The stress in compound and polysyllabic words

ˡcan’t underˡstand what you are ‘‘talking about.

b) — It’s altogether wrong.

— 'How do you ‘‘know it’s wrong?

c) — He acted as if he didn’t know me.

— 'How ‘‘strange.

An emphatic falling tone is often associated with a semantic contrast. The effect of contrast is increased when there are no prenuclear stresses, i.e. there is no head in an utterance, e.g.:

— It’s the wrong copy. — Go and take the ‘‘right one.

The contrastive function is reinforced by a nuclear shift, e.g.:

— I can't afford the decorations. — ˡGet your ‘‘husband to do it.

However, the nucleus bearing an emphatic fall is made contrastive even when it occupies its normal, i.e. final, position in the tune, e.g.:

— I have quite forgotten about tomorrow’s interview. — 'Surely you 'can’t have for˙gotten ‘‘that.

When an emphatic nuclear tone is preceded by emphatic prenuclear stresses there is no contrastive effect, but the general prominence of the utterance is increased, e. g.:

— ˡˡWho’s ˡˡthat ‘‘now? If those boys have come to ask for their ball again I shall scream!

In such a case emphatic stresses are frequently given not only to the notional words but also to the functional words.