Prosodic Features of Speech

• Prosody - Concerned with those elements of speech that are not individual phonetic segments but are properties of syllables and larger units of speech
• Stress - The relative emphasis that may be given to certain syllables in a word, certain words in a pharse or sentence
• A word contains how many stress?

  One
• The stress is always found on the vowel
• Case 1: Stress on the first syllable.

  A) 2 Syllable

  B) Nouns

  C) 2 Syllable

  D) Adjectives

  
• Case 2: Stress on the last syllable

  A) 2 Syllable

  B) Verbs

  
• Case 3: Stress on the Penultimate (second from the end)

  A) -ic

  B) -sion

  C) -tion

  
• Case 4: Stress on the Ante-Penultimate (third from the end)

  A) -cy

  B) -ty

  C) -phy

  D) -gy

  E) -al

  
• Case 5: Compound Words

  A) nouns

  B) first

  C) adjectives

  D) second

  E) verbs

  F) second

  
• Intonation - In phonetics, is the melodic pattern of an utterance. Primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice. Conveys differences of expressive meaning
• Types of Intonation (RFDP):

  • Rising Intonation
  • Falling Intonation
  • Dipping or Fall-Rise Intonation
  • Peaking or Rise-Fall Intonation
• Rising Intonation - Pitch of the voice rises overtime. Common in

  yes-no questions
• Falling Intonation - Pitch of the voice falls overtime. Very common in wh-questions
• Dipping/Fall-Rise Intonation - Pitch of the voice falls then rises. We use this at the end of statements when we want to say that we are not sure, or when we may have more to add
• Peaking/Rise-Fall Intonation - Pitch of the voice rises then falls
• Juncture - The manner of moving between two successive syllables in

  speech.
• Juncture is also known as Open Juncture
• Examples of Juncture: A name - An aim

  Hourglass - Our glass

  I scream - Ice Cream
• Tarpaulin - Heavy-duty waterproof cloth
• Bamboo - A giant woody grass that grows chiefly in the tropics
• Hippopotamus - A large thick-skinned semiquatic African mammal, with massive jaws and large tusks
• Attache Case - a small, flat, rectangular, case used for carryig documents
• Shampoo - A liquid preparation containing detergent/soap for washing the hair
• Prosody reflects various features of the speaker/the utterance; the emotional state of the speaker; the form of the utterance (statement, question, or command); the presence of irony or sarcasm; emphasis, contrast, and focus
• If the verb with 2 syllables, ends with more than one cosonant, or contains a diphthong, then the second syllable is stressed.
• With verbs of 2 syllables, if the final syllable contains a short vowel and one (or no) final consonant, the first syllable is stressed. Note: exceptions are adMIT and perMIT
• Falling intonation is very common in wh-questions, statements, and imperatives
• Rising intonation is very common in yes or no questions
• In phonetics, junctures are transcribed by /+/
• Types of Junctures (SDD)

  • Single Bar (/)
  • Double Bar (//)
  • Double Cross Being (#)
• Octothorpe - the symbol #
• Diphthong - a vowel sound that is made by combining two vowel sounds; a long vowel
• Single Bar (/) - being a level pitch before a break
• Double Bar (//) - Being an upturn in pitch and a break
• Double Cross Being (#) - A downturn in pitch that usually comes at the end of an utterance and pause between clauses
• Recognize that questions often use rising intonation and answers use falling intonation.
• • Uncertainty or Reservations (fall-rise): "Well... I think so.
  • Surprise or Strong Emotion (rise-fall): "Incredible! ↑↓"! ↑↓"