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Lecture 6 Sociophonetics

Intonation

Compared to RP the intonation group in GA starts at a lower level (like in Russian) and flows within a narrower pitch range . Then it ends with a rise-fall. The final element is very prominent acous­tically, and that is where the most important information point is normally located (in 80% of cases).

RP 'What are you 'going to 'do about it ?

GA ' What're you 'gonna "do about it ?

In specialist literature one can often find commentary on specific use of level-rising tones in special questions and statements in American En­glish and also in Northern British English:

The linguists explain that the rising tone is directed at the listener (to check if he is following the talk), as was universally estab­lished for most languages of the world.