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Communication: Spoken English | 209

6. The first syllable of table is the tonic syllable. Tonic prominence marks
the culmination of what is new in the particular information unit.
Anything after the tonic, but still in the same tone group is thereby
signalled as given. What comes before the tonic may be all new or
may start with something given; so that the total formula of the infor-
mation unit is (G) N (G)—Obligatory new element. Optionally pre-
ceded and / or followed by something given.
For example, in a sentence like

// You want me to come / I won’t come //
7. In the second tone group the tonic syllable is located on won’t since
it is the ‘new’ information as compared to come which has already
been mentioned and in fact is located as the tonic syllable in the first
tone group. Within a tone group, the choice of the nucleus is deter-
mined by the meaning that the speaker wants to convey. Only that
syllable carries the nuclear tone, which the speaker wishes to make
most prominent. Consider, for example, the following sentences:

a. // John generally leaves at seven in the ‘morning //
(John leaves at seven in the morning and not in the evening).
b. // John generally leaves at ‘seven in the morning //
(Not earlier or later than seven).
c. // John generally leaves at seven in the morning //
(John leaves at seven, not gets up at seven)
d. // John ʹgenerally leaves at seven in the morning //

(There may be occasions when John fails to leave at seven).
e. // ʹJohn generally leaves at seven in the morning //
(Not Peter or Paul)
8. Tone: Choice of tone. Every utterance has one or more than one tone
group and every tone group has its own pattern or contour of pitch
variation. This pattern depends on the number of accented syllables
in a particular tone group, the location of the tonic syllable in it and
the nature of the change of pitch direction on the tonic syllable.
9. Nuclear tone, which is also known as the kinetic tone, is carried by
the tonic syllable. This changing pitch or tone is of different kinds, the
most important of which are
Falling [\]
Rising tone [/]
Falling rising tone [ ]
∨
Rising falling tone [ ]
∨

Bhatnagar_Chapter 09.indd 209 2011-06-23 7:52:58 PM
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