The stress in compound and polysyllabic words

The Ascending Stepping Head (always diffuse/double-peak or mixed prominence) is often combined with the high falling or rising tones. There is often a feeling of surprise, protest, or impatience. It can be used to express emphasis, for contrast, the contrasted word being the nucleus of a sense group.

e.g.: Why are you 'critisizing ‘me?

THE SLIDING HEAD, ITS USAGE AND MODAL MEANING

This head is formed by a sequence of slides – downward pitch changes associated with its each fully stressed syllable. It can be one-peak, diffuse or mixed prominence type. The Sliding Head is mostly used to intensify the meaning of the utterance. Sentences pronounced with the Sliding Head sound livelier, more expressive and more emotionally coloured as compared with the Stepping Head and the High Head, so this head is frequently used in informal talk or when there is a need to emphasize the whole utterance.

e.g.: We haven’t heard from him for ‘ages.

This head has a wide use in reading emotionally coloured texts.

e.g.: His sister had some very an noying ‘habits.

The Sliding Head is frequently combined with Fall-Rise.

e.g.: But it’s not really that at ˇall.