Prosodic Head
In a prosodic unit, the head is that part which extends from the first stressed syllable up to (but not including) the tonic syllable. A high head is the stressed syllable which begins the head and is high in pitch, usually higher than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable. For example:
The ↑bus was late.
A low head is the syllable which begins the head and is low in pitch, usually lower than the beginning pitch of the tone on the tonic syllable.
The ↓bus was late.
Read more about this topic: Head (linguistics)
Famous quotes containing the word head:
“Unquiet wanderer
Draw the Glasnevin coverlet anew
About your head till the dust stops your ear,
The time for you to taste of that salt breath
And listen at the corners has not come;
You had enough of sorrow before death—”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)