Prosodic features
Unstressed word-initial syllables may be omitted, so that about and except result in ‘bout and ‘cept, respectively. This is common in the T&TCs, Gullah, AAVE, and NfldE, and occurs variably in JamC, BahE, ChcE, CajE, WMwE, NEngE, SAmE, and CanE. The shifting of stress from the first to a later syllable, as in IndiIcate or holiIday, is reported as occurring not infrequently in T&TC and TobC and sometimes in JamE/C, CajE, ChcE, NEngE, and NfldE. In general, a tendency toward a relatively syllable-timed rather than a stress-timed rhythm is reported for Caribbean creoles and varieties quite strongly (TobC, T&TC, Baj, JamC, BahE), and also variably for ChcE, but not at all for all other North American dialects. In comparison with British-based varieties, AmE is stated to preserve secondary stress more strongly, a process which tends to result in less vowel reduction and a characteristically different stress pattern.
Distinctive, perhaps idiosyncratic intonation contours appear to characterize a number of varieties, although relatively little attention has been paid to such questions in sociolinguistic research. For some pertinent observations.
High-rising terminal contours, i.e. a rise of intonation at the end of statements, (sometimes called “HRT” or also “American question intonation”) are said to occur variably in all American and Caribbean varieties under consideration, with the sole exceptions of CajE and TobC. Tone distinctions are restricted to creoles; they are reported as characteristic of TobC and T&TC and possible in JamC. Saramaccan and Ndyuka are tone languages.
