The break index 3 delimits the end of an Intermediate Phrase (see box for terminology variations). An Intermediate Phrase represents a level of disjuncture that is less disjoint from the next phrase than a Full Intonational Phrase (labeled with Break Index 4) is. In terms of the hierarchy of prosodic constituents, every Full Intonational Phrases contains at least one Intermediate Intonational Phrase. Each Intermediate Intonational Phrase contains at least one Pitch Accent and so therefore does every Full Intonational Phrase. Like the Intonational Phrase, the Intermediate Phrase is tonally marked, but not as strongly as the Intonational Phrase. In addition to being labeled with the break index 3, an Intermediate Phrase is also labeled with a phrase accent (H-, L- or, as we will see in the next section, !H-). This distinguishes the Intermediate Phrase's tonal marking from that of an Intonational Phrase which is marked with boundary tone as well (e.g. L-L%).

In addition to tonal marking, the Intermediate (Break Index 3) Phrase has other cues associated with phrasing: there is durational lengthening at the end of the phrase-final syllable. Like tonal marking, this duration tends to be less strongly marked than the lengthening at the end of an Intonational Phrase. The pitch accent in the Intermediate Intonational Phrase can occur on any accentable syllable in the phrase. Because our examples tend to be short utterances, the selection below tends to include examples where the pitch accent is on the phrase final word. However, this does not have to be the case.

It is easiest to understand perceptually what makes a 3 different from a 1 or a 4 in cases where the final pitch accent is an H* and the phrase accent is L-, or vice versa, where there is a tonal contrast between the final accent in the phrase and the phrase-related tonal marking. For example, consider the example in <and1>. In this example, the f0 curve as well as the pitch perception suggests that there is a Low tonal marker after the H* pitch accent on the word and. This evidence, combined with the duration lengthening on the final syllable, which is too strong for a level 1 Break Index, suggests that this syllable ends an intonational constituent. But the degree of duration lengthening and the f0 fall are not substantial enough for a 4/L-L%, so this must be a 3/L-, i.e. an Intermediate Intonational Phrase with an L phrase accent. Contrast this and production with both the degree of the L tone as well as the degree of lengthening on the Intonational Phrase final word schedule.

Tones:
H*: high pitch accent
L*: low pitch accent
L+H*: bitonal pitch accent with low tone followed by high tone prominence
L*+H: bitonal pitch accent with low tone prominence followed by high tone
!H*: downstepped high pitch accent
L+!H*: bitonal pitch accent with low tone followed by a downstepped high tone prominence
L*+!H: bitonal pitch accent with low tone prominence followed by downstepped high tone
H+!H*: bitonal pitch accent with high tone followed by downstepped high prominence
L-L%: low phrase accent, low boundary tone
H-H%: high phrase accent, high boundary tone
L-H%: low phrase accent, high boundary tone
H-L%: high phrase accent, low boundary tone
H-: high phrase accent
L-: low phrase accent

Break indices:
0: word boundary erased
1: typical inter-word disjuncture within a phrase
3: end of an intermediate phrase
4: end of an intonational phrase

Optional labels:
<: late High Tonal peak