English intonation

Key

Speakers vary the height of their top pitch from context to context to create a variety of keys. Most speech will be found in mid (neutral) key. However, high key and low key add additional meaning.

High fall

Starts above mid pitch and ends in fully low pitch. It's completed in a maximum of two syllables.

Low tail

A tail that follows High fall, Low fall and Rise-fall nuclei.

Rising tail

A tail that follows Low rise, High rise and Fall-rise nuclei.

Mid-level tail

A tail that follows the Mid-level nucleus.

Three Ts

As concerns intonation, speakers of English repeatedly face three types of decisions as they speak

Tone

Deciding what kind of pitch movement the speaker is going to associate with the nucleus.

Tonality

Division of the spoken material into chuncks - intonation phrases. In many cases different kinds of chunking are possible.

Sliding head

Emphatic variant of the falling head. Starts high in pitch, but on each stress the falling pitch starts again. Every stressed syllable is higher in pitch than the unstressed syllable preceding it.

Stepping head

Emphatic variant of the high head. Starts on the same pitch as the high head but at each subsequent stress, the pitch moves down a step, creating a noticeable difference in pitch in comparison to the previous syllable.

Climbing head

Emphatic variant of the rising head. Starts low, but with every stress, the rising pitch cycle begins again. The pitch never returns to fully low, but each stressed syllable is lower in pitch than the unstressed syllable preceding it.

High prehead

Marked prehead, said on a pitch which is approximately the same as that of a high fall nuclear tone, less frequent one, usually quite short.

Mid level

Produced with a sustained mid-pitch throughout the nucleus and any following syllables.

High head

Said on a above mid pitch. It combines with every type of nucleus except for the fall-rise.

Low head

Said with a fully low pitch. It is followed by a low rise nucleus.

High rise

Starts at about mid pitch and glides gradually up or steps up syllable by syllable. It takes as many syllables as are available to complete, each syllable a little higher than the previous one.

Rise-fall

Starts at about mid pitch, rises to about the pitch of the start of a high fall and then moves to fully low pitch. It's completed in a maximum of three syllables.

Low rise

Starts fully low and glides gradually up, often no further than mid pitch. The extent of the rise will depend on the length of the tail. It takes as many syllables as are available to complete, each syllable a little higher than the previous one.

Rising head

Starts fully low in pitch and rises incrementally, syllable by syllable to just below the starting pitch of the high fall nuclear tone. It is followed by a high fall nucleus.

Fall-rise

Starts high (like the start of the high fall) and glides immediately to fully low pitch and then rises to about mid pitch where it tends to flatten out. If the tail has no stresses, the rise occurs on the final syllable.

Falling head

Starts on a fairly high pitch and falls incrementally, syllable by syllable. It is followed by a fall-rise nucleus.

Low fall

Starts well below mid pitch and end in fully low pitch. It's completed in a maximum of two syllables.

Low prehead

Unmarked prehead, said on a comfortably low pitch, bellow mid pitch.

Emphatic heads

Variations of the basic head types which include additional, carefully constrained pitch movements. These changes causes every stress in the head to turn into an accent.

Tonicity

Where we locate the nucleus of the intonation phrase