MRS. SANDRA MOLINA C.

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TONES, TONIC SYLLABLESTONES UNITS

• MRS. SANDRA MOLINA C.
• UBB CHILLAN

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•     What is the tonic syllable?
• Tonic syllable is the last prominent syllable in
  the tone unit where the tone change begin. Tone
  unit is a sequence of accented syllables, one or
  more of which are prominent. Facts on Tone unit
  Tonic Syllable
• Each tone unit contains only one tonic syllable.
• Each tone unit carries one change of tone.
• We mark Tone unit boundaries by placing a "
  rectangle " at the beginning of the Tone unit.
• Tonic syllables must have a high degree of
  prominence.
• Tonic syllables are syllables which carry a tone
  and also a type of stress.
• Tonic syllables are also known as nucleus.

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• Examples
• Is it you
• Three-syllable utterance consisting of one
  tone-unit
• The only syllable that carries a tone (i.e. the
  tonic syllable or nucleus) is the third one.
• John is it you
• Four-syllable utterance consisting of two
  tone-units

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Simple tone-unit Head the part of a tone-unit
that extends from the first stressed syllable
(the onset of the head) up to the tonic
syllable. Remember that stressed words are
(usually) content words (nouns, adjectives,
verbs, adverbs). Bill called to give me these.
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Pre-head All the unstressed syllables preceding
the first stressed syllable. In a little less
than an hour. Tail All the syllables following
the tonic syllable up to the end of the tone-unit
look at it both of them were ?here.
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Onset on a function word In the following
examples the head is in blue and tonic syllable
in red Interrogative wh-words are stressed Who
wrote the report? How do you feel? This is the
officer who wrote the report.
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• What happens to nucleus placement when a (direct
  or indirect) question has the pattern wh-word
  be pronoun (i.e. it contains only function
  words)?
• The nucleus goes on the verb be.
• How are you?
• Tell me how you are.
• What is it?
• Tell me what it is.
• Welcome back! Hows it been?
• Tell me how its been.

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• Whos she? (pointing at somebody)
• Whos that? (hearing somebody at the door)
• Who is that? (knocking at the door continues)
• How old are you?
• Whats it for?
• Whats this button for?

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In yes-no questions, an initial auxiliary or
modal is optionally stressed Did you remember?
Can you swim? An initial contracted negative
verb is almost always accented, so too is the
word not. Havent we been here before? Im not
really sure.
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The modals ought, used, need, dare are usually
stressed even in statements. The other
auxiliaries and modals are also often stressed in
statements if by doing so we avoid an awkwardly
long prehead. May, might, and should are usually
stressed. I used to live in San Diego. Im going
to be late for work. Or Im going to be late for
work.
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Pronouns are stressed not only when contrastive,
but also when coordinated or to signal a
change of grammatical subject or object. You do
the ironing and Ill wash the floor.
(contrast) You and I could sort it out quickly.
(coordination) Bill told Mary and then she told
Jennifer. (object subject)
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Locate the nucleus Switch over to the BBC. I
need some new running shoes. Ive lost my credit
card. Ill tell them. Have you forgotten me? What
are you looking at? Where does she come
from? Whos she with?
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Solutions Switch over to the BBC. I need some
new running shoes. Ive lost my credit card. Ill
tell them. Have you forgotten me? What are you
looking at? Where does she come from? Whos she
with?
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Whats it about? Take your umbrella with you. His
ties got a stain on it. When is it? See who it
is. You mustnt annoy people. Ive got something
to say to you guys. (Why are you looking so
worried?) Ive got an exam this
afternoon. (Everything OK?) Its a bit hot in
here.
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Whats it about? Take your umbrella with you. His
ties got a stain on it. When is it? See who it
is. You mustnt annoy people. Ive got something
to say to you guys. (Why are you looking so
worried?) Ive got an exam this
afternoon. (Everything OK?) Its a bit hot in
here.
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