Tonicity Juan Torres Ampuero Phonetics Lecturer Definition It

Tonicity Juan Torres Ampuero Phonetics Lecturer

Definition • It refers to the syllables a speaker highlights in an utterance by accenting them, thus making those and not other words prominent for the hearer in order to convey different meanings. • Out of all the possible accents found in an intonation group, the most important one and the only one that is always present is the ‘nucleus’, which is easily recognised because it is the last accent showing pitch movement or change. Moreover, the nucleus (or tonic syllable) indicates where the focused part of the spoken material ends.

What is to be accented • It is necessary to make a distinction between ‘(lexical) stress’ and ‘(sentence) accent’ so as to avoid ambiguity or misunderstanding when using these two terms. • Not all words are ‘accented’ within a given sentence. Therefore, as Cruttenden (1997) puts it, “we have to know which syllables are stressed in words so that we then know which syllables are potentially accentable in utterances” (p. 15)

What is to be accented • In English, nucleus placement –according to the traditional model- has to do with “a classification of words according to the semantic burden they carry” (Ortiz-Lira, 2000, p. 50), i. e. there is a distinction between ‘content’ and ‘function’ words (or lexical and structural items, correspondingly). Thus, in English, content words such as nouns, verbs, etc. are more likely to take an accent, as opposed to function words such as prepositions, pronouns, articles, and so on. • There is a traditional rule which establishes that the nucleus generally falls on the Last Lexical Item (LLI rule). In other words, “in utterances which do not express contrast or emphasis, i. e. those which are neutral (or normal), the nucleus occurs on the last noun, verb, etc. ” (Ortiz-Lira, 2000, p. 51).

Exceptions to the LLI rule a) Event sentences: - The 'teacher’s coming. In the example above, the argument receives higher stress than the predicate. Thus, although both words (teacher – coming) are lexical items, the accent falls on the noun and not on the verb, which is the LLI. b) Nouns + Infinitives: Another exception to the rule is found in cases where a noun is immediately followed by a ‘to infinitive’ form. - I’ve got some 'books to read.

c) Objects of general reference: Sometimes we refer to objects of general reference (empty words), viz, elements whose semantic weight is considered low or insignificant. For instance: - I have to 'buy stuff. d) Nouns + adjectives / participles: - He 'had her `eyes checked. - She 'let the `dog loose. In both examples the Spanish version will show a different word order and accentuation will fall on the last lexical item. -(Él) Se 'hizo examinar los `ojos. -(Ella) Dejó 'suelto al `perro.

e) Final relative clauses: -'Where’s that `pen you found? -'What about that `girl you were seeing? “We can safely state that in English relative clauses, the nuclear accent normally goes on the argument (noun), irrespective of the condition of new or given of the information in the clause, and the length of it” (Ortiz-Lira, 2000, p. 61). f) Final vocatives: A final vocative is a word or phrase that a speaker adds at the end of an utterance to address a listener directly, usually in the form of a title or a personal name, for instance: -Your `taxi’s waiting, love. -Good `morning, doctor.

g) Adverbials of time or place: In English there is a tendency not to accent adverbials of time or place in final position, except when the person wants to indicate some sort of contrast. For instance: – – I saw 'Peter yesterday. I saw Peter 'yesterday. [contrastive] There’s a 'fly in my soup. There’s a fly in my 'soup. [contrastive] However, as Cruttenden (1990) explains, final adverbials take the nucleus in what seems to be the unmarked intonation in “sentencetypes where the adverbial is an obligatory component of the sentence structure” (p. 14): -'Joe went to `Canada.

References • Cruttenden, A. (1997). Intonation. Cambridge, CUP. • Cruttenden, A. (1990). ‘Nucleus placement and three classes of exception’. In Ramsaran, S. (ed. ), Studies in the pronunciation of English. London, Routledge. Pp. 9 -18. • Ortiz Lira, H. (2000). Word Stress and Sentence Accent. Facultad de Historia, Geografía y Letras. Universidad Metropolitana de Ciencias de la Educación.