1. Sentence stress and intro to intonation
2016 January 18
Sentence stress and intro to intonation

2. Where do we go from here? Word/Lexical stress Phrasal stress
Sentence stress

3. What is sentence stress?
Stress patterns over the domain of the sentence.
Gives you overall rhythm of the sentence.
However, this still builds on to lexical stress and phrasal stress

4. Sentence stress English words can be divided into two groups
Content words: express independent meaning
Function words: little or no meaning in themselves, but express grammatical relationships

5. Content words
Nouns, main verbs, adverbs, adjectives, question words, demonstratives
Usually stressed

6. Function words
Articles, prepositions, auxiliaries, pronouns, conjunctions, relative pronouns
Usually unstressed
Unless they are given special attention

7. Sentence stress
Even though all content words receive some sort of stress…
One content word within the sentence will receive greater stress than all others
Major sentence stress

8. Sentence stress Major sentence stress:
Most cases – falls on the last content word within a sentence
SUsan BOUGHT a NEW SWEAter at CREEDS.

9. How do we assign stress in these instances?
I walked home in the rainstorm.
Peter likes your suggestion.
The rain in Spain stays mainly in the plain.

10. Sentence stress
But sometimes, this major sentence stress can shift from its typical pattern
A: WHAT did you BUY at CREEDS?
B: I BOUGHT a NEW SWEAter at CREEDS.

11. Sentence stress
In the second sentence, ‘Creeds’ does NOT receive major sentence stress; rather, it’s on ‘sweater’.
Speaker B is directing speaker A’s attention to the ‘sweater’.

12. Sentence stress Information focus So, major sentence stress:
Stressed syllable
Content word
Has information focus
Can also be called “new information”

13. So, why does the Bridgekeeper sound quite strange?
Mr8
His sentence stress pattern is odd
His major sentence stress is placed on the question words (rather than the final content words) without a special reason

14. Other types of sentence stress
Contrastive stress
Used to offer a contradiction or alternatives

15. Contrastive stress A: I heard that Jack bought another used car.
B: No, he bought a NEW car.
The stress emphasizes the contradiction.

16. Contrastive stress A: Did Jack buy a new car or a used one?
B: He bought a NEW one.
Offers alternative choices.

17. Contrastive stress
Can even be heavier and louder than simple major sentence stress
Especially in cases where contradictions are made

18. Emphatic stress What is the meaning of too in these sentences?
Harry studied painting in PAris, TOO.
Harry studied PAINting in Paris, TOO.
Harry STUdied painting in Paris, TOO.
HArry studied painting in Paris, TOO.

19. Emphatic stress
The meaning of too is to indicate relevance to the stressed element in the main sentence.
For example, (1) means that Harry might have studied painting in many places, including Paris

20. What is intonation?

21. What is intonation?
Variations of pitch that occur over a phrase or sentence
Pitch: Acoustic correlate of vocal cord frequency
Can be described in terms of tone groups or intonational phrases

22. What is intonation?
Tone group – the part of the sentence over which an intonation contour extends
Intonational phrase
Intonation Unit

23. Intonation Within a tone group:
Each stressed syllable has a minor pitch increase
But there is ONE syllable in which pitch increase is more significant
This is called the tonic syllable

24. Intonation The boy gave the book to his teacher.
Utterance-initial position: “old” or “given” information
Utterance-final position: “new” information

25. Intonation
Usual pattern – place the tonic syllable on the last stressed lexical item
Notice the correlation – stressed syllables are supposed to increase in pitch as well

26. Intonation Merely a tendency He was somewhat *discouraged.
Where would you expect the first versus the second case?

27. Intonation
You would expect to see the second (with the tonic on somewhat) if one were asking the degree to which someone was discouraged
Contrast/emphasis

28. Intonation
Not all cases of placing tonic syllable earlier have to do with emphasis
I have *a party to plan
He has *letters to write

29. Intonation
Tone group is a unit of information rather than a syntactically defined (i.e., structural) unit
Shape of tone group (i.e., where the tonic falls) depends on what the speaker considers to be the important point(s) of an utterance

30. Intonation Lettuce is a *vegetable. Someone is talking about lettuce
Someone is talking about “vegetable” as a category

31. Other exceptions to tonic accent rule
Tone group has intransitive verb or verb phrase whose subject is non-human
Our *town is in a recession.
The *chicken ran away.
BUT: The man ran *away.

32. Other exceptions to tonic accent rule
Sentence-final adverbials
I don’t watch *TV usually (I prefer to do other things).
I don’t watch TV *usually (but I do watch it sometimes).
It wasn’t a nice *day unfortunately.

33. Types of intonation contours
The shape of the intonation at the end of the sentence
Falling intonation contour – typical for utterances that express finality
Full (long) fall vs. low (short) fall

34. Intonation contours Full fall Declaratives Clear finality in statement
I’m leaving the house right now↓.

35. Intonation contours Emotional involvement I’m so happy↓. WH-questions
Which way did he go↓?

36. Intonation contours Rising intonation Non-definiteness
Lack of assurance
Incompletion
“Valley Girl Uptalk”
High (long) rise vs. low (short) rise

37. Intonation contours High rise contour More marked pattern
Attitude of puzzlement or disbelief
Yes-no questions
Are you kidding me↑?

38. Intonation contours http://vimeo.com/68594695 (@1:56)
“This is a boy↑?!”
Speaker has the attitude of thinking “this is hard to believe”
Bonus:

39. Intonation contours Low rise Typical yes-no questions
Has your dad left already↑?
Your dad has left already↑?

40. Intonation contour Repetition questions A: What are you doing?
B: I’m studying.
A: What are you doing↑?
(I haven’t heard you)

41. Sidenote: A really great example of emphatic stress

42. Intonation contours Certain tag questions signaling uncertainty
You usually come here at ten, right↑?
She usually goes home at five, doesn’t she↑?

43. Intonation contours Attitudinal function
Much variation in intonation – attitudinal position one wants to convey

44. Exercise with intonational contour variation
A: Tell me, have you seen that film?
B: Yes! It was wonderful.
A: Did you go with John?
B: Yes, I did.
A: Was he interesting?
B: Yes, I guess he was.
A: Interesting guy.
B: Well, that’s a matter of opinion.