Student: Nguyễn Thành Trung

Class: AnhK23D

Principles of Phonetics and Phonology Midterm

1. In what way is the glide-down different from the glide-up? Illustrate the difference with examples.

Glide-down and Glide-up are two of five basic intonations in English. They are different in some

ways.

Glide-down – The falling tune

Definition: The falling tune is the intonation pattern consisting of a fall in the voice from a fairly

high pitch to a very low one.

Description:

a. If there is one important word

• On a single syllable, the voice falls within the syllable.

• On more than one syllable, the voice either falls within the stressed syllable or it jumps from

that syllable to the next. Unstressed syllables at the end are very low.

• If there are other words following the falls, they may still have stress, but they are still said on

that very low pitch just like the unstressed syllable.

b. When there is more than one important word: the last one has the fall, but the other ones

are treated differently.

• The stressed syllable of the first important word is high and any unstressed syllables

following it are on the same pitch.

• The stressed syllable of the second important word is a little lower and any unstressed

syllables following it are on the same pitch.

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• The falls starts at the same pitch as the syllable just before it.

Notes:

• If there are any unstressed syllables before the stressed syllable of the first important word,

these are all said on a rather low pitch.

• Also any stressed syllable near the beginning which belongs to a word which is not important

is said on that rather low pitch.

Uses:

The Glide-down is used in Categorical statements, Wh-questions, Exclamations, Tag questions

intended as forcing the person asked to agree with the speaker, Yes-No questions said with

disinterest or as response to something previously informed and commands.

Examples:

*No *Excellent

When there is more than one important word in the group, the stressed syllable of each one is

lower than the one before and the last one has the fall.

*What was the *matter with *that?

I was *glad He *seems *very *nice

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Glide-up – The first rising tune

Definition: The glide up is the intonation pattern consisting of a rise at the end of a sentence but the tune starts at a high pitch.

Description:

• All syllables, either stressed or unstressed, before the rise (the stressed syllable of the last important word) are treated exactly the same as in the glide down.

• At the stressed syllable of the last important word, the voice rises from a low pitch to one just above the middle of the voice.

• All the syllables, stressed as well as unstressed) after the stressed syllable of the last important word are on the rise.

• If the sentence consists of only one important word, the voice starts at a very low pitch.

Uses:

The glide-up is used in Yes-No questions seeking either confirmation rejection; Wh-questions asked with eagerments to gain information; Statements intended as declarative questions; and Medical / final vocatives.

Example:

*Two *Forty *Are you *married?

2. What are possible intonations applicable to the following?

A: Tom went to London yesterday B: Really? How do you know?

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3. Point out the difference between the glide-up and the take-off with respect of their uses. Example.

The glide up is the intonation pattern consisting of a rise at the end of a sentence but the tune starts at a high pitch. The rise is put on the stressed syllable or started from the stressed syllable.

*Two *Forty *Are you *married?

The take off is the intonation pattern that ends with a rise in the voice like the Glide up but any words or syllables before the rise are low

We call it the take off because like an aero-plane taking off, it starts by running along at a low level and finally rises into the air

I was *only *trying to *help It *was.

4. What are the types of assimilation detectable in the following

- an ink-pot / ən ink pɔt/ / ən inp pɔt/ / ən inpɔt/: Place and manner assimilation

- a nice house / ə nais haus/ / ə naih haus/ / ə naihaus/: Place and manner assimilation

- inclination /inkləneiʃn/ /iɳkləneiʃsn/ : Assimilation inside phoneme

5. Point out the difference between phonetics and phonology. Represent the contours via phonetics symbols and conventionsPhonetics is the study of the physical properties of human speech, such as how basic sounds are physically produced, their acoustics, and how they are perceived.Phonology deals with how these speech sounds are organized into systems for each individual language, for example: how the sounds can be combined, the relations between them and how they affect each other. Phonetics describes the basic units themselves of human speech; Phonology develops theories.

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