43. The nucleus of a syntagm. The principle nuclear tones in English.

Not all stressed syllables are of equal importance. One of the syllables has the greater prominence than the others and forms the accentual nucleus, or focal point of a syntagm. Formally the nucleus may be described as a strongly stressed syllable which is generally the last stressed syllable of a syntagm. It is an obligatory component because it carries one of the basic tones and is always associated with the communicative centre of the sentence, the latter being the most important word or group of words in this sentence. So the nucleus marks the focus of information or the part of the pattern to which the speaker especially draws the hearer’s attention. The nucleus may coincide with the communicative centre if it is represented by a monosyllabic word or constitute its part in a polysyllabic word. The change of pitch within the last stressed syllable of the syntagm is called a nuclear tone. The nuclear tone is the most important part of the intonation pattern without which the latter cannot exist at all. On the other hand an intonation pattern may consist of one syllable which is its nucleus, while the head, pre-head and tail are optional elements.

The inventory of tonal types given by different scholars is different. According to the classification, accepted for teaching purposes, all English tones may be level, or static (tones of unchanging pitch) and moving, or kinetic (tones of changing pitch), moving tones are divided into simple (changing in one direction ) and complex (changing in more than one direction ). Level tones can be pitched at high, mid and low level. Moving tones include simple tones, such as: low fall, high fall, low rise, high rise, and complex tones: fall-rise, rise-fall. The falling tones render an idea of finality and completion, the categoric nature of the utterance, its independence of a following utterance and, therefore, its greater semantic weight. The rising tones carry a sense of incompletion and non-finality (continuation), the non-categoric nature of the utterance, its dependence on a following utterance or the reaction of the listener, its smaller semantic weight.

The Low Fall starts at a medium pitch level or a bit lower and falls to a very low pitch. It expresses finality and indicates a number of attitudes ranging from neutral to grim, cool, detached, phlegmatic attitudes. The High Fall starts at a high pitch and falls to a very low pitch. It also expresses finality but the range of attitudes is different: it indicates liveliness, polite and friendly interest, personal involvement and concern and sometimes a mild surprise. The Low Rise starts low and rises to a medium pitch or a little lower. It expresses non-finality, incompleteness, it is non-categoric and implicatory in character. The High Rise starts at a medium pitch or a little higher and rises to a very high pitch. It is an interrogating and echoing tone. It is used in all kinds of echoes and in questions calling for repetition. The Fall-Rise falls from a high or medium pitch level to the low pitch level and then slowly rises to a little below the mid pitch level. It is a contrastive, implicatory tone, expressing politeness, apology, concern, uncertainty, etc. The Rise-Fall starts in the middle of the voice range, rises to a very high pitch and then falls to a very low pitch. It is final and categoric in character. It expresses both pleasant and unpleasant attitudes, ranging from irony or sarcasm to admiration and has an intensifying function.

These tones may be made emphatic: they may be given a degree of stress beyond the normal.

The use of this or that nuclear tone determines the duration of the nuclear syllable. A syllable containing a high fall is longer than one with a low fall, whereas a syllable with a falling-rising tone, or a rising-falling-rising tone is much longer than one with any other nuclear tone.