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:
“We may not pay Satan reverence, for that would be indiscreet, but we can at least respect his talents. A person who has for untold centuries maintained the imposing position of spiritual head of four-fifths of the human race, and political head of the whole of it, must be granted the possession of executive abilities of the loftiest order.”
—Mark Twain [Samuel Langhorne Clemens] (1835–1910)