The Ascending Stepping Head

General contour: ascending

Pitch movement within stressed group: stepping (even unchanging)

Distribution of relative prominence: diffuse

How does it sound: impatience, surprise, protest, disbelief or, vice versa, a note of enthusiastic approval and support

Each of the stressed syllables of takes a static tone pitched higher than the preceding one, so that the onset syllable occupies the lowest pitch in the head.

The fact that each following stressed syllable is higher in pitch that the previous one can be shown in different ways:

1. ̗ˌm ˌm ˌm ̀m

2. ˌm ım ̍m ̀m

He ̗ˌdidn’t ˌseem to ̀notice her.

She ˌcan’t have ıpossibly ̍left a ̀lone.

The Low Head

General Contour: level

Pitch movement within stressed group: stepping (even unchanging)

Distribution of relative prominence: diffuse

How does it sound: cool, detached, phlegmatic, disinterested or disapproval attitude

All the syllables – stressed and unstressed – are pronounced in the low pitch zone of the speaker’s voice range.

ˌTwo or ˌthree ˌtimes a ̗week.

The Sliding Head

Is formed by a sequence of slides, i.e. downward pitch movements, associated with each fully stressed syllable of the head.

It has a jumpy, or wavelike, character. Such an effect is due to the pitch contrast between the end of the preceding stress-group and the beginning of the following: the latter is higher in pitch as a result of a downward pitch movement over the preceding stress-group, realized either as a glide on the stressed syllable (when there aren’t any unstressed syllables following) or as a jump between the stressed syllable and the following unstressed ones.

(Jumpy) We ↘haven’t been ↘hearing from him for ̀ages.

(Step-like) We ̍haven’t been ̍hearing from him for ̀ages.

Partially stressed syllables behave in the same way as the unstressed syllables: they gradually carry the pitch down, so that in a one-peak head, where full stress is given only to the first word (national, as a rule) while the other prenuclear stresses are partial, the overall pitch pattern is falling rather that sliding:

You ↘can’t ↘wait here all ̀ ́day.

Meaning: lively, expressive conversation and in reading emotionally colored texts.

The Scandent Head

The head of an utterance is sometimes formed be a sequence of “climbs”, i.e. upward pitch-changes associated with each of the stressed syllables. These upward pitch movement are realized either inside the stressed syllable (when no unstressed syllable follow) or on the unstressed syllables which are than pronounced on a higher pitch that the preceding stressed syllable.

I’d ↗rather ↗do it ̀myself.

The stressed syllables may also form a descending or an ascending contour:

↗Let me ↗know as ↗soon as you ̀arrive.

I’m ↗not ↗going to ↗promise you ̀anything.

This variety of Scandent head is sometimes called the Rising Head. It is indicated on the some way as the Scandent head (↗m), but the tonetic mark is given to the onset syllable only.

I’m ↗not ͘going to ͘promise you ̀anything.

Utterances pronounced lively and expressive. Expresses surprise and incredulity. A reassuring, encouraging meaning and is often used in speaking to children. Express the speaker’s irritation, or vice versa, cheerfulness and interest.

Always weak: a, the, an, as, and, but, than, that (not demonstrative), he, she, you, me, her, us, them, there (indefinite pronoun)

Weak (in initial and weak position)/strong (in final position): am, are, was, were, would, be, shall, should, have, has, had, do, does, must, can, could, some (partitive), at, from, for, of, to

Always strong: on, off, in, some (in the meaning of “certain”), one, most, this, that, these, those, each, how (in how long), when, what, where, why, how, though, so, then, there, so; (main verbs) have, has, had, do, does, is, are

tr dr в tram r becomes fricative (progressive assimilation affecting the manner of articulation) and devoiced (progressive assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords). t/d becomes post-alveolar (regressive assimilation affecting the place of articulation) three там r будет alveolar (progressive assimilation affecting the place of articulation) and flapped twenty (kw, sw) t becomes labialized (regressive assimilation affecting the position of lips) w devoiced (progressive assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords) loss of plosion nasal plosion lateral plosion fricative plosion – ps, ts, ks linking r absence of assimilation - это все просто назвать t, d, n, l, s, z + межзубный типа tenth t, d, n, l, s, z becomes dental (regressive assimilation affecting the place of articulation) и еще эти остальные типа pr, kr, str, skr, thr, fr, sr - progressive assimilation affecting the work of the vocal cords, где r becomes devoiced, а все остальное ничего не becomes