L2 phonetics

Here are the answers to question five.


Mark the most likely site for the nucleus in each sentence



Assume in each case that there is a broad focus context.


a What did she have to go the HOSpital for? (Last lexical word.)


b Where’s all the BREAD gone ? (Absence of bread is part of shared context, so “gone” does not carry the nucleus.)


c A: I thought you liked music. (Nucleus on “like” or on “music” both accepted) B: I like CLASsical composers. (Composers are part of the already known context).




d My uncle is going to AustRALia next week. (Expressions of time at the end of sentences don’t carry the nucleus.)

e Melanie doesn’t know what she’s LOOKing for. (Last lexical word.)

f Fred didn’t do any work for his TEST. ( Last lexical word.)

g The lecture was a great sucCESS. (Last lexical word.)

h My HAIRdryer broke down yesterday. (Intransitive sentence – nucleus on non-human subject.)

i ‘What are you LOOKing at?’ asked Hassan. (The expression for speaking at the end does not carry the nucleus, so we move back to the last lexical word.)

j The DOG’s barking. (Intransitive sentence, Non-human subject.)

k ‘I’m going to EDinburgh next weekend,’ said Marie. (The final verb of speaking, and the final expression of time, do not carry the nucleus. )

l ‘Let’s go over to MIKE’s place,’ suggested Eric. (Speaking expression does not take nucleus, and in the phrase “Mike’s place”, the primary stress is on Mike, because it gives much more information.)

m And then the BOSS walked in. (Intransitive sentence and human subject BUT the sentence merely announces the arrival of the person.)

n Dogs BARK. (Intransitive sentence BUT general statement not linked to a context.)