Falling and non-falling tones

A.

The most basic distinction among English nuclear tones is that between falling and non-falling.

The various kinds falling tone (high fall, low fall, rise-fall) evidently have some degree of meaning in common. In this chapter we do not distinguish between them, but treat them all as just falls. There is also something in common in all various kinds of non-falling tone (high rise, low rise, mid level, fall-rise), which we refer to as non-falls. However, here it is often necessary to distinguish between rises on the one hand and fall-rises on the other.

B.

A popular idea among language students is that statements are said with a fall, questions with a rise. Although there is an element of truth in this generalization, it is very far from the complete truth. In English, at any rate, statements may have a fall - but they may also have a non-falling tone (a fall-rise or a rise). Questions may have a rise - but they may also have a fall. In general there is no simple predictable relationship between sentence type and tone choice. Nevertheless, it is useful to apply the notion of default tone (= unmarked tone, neutral tone) for each sentence type. As we shall se, the default tone is

Another useful generalization is that the default for utterances involving two intonation phrases is to have

C. Contents of this chapter

• 2.2-4: We study the anatomy of falls, rises and fall-rises, learning to recognize and reproduce these different tones.
  Link to 2.2
• 2.5-19: We consider their use in independent tones, as seen in short utterances that involve only a single intonation phrase. In considering tone meanings, we classify sentences according to their discourse function. We look in turn at statements, questions, exclamations, commands and interjections.
  Link to 2.5
• 2.20-5: We look at dependent tones and the tones of successive IPs in sequence.
  Link to 2.20
• 2.26-7: We discuss general tone meanings and tabulate all the tone meanings we have identified.
  Link to 2.26