On a stressed syllable

Within each intonation phrase, we select on word as particularly important for the meaning. This is where we place the nucleus (or nuclear accent), the syllable that bears the nuclear tone (a fall, rise, or fall-rise, as discussed in chapter 2).

Phonetically, we accent a syllable by giving it a prominent change in pitch, or movement in pitch, or the start of a pitch movement. An accented syllable is always also rhythmically stressed, i.e. it has a rhythmic beat.

Pragmatically, we accent a word by accenting its stressed syllable (or at least on of them if it has more than one). This indicates the importance or relevance of the word for what we are saying.

In an IP there maybe other accents in addition to the nuclear accent. If so, the nucleus is the last accent in the IP. Any other accents come earlier in the IP and are 'prenuclear'. The first is known as the onset. Prenuclear patterns are discussed in chapter 5.

The most important decision the speaker makes in selecting an intonation pattern is to decide where the nucleus goes: which is the last word to be accented. In doing this the speaker chooses the tonicity of the intonation phrase.

But how do we decide where the nucleus should go?

First, we know that the nucleus must go on a stressed syllable. By 'stressed syllable' we mean the syllable that has lexical stress. Lexical stress is part of the basic pattern of a word's pronunciation, as shown in dictionaries.

To make a word the nucleus of an IP, we put a nuclear tone on (or starting on ) its lexically stressed syllable. To produce an English intonation pattern correctly it is essential, therefor, to know which syllable in each word bears the stress.

To accent the word never we accent the first syllable. For the word annoyed we accent the last syllable. For tomorrow it is the second syllable. To accent the word fine, we accent its only stress syllable.

In this book we show the location of an accent by placing the mark ▸ before the relevant syllable (or some more specific mark such as ). In addition, we show the nucleus by underlining the nuclear syllable. (Because we are using convectional orthography, for this underlining we follow the conventional rules for orthographic syllabification. In case of doubt, consult a dictionary.)

In the examples we show not only the nuclear accent but also other accents (particularly the onset), as appropriate. We do not show non-accent rhythmic stresses at all, since they have no effect on intonation. We concentrate on the most important accent, the nuclear accent.

Here are some examples involving one-word IPs:

These IPs could be said with any tone -fall, rise, or fall-rise. The location of the nucleus (the tonicity) is a separate choice from the choice of nuclear tone:

In each case the syllable -mor- is the nucleus and bears a nuclear tone. Where the choice of tone is irrelevant, it is equally valid to write just To'morrow