ABSTRACT
My starting-point will be the assumption that intonation involves choices in three different areas, viz. division into intonation groups, location of the nuclear accent and choice of tune (Halliday 1967: 18; Cruttenden 1986: 35). 1 In my particular experience as teacher of English prosodies to Spanish-speaking students, I am among those who believe that mistakes in nucleus placement are responsible for more serious problems of interference than mistakes in the choice of tune. Experimental evidence to prove one or the other position is badly needed, but to my knowledge it has not yet been presented.
