The Even Yearbook 11 (2014)
#96
volume: 11 (2014)
author: László Varga
title: The falling-rising intonation in English: Its subtypes, functions, and representations
keywords: intonation, simple fall-rise, compound fall-rise, pitch accent, phrase accent, boundary tone, intonational sandhi
abstract: In this paper I examine the controversial issue of the Falling-Rising contour (FR) of British English intonation.
First I briefly review the functions and phonetic characteristics of the Simple FR and the Compound FR, and sum up the phonetic differences that may exist between these two subtypes, on the basis of the descriptions available in the literature. I also point out that the wide-spread account of the Compound FR as being a manifestation of intonational sandhi is not feasible in many cases.
Then I examine the suggestion (by Grice, Ladd & Arvaniti 2000, and by Ladd 2008) that the two subtypes are phonologically identical, both representable in autosegmental terms as H* L- H% (where the L- is a doubly copied phrase accent, usually copied to different positions in the two subtypes). I reject this suggestion for several reasons, the most important reason being that the L- phrase accent may have to be copied to exactly the same positions in both subtypes, thus yielding identical representations for both subtypes, although their meanings would still be different (cf. I vlike chocolate vs. I \like /chocolate). Since analying them both in the same way cannot be correct, I think that the two subtypes are phonologically different: both representations begin with a bitonal pitch accent H*+L (rather than with a monotonal H*, as suggested by Grice, Ladd & Arvaniti 2000, and Ladd 2008), and finish with the edge tone combination L- H%, but they differ in what there is between the initial pitch accent H*+L and the final edge tones L-H%. In the Simple FR there is nothing there: H*+L L-H%, whereas in the Compound FR there is a downgraded pitch accent L(*) in that position: H*+L L(*) L-H%.
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