Types of Pre-Heads

A low pre-head consists of unstressed syllables pronounced at a low pitch, or gradually ascending in pitch towards the head or the nucleus:

e.g. But you’ll be "home in "time for ¤dinner?||

A high pre-head consists of unstressed syllables pronounced on a high pitch. A high pre-head gives to the utterance an extremely emotional character and may be regarded as a feature of emphatic speech.

e. g. çHow °can you be so %obstinate?||

The System of Scales

The Scale is a phonetic unit that begins with the head group and extends to the terminal tone.

Scales can be classified as follows:

1) According to the arrangement of unstressed syllables within stress-tone groups can be:

• Stepping

e.g. Our"classes be"gin at "three o’°clock.||

• Sliding

e.g. Our Ìclasses beÌgin at Ìthree o’°clock.||

• Scandent

e.g. Our Ëclasses beËgin at Ëthree o’°clock.||

2) According to the direction of the pitch movement the scales can be classified as:

• The Descending Scale (Stepping, Sliding, Scandent)

e.g. He"promised to "be in°time.||

HeÌpromised toÌbe in°time.||

HeÍpromised to Íbe in°time.||

•The Ascending Scale (Stepping, Sliding, Scandent)

e.g. He%promised to %be in°time.||

HeÌpromised toÌbe in°time.||

HeÍpromised to Íbe in°time.||

• The Level Scale (Low, Mid, High)

e.g. He%promised to %come in°time.||

He%promised to"come in °time.||

He"promised to"come in°time.||

3) According to the regularity of their pitch movements scales can be:

• Regular

• Broken

e.g. He"promised to"come in ↑half an °hour.||

HeÌpromised toÌcome in ↑half an °hour.||

The function of the scale lies in the fact that it helps to convey different emotions. We can call this function attitudinal.

Scales in Detail

Date: 2015-01-02; view: 2634