Tone Unit

语调单位

A term used by some intonation analysts, particularly those working within the British tradition, to refer to a distinctive sequence of pitches, or tones, in an utterance; also called a tone group. The essential feature of a tone unit is the nuclear tone, the most prominent tone in the sequence; and this may be accompanied, depending on the length of the utterance, by other components, such as the head (i.e. the sequence of syllables between the first stressed syllable and the nuclear tone), pre-head (i.e. unstressed syllables at the very beginning of the tone unit) and tail (i.e. the syllables following the nuclear tone). A tone unit usually corresponds to a clause or sentence, but may be used on any grammatical unit. 

有些语调分析家，特别是英国分析传统的，用来指话段中一个区别性的音高或音调序列。语调单位的一个重要特征是含有一个核心调，即序列中最突显的音调；视话段的长短核心调还可辅导一些其他成分，例如中心段（即介于第一个重读音节和核心调之间的音节序列）；前中心段（即语调单位起首的非重读音节）；尾段（即核心调之后的音节）。一个语调单位通常对应于一个小句或句子，但也可对应于任何一个语法单位。