English Pronunciation Tip of the Day
Tip 74
Category:
Intonation
Author: JAM
Nucleus (1)
Listen to the two pronunciations of the sentence below
| I can't remember his name. | ||||
| 1: | 2: | |||
They are obviously different, but the difference is not in the vowels or the consonants used. Neither is the difference a matter of stress. Both sentences would be transcribed:
/aI "kA:nt ri"memb@r Iz "neIm/
The difference between 1 and 2 is the place of the intonation nucleus. In 1 the nucleus is name and in 2 it is -mem- the second syllable of remember. Listen again and see if you can hear this difference.