Heavy noun phrases
A noun phrase (NP) is particularly likely to have its own IP if it is heavy (= long, consisting of several words). Since the grammatical subject of a sentence is often just an NP, there is often an intonation break between the subject and the rest of the clause or sentence:
The ▸head of a large 'school | has a ▸lot of responsi'bility.
The ▸people I've been 'talking to | were ▸quite 'definite about it.
▸London and the south'east | will have 'showers. || The 'rest of the country | will be 'dry.
The speaker has considerable discretion about this. A separate IP for the subject of a clause is more frequently found in reading aloud and in formal speeches to an audience than in everyday conversation (Cruttenden , 1997:70).
The ▸people I've been 'talking to | were ▸quite 'definite about it.
▸London and the south'east | will have 'showers. || The 'rest of the country | will be 'dry.
The grammatical subject is particularly likely to have its own IP if it is different from the subject of the preceding sentence or clause, i.e. if there is a change of subject:
I thought the ▸food was ⤵excellent. || And ▸salmon ⤵⤴quiche | is ▸something I a⤵dore
Making the subject NP into a separate IP has the advantage of allowing the speaker to place contrastive focus on it by locating the nucleus there. Even every light (= short) NPs can be made into separate IP to allow this:
The ⤵⤴children | say they don't ⤵like her. || But \/I | think she's ⤵wonderful.
▸Cats and ⤵⤴dogs | can make ⤵wonderful companions.
Objects, too, are followed by an intonation break if they are heavy:
▸Cats and ⤵⤴dogs | can make ⤵wonderful companions.
I ▸gave the 'book you asked about | to the ▸girl at the 'checkout.