Lesson L.
In a fairly long Igbo sentence, there may be a large number of different levels of pitch; but every pitch can be described in terms of one of three alternative possibilities at any particular point in the sentence.
First, the mark ’ represents a phenomenon which we will call "step". The pitch of a vowel or m or n or ŋ so marked is never low. In any Igbo utterance, each-"step" is a little lower than the preceding one. You can only step down, and once you have done so you cannot climb up again until you come to a pause at the end of a phrase or sentence. Thus the sequence "step - step" is something like a child's call, "Daddy!", or like the melody at the beginning of the song "Chlo-e".
Second, the mark ‘ indicates "low". A "low" is distinctly lower in pitch than a "step" either before or after it. The sequence "step - low - step" is something like the melody at the beginning of the World War I song "Over There".
Third, any vowel (or m, n, ŋ as will be explained later) which is unmarked has the same pitch as that indicated by the last mark before it. Such unmarked syllables after a "step" will be called "same". After "low", following unmarked syllables will also be labelled "low". The sequence "step - same" is thus two syllables on a monotone; the second syllable must be on exactly the same pitch as the first. The sequence "low - low" (in which only the first low is marked) is also level within a sentence, but on a lower pitch than "step - same". At the end of a sentence, "low - low" may go a bit downhill in pitch, but it sounds nothing like two successive "steps", nor like "step - low". In an isolated two-syllable word, the first "low" in "low - low" may be noticably higher than the second; but the interval is not nearly as great as for "step - low". A final "low" is relaxed, much like the ending of a simple declarative sentence in English.
Igbo has eight vowel sounds. Not one of them is exactly the same as any English vowel, but you will not find all of them difficult to recognize or reproduce. The vowels are written: i, ị, e, a, ọ, o, ụ, u; the marks under some of the letters (usually a dot or a short vertical stroke rather than the cedilla .used here) are part of the vowel symbols themselves; to a speaker of Igbo, the vowel written ụ is as different from u as it is from o. For the time being, imitate these vowel sounds as carefully as you can, though the major point emphasized in the first several drills is tone. There are also some consonant sounds that will be strange to you; you will be helped with them as difficulties arise.
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