Open and closed lists

As we have seen, a leading non-fall at the beginning of an utterance leaves us waiting for the fall that will complete the pattern. It thus indicates that the sentence is incomplete. It signals non-finality. Put it another way, a non-fall leaves matters open.

A fall, on the other hand, indicates that the sentence is potentially complete. It tends to signal finality. It suggests that matters are closed.

We see the distinction between the closed fall (= definitive fall) and the open non-fall (= non-final fall-rise or rise) most clearly in the intonation lists:

The fall on tea in (i) signals that there are no more options: you must choose either coffee or tea. The rise on tea in (ii) signals that there maybe other possibilities too, as yet unmentioned, e.g. or you could have an \orange juice. In (iii) the addressee (the passenger on an airline, perhaps) is being invited to choose between two possibilities, chicken or beef. In (iv) she is being invited to choose one of those two, or - if she prefers - some other options. Example (v) demonstrates how you might count a small child's fingers for her. The rises in the first four intonation phrases leave the list open. The fall on the fifth closes it. In (vi) the non-falls (which might be rises or fall-rises) on Manchester and Edinburgh indicate that there is more to come. The fall on London indicates that we have come to the end.

Although the intonation patterns in these examples are valid, they are not the only way of treating lists. First, we do not have to give each item its own IP: openness of a list can be signalled simply by not yet having reached the nucleus, i.e . by giving the non-final items head accents rather than nuclear accents:

Secondly, the list as a whole may require a non-falling tone, in which case it may be impossible for the hearer to know whether the speaker intended the list to be left open or not: Here the dependent fall-rise on tea (signalling that the utterance, rather than the list, is not yet complete) leaves us uncertain whether there are other possibilities.

Alternative questions are sets on two or more yes-no questions linked by or. They are treated as lists. A closed list ends in a definitive fall, and in principle an open list (if nuclear) ends in a dependent rise. However, the speaker has some discretion to ignore this rule.