The Psychological Foundations of the Grammar 69
(28) George ate chicken soup and got sick
H* H* H* H H* H* L L%(29) George ate chicken soup and got sick
H* H* H* L H* H* L L%Example (27) is an IP which consists of a two intermediate phrases. P&H
state that the presence of the H phrase accent signals that the fi rst
intermediate phrase is to be interpreted as a unit with the following
phrase (ibid. 287). Examples (28) and (29) differ only in the choice of
phrase accent. P&H interpret the H phrase accent in (28) as signalling
the causal link between George’s eating of the chicken soup and his sub-
sequent illness, while the L phrase accent in (29) fails to ‘intonationally
reinforce’ the link between the consumption of the soup and the sub-
sequent sickness. (29) represents two unrelated pieces of information:
the fact that George got sick is not projected as being caused by the
consumption of the chicken soup (ibid. 304). In other words, H phrase
accents signal that the information conveyed within an intermediate
phrase is incomplete and is dependent on information contained in a
following intermediate phrase.
It is not clear whether tone units correspond more closely to intermedi-
ate phrases or IPs. Chafe (1994: 57) argues that intermediate phrases
correspond to the tone units proposed by various British linguists, while
Chun (2002: 38), however, states that an IP is comparable to a tone unit in
Crystal (1969). Others such as Gussenhoven (2004: 126) and Grabe (2001)
mark only one boundary tone and so do without the intermediate phrase.
Boundary tones have scope over the entire IP. P&H argue that H% bound-
ary tones indicate that the speaker intends the hearer to interpret IPs in
the context of further following IPs. The speaker creates an expectancy
that there is more to come while the presence of ‘L% boundary tone(s)
do[.. .] not convey such directionality’ (p. 305). To illustrate, P&H provide
examples (30) and (31).
(30) (a) My new car manual is almost unreadable
L L%
[(b) It’s quite annoying
L H%
(c) I spent two hours fi guring out how to use the jack]
L L%