ∕ 𝐞𝐧𝐝

It is usual for both cases for unstressed syllables to maintain the pitch of the onset.

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In cases when the head contains more than one stressed syllable, the tone plays a key role in the
production of the IP. When a high head is preceding a rising tone, the stressed syllables tend to move
downwards towards the beginning of the nucleus:
′
will there be a′ nother ′ train ∕ later

The same situation can be found when producing a high head previous a falling tone. The stressed
syllables in the head step down progressively to approach the beginning of the tone:

the ′ rain was ′ coming ′ down ′ fairly ∖ hard

When there is a low head preceding a rising tone, there is no upward movement:

′ thats ′ not the ′ story you ′ told in ∕ court

In the case of the low head followed by a falling tone, successive stressed syllable in the head tend to
move upwards towards the beginning pitch of the tone:

′i could have ′ bought it for ′ less than a ∖ pound

FUNCTIONS OF INTONAT ION

Intonation is put into speech for a simple reason: make easier to understand for the listener what the
speaker is trying to convey. There have been isolated four ways in which intonation does this. These are known
as the functions of intonation. Sometimes, one of these can be found to prevail amongst the others; in other
cases, more than one function can be at use at seemingly the same

ATTITUDINAL FUNCTION
Intonation can be used to express our feeling and emotions throughout our speech. Several studies can
be done in order to study this function, yet they might all fail. Listed as follows are Roach’s ideas and why they
would fail.

1. Inventing a large number of utterances and producing them with different intonation patterns,
connecting each to an attitude. The results were very subjective and based on a non-alike
conversation scenario.
2. Say those utterances to a group of listeners and ask them to write down the attitudes. The vast range
of answers would make it impossible to quantify the results.
3. Giving the listeners a list of attitudes to match to the utterances. The listener’s free of choice is lost.
4. Ask the speakers to express the utterance trying to convey certain attitude and look for common
features. The range of acting can determine random results.

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The main reason why all of these theories may fail is that they do not take into consideration the context
in which the utterance is produced. The attitudinal function does not take context into consideration and
therefore it can not bet analysed universally. Still, some patterns can be found regarding three distinct types of
suprasegmental variables.

SEQUENTIAL
The use of elements such as pre-heads, heads, tonic syllables and tails in relation to pauses and tone-
unit boundaries (IPs), occurring one after the other, determine certain attitudes.

PROSODIC
The present and observable characteristics of speech convey certain emotions. These characteristics
involve width of pitch range, key, loudness, speed and voice quality.

PARALINGUISTIC
Some facial expressions, gestures and body movements, can be linked to be the “default” choices to
convey certain attitudes.

DEFAULT CHOICES OF TONE

Fall Finality that is the end of the ∖ news
Definiteness i m absolutely ∖ certain
Rise Yes-no questions can you ∕ help me
Listing ∕ red | ⁄ brown | ⁄ yellow …
“More to follow” i phoned them right a ∕ way
Encouraging it wont ∕ hurt
Fall-rise Uncertainty, doubt you ∨ may be right
Requesting can i ∨ buy it
Rise-fall Surprise you were ∧ first

ACCENTUAL FUNCTION
In spite of the “default” choice of placing the stress in the last considerable linguistic syllable, some
speakers can choose to move the main stress, for several reasons. One reason are the contrastive purposes.
By doing this, any syllable can become the tonic one of the IP, in order of what the speaker want to highlight.
Another reason can be the need to emphasis on certain ideas prior to other. Another reason lies on the
difference between “given” information and “new” information. In these cases, the tonic syllable makes the “new”
element of the utterance stand out.

Contrast | she was ′wearing a ′red ∖ dress | | she was ′wearing a ∖ red ⋅ dress |
Emphasis | it was ′very ∖ boring | | it was ∖ very ∙ boring |

New vs. given information | i have ′plans to ∖ leave | | i have ∖ plans to ∙ leave |

Context needs to be taken into account to understand the placement of the tonic syllable.

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GRAMMATICAL FUNCTION
One of the uses of intonation, where grammatical function takes place, is to remove ambiguities. In these
cases, the placement of the boundaries of the IPs, then modifying its components (mainly, the tonic syllable)
states the difference that avoids the ambiguity. Other use, very frequent in daily speech, is to make it easier
both for the speaker to produce and the listener to understand. Accompanying grammatical clauses, speakers
tend to divide them in IPs, clearing the message for the listener. Another use, related to the previous one, rests
on the boundary placement that indicates certain grammatical structures.

Remove | ′those who ′sold ∨ quickly | ′ made a ∖ profit | | ′ those who ∨ sold | ′ quickly ′ made a ∖ profit |
ambiguity
Order |i ′ wont have any ∕ tea |i ′ dont ∖ like it |
ideas
Indicate |the con′ servatives who ∨ like the proposal | are ∖ pleased | | the con∨ servatives | who ∨ like the pro ∙ posal | are ∖ pleased |
structures
Again, the context needs to be considered to understand the speaker choices.

DISCOURSE FUNCTION
When describing natural speech, a new area of study is becoming increasingly important. The discourse
function considers not only the ‘recent’ context, but also the “larger context of the whole conversational
interaction between speakers” (Underhill, 2007, p. 85).

This function is based on the existence of the common ground. This is presented as the “knowledge and
experience that the participants think they share about the world, the topic and each other” (Underhill, 2007, p.
86). In other words, the common ground is what each participant perceive as the overlap between them.

Three aspects are examined when considering discourse function:

1. Proclaiming and referring tones

2. Oblique intonation
3. The notion of key

PROCLAIMING AND REFERRING TONES

The usual tones (fall, rise, fall-rise, rise-fall and level) are renamed when discourse function takes place.
According to this function, when the speaker thinks he is adding new information to the common ground, usually
carrying a pitch that finishes in a falling movement, such tone is called proclaiming. On the other hand, when
the speaker is making use of something that is believed to be shared with the listener, we is producing a referring
tone.

R tone
Referring
R+ tone

P tone
Intonation
Proclaiming
P+ tone

Zero

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Both referring and proclaiming tone have two forms: an unmarked form, ‘default choices’, (tones R and
P) and a marked form (tones R+ and P+), which require special context to appear.

The zero tone is a level tone, without significant pitch contrast. It is used when there is no reason for
making communicative choices, as while thinking aloud. Zero tone is also linked with boring, aim-less, non-
communicative speech.

OBLIQUE INTONATION
This uses the falling tone for:

• Certain kind of recitation, where the language is being quoted rather than meaning
communicated. Examples could include rhymes and poems, multiplication tables, prayers.
• Reading aloud from a text, where the reader’s intention is set on saying what’s on the page.

The use of oblique intonation resembles the proclaiming tone, yet it does not adding new information to
the common ground.

THE MEANING OF KEY

Key is determined by the first or only prominence in the tone unit, compared with the first or only
prominence in the preceding tone unit. A tone unit is in high key if its first prominence is at a higher pitch than
the preceding one. It is in mid key if it is the same pitch, and it is in low key if lower. They add the following
meanings:

• High key is contrastive. The tone unit contains information that contrast with what the speaker or
hearer might expect.
• Mid key is additive. The tone unit comes as an addition to what has been said before.
• Low key is equative. The content flows naturally from what was said before, it has no impact.

TONE CHOICE IN QUESTIONS

According to discourse function, questions can be categorized between those that are asked to find out
new information and those that are made in order to get confirmation. The first group receive the name of finding
out questions, while the ones of second group are called making sure questions. Although these categories can
be compared to wh-questions and yes/no questions, examples can be found when a wh-question is used to
make sure, or a yes/no as a find out question.

Finding out questions usually end with a falling tone, carrying a proclaiming tone. Making sure questions,
on the other hand, usually end with a rising tone, carrying a referring tone.

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FEATURES OF CONNECTED SPEECH

INTRODUCTION

Continuous connected speech consists of a flow of sounds that are simplified. These features are all
optional, yet speakers tend to make use of them, even more than they are aware of.

ORDINARY LINKING

Also named as classical linking or liaison, refers to the “smooth” (Underhill, 2007, p. 65) joining of words.
Ordinary linking is present in word boundaries such as:

____CT VW____

____VW CT____

LINKING /r/
In non-rhotic, where not all /𝑟/ sounds are pronounced, linking /𝑟/ shows. When this sound appears
preceding a vowel sound, every English speaker will pronounce it; for non-rhotic speakers, this is the case of a
linking /𝑟/. It is included in order for ordinary linking to show.

INTRUSIVE /r/
Because of hyper-generalization, some non-rhotic speakers may introduce a /𝑟/ sound where the
spelling does not support it appearance. In order for ordinary linking to show, the following conditions need to
show:

ɔː VW
ə VW

INTRUSIVE /w/ AND /j/

These sounds show to link certain vowel-vowel combinations at word junctions. Intrusive /𝑤/ shows with
the following conditions:

uː VW
ʊ VW
əʊ VW
aʊ VW

The intrusive /𝑗/ shows when the following appear at word boundaries:

iː VW
ɪ VW
eɪ VW
ɔɪ VW
aɪ VW

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ELISION

Elision occurs when a sound which would be present in a word spoken in isolation is omitted is connected
speech. It is mainly /ə/, /𝑡/ and /𝑑/ that are elided in English, particularly when they are between two other
consonants:

next please /neks pliːz/

post the letter /pəʊs ðə letə(r)/
old man /əʊl mæn/
sandwich /sænwɪtʃ/

Elision frequently occurs in:

• The middle part of /ntʃ/ and /ndʒ/

• The middle part of /mps/, /mpt/, /nts/, /ŋks/ and /ŋkt/
• /t/, most common in /ft/ and /st/, less common in /pt/, /kt/, /tʃt/, /θt/ and /ʃt/
• /d/, most common in /ld/ and /nd/, less common in /bd/, /gd/, /dʒd/, /vd/, /ðd/, /zd/, /md/
and /ŋd/
• The contracted negative n’t / ənt/ tends to be / ən/ in most cases, except for didn’t, which is
sometimes produced /dɪd ən/
• /h/ in unstressed syllables of weak forms
• /ə/ when followed by a nasal or liquid. In some cases, such consonant becomes syllabic, acting
as the heart of the syllable after the elision, like in 𝑝𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑖𝑙: /pensəl/→/pensl/
ɪ ∙

COMPRESSION
This feature, usually considered as a particular case of elision, and shows on vowel sounds. When the
elision of the vowel sound has an impact on the number of syllables, there is compression. For example:

𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒𝑟𝑎: /′ kæm ər ə/ → /′kæm rə/

It is frequently present in the first syllable of words whose second syllable is stressed and begins with a
liquid, as in:

𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑐: /tə ′rɪf ɪk/ → /′trɪf ɪk/

𝑐𝑜𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑒: /kə ′laɪd/ → /′klaɪd/

ASSIMILIATION

This feature occurs when a phoneme changes its quality due to the influence of a neighbouring sound.
This change makes it more similar to its neighbour, or even identical. It affects only consonants.

Assimilation can occur in six different ways, combining a quality of the consonant (see appendix) with the
order of the sounds. When the second sound affects the first one, it is called a regressive assimilation. On the
other hand, when the first sound modifies the second one, it is called a progressive assimilation.

As alveolar consonants, /t/, /d/ and /n/ often assimilate to the bilabial /p/, /b/ and /m/, known as the
assimilation of place (of articulation). This is the case that sometimes undergoes /d/ to the velar /g/ and the
alveolar /s/ and /z/ to the post-alveolar /ʃ/ and /ʒ/.

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In some cases, the voicing of the sound changes. For example, a voiced /v/ becomes a voiceless /f/
under the influence of a following voiceless sound. The assimilation of voice can only be regressive.

A particular kind of assimilation, known as yod coalescence (or coalescent assimilation) occurs when
two different sounds, one of them a /j/, combine to make up for a new one. These are usually /d/ and /j/
combining to make a /dʒ/ and /t/ and /j/ making a /tʃ/.

TYPES OF ASSIMILATIO N
RAP Regressive assimilation of place green party /griːn pɑː(r)ti/→/griːm pɑː(r)ti/
PAP Progressive assimilation of place bacon /beɪk ə n/→/beɪk ə ŋ/
RAM Regressive assimilation of manner
PAM Progressive assimilation of manner
RAV Regressive assimilation of voice is called /ɪz kɔːld/→/ɪs kɔːld/
YC Yod coalescence get your /get jə(r)/→/getʃə(r)/

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ACCENTUATION

ELEMENTS THAT PRODUC E PROMINENCE

PITCH
Pitch is the result of the tension of the vocal folds. The tenser the folds, the faster they will vibrate, and
therefore the higher the note is produced.

QUALITY
Refers to the way the resonators modify the note by allowing the passage of the air, making the sound
audible.

QUANTITY
Auditorily, this property of a sound enables listeners to place it in a scale of long to short. Usually referred
to as length.

STRESS
Articulatorily, stress is caused by the muscular energy and breath force. Auditorily, this allows the listener
to classify the sounds from loud to soft, perceiving loudness.

ACCENT

We say a syllable is accented when it is a starter of pitch movement, or has the natural potential for it.
The others elements also occur in an accented syllable, yet they do not define it. When a syllable does not carry
pitch movement, but the other elements are present in it, the syllable is called prominent.

TYPES OF ACCENT
When a word has two or more accented syllables, pitch movement will naturally start on the last one. This
one is called the primary accent, and it is marked /′ / at the beginning of it. The previous accent (or accents),
less likely to initiate pitch movement are secondary accents, marked /′ /. Syllables with inherent prominence
and unaccented do not have a special mark.

Type of accent Scalar notation

Primary
Secondary
Prominent
Unaccented
The ‘tail’ of the primary accent notation shows the tone that carries.

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BIBLIOGRAPHY
Roach, P. (2012). English Phonetics and Phonology: A practical course. Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

Underhill, A. (2007). Sound Foundation: Learning and Teaching Pronunciation. London: Macmillan Education.

Wells, J. C. (2005). English Intonation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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APPENDIX

ADRIAN UNDERHILL’S PHONETIC CHA RT

VOWELS

iː ɪ ʊ uː ɪə eɪ ‘ ː

DIPHTHONGS
e ə 3ː ɔː ʊə ɔɪ əʊ

æ ʌ ɑː ɒ eə aɪ aʊ

p b t d tʃ dʒ k g

f v θ ð s z ʃ ʒ

m n ŋ h l r w j

CONSONANTS

CLASIFICATION OF CONSONANTS

MANNER
According to the kind of obstruction, consonants can be classified in:

• Plosives: /p/, /b/, /t/, /d/, /k/ and /g/

• Fricatives: /f/, /v/, /θ/, /ð/, /s/, /z/, /ʃ/, /ʒ/ and /h/
• Affricates: /tʃ/ and /dʒ/
• Nasals: /m/, /n/ and /ŋ/
• Liquids: /l/ and /r/
• Approximants: /w/ and /j/

PLACE OF ARTICULATIO N
According to where the obstruction occurs, consonants can be classified in:

• Bilabial: /p/, /b/ and /m/

• Labio-dental: /f/ and /v/
• Dental: /θ/ and /ð/
• Alveolar: /n/, /t/, /d/, /s/, /z/ and /l/
• Post-alveolar: /ʃ/, /ʒ/, /tʃ/ and /dʒ/
• Palatal: /j/
• Velar: /ŋ/, /k/, /g/ and /w/
• Glottal: /h/

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VOICING
Consonants are classified in voiced and voiceless, according to whether they produce vibration of the
vocal folds or not:

Voiced Voiceless
/b/ /p/

/d/ /t/

/dʒ/ /tʃ/

/g/ /k/

/v/ /f/

/ð/ /θ/

/z/ /s/

/ʒ/ /ʃ/

/h/

/m/

/n/

/ŋ/

/l/

/r/

/w/

/j/

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