How Many Intonational Constructions Are There? (“Hat Patterns” in Standard Russian)

 This paper presents the results of an experimental analysis of the phrase intonation in exclamations, wh-questions and statements with so called “hat tonal patterns” in model utterances of Modern Standard Russian. The study reveals that the melodic contours in question differ from each other in the timing of the nuclear pitch accent, which is relatively late in exclamations and extremely early in wh-questions, this difference is almost the same as the distinction between the phrase prosody of declaratives with broad and narrow information foci. Moreover, the basic phonological type of the nuclear pitch accent in exclamations is not purely falling but rather rising-falling; its phonetic realization is a function of the number of syllables between the initial rising prenuclear pitch accent and the final nuclear one. Thus, we argue that all these “hat tonal patterns” can not be treated as a single intonational construction (IK-5). Meanwhile, determining the exact type of intonational construction in wh-questions’ “hat pattern” (whether it is fully identical to IK-1 or not) depends on the specifications of prenuclear rising pitch tune, and some further research is needed along these lines.