Focus and prosodic prominence

Sentences are almost always spoken with a particular part being more prominent than the rest. That part carries a focal accent, a word or syllable that is made prosodically prominent through marked pitch, amplitude and duration. The important point for us is that the focal accent generally indicates what the speaker is presenting as new information, it indicates cognitive focus (a case where this would not be so, for example, is marking a shift in discourse topic). Consider the following sentences (capitals are used to mark the focal accent):

Let us add possible contexts to our examples and spell out possible implications for information:

Jonathan gave his students chocolate [Jonathan does not have a reputation for generosity, though others do, so it is quite a surprise that he gave something]

Jonathan GAVE his students chocolate [Jonathan rarely gives people things, though others do, so it is quite a surprise that he gave something]

JOnathan gave HIS students chocolate [Jonathan is peculiarly mean to his own students, though he is very generous to other students, so it is quite a surprise that he gave his students something]

Jonathan gave his STUdents chocolate [Jonathan doesn’t usually give his students things, though he is very generous to other people, so it is quite a surprise that he gave his students something]

Jonathan gave his students CHOcolate [For years, Jonathan has given his students fruit, so it is quite a surprise that he gave his students chocolate]

Jonathan gave his students CHOcolate [For years, Jonathan has given his students fruit, so it is quite a surprise that he gave his students chocolate]

It is worth observing that the focal accent can overrule the normal ordering of topic and focus, both semantically and cognitively. This happens in the first case listed above, JOnathan gave his students chocolate. Without the focal accent here, Jonathan is clearly the topic and the rest of the sentence has endfocus. But with the focal accent it seems to be the other way round. One can think of plausible contexts. Imagine that this sentence follows a discourse on staff giving their students chocolates. In this case, giving students chocolate seems to be what the sentence is about and is old information, that is, it is the topic. The fact that Jonathan actually did it is what is being said about the topic and is new information, that is, it is the focus.

Let us briefly consider a real example. Anne Robinson, the host of the confrontational TV quiz show The Weakest Link, is famed for being dismissive and rude. After a round of questions the person who (at least theoretically) got the most answers wrong is voted off and Anne announces the verdict with the words you are the weakest link. Figure 3.2 offers a visualization of her prosody (it is produced with Praat, www.praat.org). The first tier represents amplitude, the second the pitch and the third the words she spoke.

It is clear from the peaking of amplitude and pitch that the word are carries the focal accent. Its presence here seems to convey the meaning: “despite any indications or protestations you might have given to the contrary, the news is that you most certainly are the weakest link.”