ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book focuses on the phonological specification of intonational contours. It explores an existing set of intonational contours as part of the phonetic realisation of accent rules, and investigates the semantic and syntactic input to a particular configuration. It involves experimentation and measurement as an approach to intonational and prosodic phenomena. The book outlines existing approaches to the study of the intonational expression of speaker attitude, and suggests that their failure to produce conclusive results does not invalidate the theory that intonation conveys attitude. It examines the phonetic characteristics of interruptions, and concludes that phonetic realisation is determined by whether the interruption is intended to be competitive for the turn or not. The book identifies two prosodic features in particular; pitch height and loudness, which are maximal when interruption is effective in taking over the speaking turn.
