SUPRASEGMENTAL OR

PROSODIC PROPERTIES

Suprasegmental

The term suprasegmental was invented to

refer to aspects of sound that did not

seem to be properties of individual

segments (i.e. the vowels and consonants

of which speech is composed).

Pitch, Loudness, Length

Pitch is the auditory property of a sound

that enables us to place it on a scale that

ranges from low to high.

Pitch is usually noticeable in sonorous

sounds.

Pitch is divided into two types: tone and

intonation

Tone and Intonation

The combination of the tensed vocal folds

and greater air pressure results in higher

voice pitch on vowels and sonorants

consonants, while less tense vocal folds

and lower air pressure result in lower

voice pitch.

Two kinds of controlled pitch movement

found in human language called tone and

intonation.

Tone

A language is said to have tone or be a tone language when differences in word meaning are signalled by differences in pitch.

Not all of the languages have tone languange, for example in English.

English doesn’t have tone language coz when a speaker says a cˊar ? with a rising pitch, the word car doesn’t mean anything different from the same form pronounced in lower pitch.

Tone

There are two kind of tone in language.

1. Register tones: tone shows at only

certain pitch levels that signals meaning

differences.

2. Contour tones: moving pitches that signal

meaning differences.

We can find tone language in Mandarin Chinese.

for example:

ma [mˋa] falling pitch means ‘scold’

ma [mˊa] rising pitch means ‘hemp’.

Some tone languages show tones at only certain pitch levels.

as in Athapaskan language (canadian province of Alberta) has tone heard at high, mid, and low.

H M L association line

[mil] ‘moth’ [mil] ‘snare’ [mil] ‘sleep’

Contour tones

H MLH

[ma] mother high tone [ma] horse

fall rise

MH HL

[ma] hemp mid rise [ma] scold

high fall

Intonation

Pitch movement in spoken utterances that is not related to differences in word meaning.

for example: there is no difference in meaning when English says seven whether it is pronounced with a rising pitch or a falling pitch.

Intonation serve to convey information of a broadly meaningful nature. For example, the falling pitch we hear at the end of the statement signals that the utterance is complete.

Length

When vowels and consonants whosearticulation is held longer relative to that ofother vowels and consonants.

Length is indicated in phonetictranscription by the use of a colon [:]placed after the long segment.

Some languages that show long and shortvowels are Italian, Hungarian, German,Cree, Yap and Finnish.

Yap language

Example in Yap (Island of Yap in the

Western Pacific)

Short and long vowels in Yap

[θis] to topple [θi:s] (a) post

[pul] to gather [pu:l] moon

Italian

Short and long consonants in Italian

fato [fatɔ] fate fatto [fat:ɔ] fact

fano [fanɔ] grove fanno [fan:ɔ] they

do

casa [kasa] house cassa [kas:a]

part of lagoon.

Stress

Stress is a cover term for the combined

affects of pitch, loudness, and length. In

general, English stressed vowels are

higher in pitch, longer and louder than

unstressed ones.

Differing stress placement in English

(an) éxport [ékspɔ:ˋt] (to) expoˊrt. [ekspɔ:ˊt]

(a) Présent [prézənt] (to) presént [prizént]

Télegràpgh [théləgræf]

Telégraphy [thəlégrəfi]

INTONATION AND STRESS

INTONATION

Intonation means when, why, and how a

speaker chooses to raise or lower or

sustain the pitch of her or his voice at

particular points while speaking.

What intonation does?

Intonation is the tools for achieving at

least five important aims:

A. expressing new information

B. showing contrast

Expressing meaning

Showing pronunciation

Showing mood or personality

1. Expressing new information

Expressing new information is the starting

point of standard intonation.

In standard English, it consider that the

nouns carry the weight of a sentence.

Dogs eat bones

Dogs eat bones. They eat them

2. CONTRAST

Contrast intonation indicates

argumentative or bad tempered.

Bob studies English

Bob studies English, but he doesn’t

use it.

3. MEANING

Change the meaning of a sentence by stressing on of the word in a sentence.

1. I didn’t say he stole the money.

2. I didn’t say he stole the money.

3. I didn’t say he stole the money.

4. I didn’t say he stole the money.

5. I didn’t say he stole the money.

6. I didn’t say he stole the money.

7. I didn’t say he stole the money.

1. I didn’t say he stole the money, someone else said it.

2. I didn’t say he stole the money, that’s not true at all

3. I didn’t say he stole the money, I only suggested the possibility.

4. I didn’t say he stole the money, I think someone else took it.

5. I didn’t say he stole the money, maybe he just borrowed it.

6. I didn’t say he stole the money, but rather some other money.

7. I didn’t say he stole the money, he may have taken some jewelry.

4. PRONUNCIATION

Intonation and pronunciation have two areas of overlap.

A. The first is the pronunciation of the letter T. when a T is at the beginning of a word, it is a clear sharp /t/ sound. when T is in the middle of a word, between two vowels, or in unstressed position, it turns into a softer /d/ sound.

Betty bought a bit of better butter.

B. the second overlap has to do with the syllable that receive the prominence of stress and pitch.

5. MOOD AND PERSONALITY

This in an extremely important aspect of

intonation, as it goes beyond what you are

trying to say.

Intonation determines if you will be

considered charming or rude, confident or

nervous, or informed or unfamiliar.

STRESS

The word stress means loudness.

Stress is a term that we apply to words in

isolation which have more that one

syllable. It refers to the property that

certain syllables carry which makes them

stand out from the rest of the word.

The Importance of Stress

The job of stress is to create contrast.

a) Boundary marking

b) Additional contrast

verb noun

convert /kən’vɜ:t/ /’kɒnvət/

RULES OF STRESS

Word Stress Patterns

a) Monosyllabic words

monosyllabic words do not have stress

patterns

b) Bi-syllabic words

c) Multi-syllabic words

Bi-syllabic words

1. If the second syllable of the bi-syllabic

verb contains a long vowel or diphthong,

then the second syllable is stressed.

Take the following examples:

increase /ɪŋ’kri:s/

2. If the bi-syllabic verb ends with more than

one consonant, then the second syllable

is stressed. Take the following examples:

collapse /kə’læps/ condense

/kən’dens/

3. If the final syllable contains a short vowel

and one or no final consonant, then

usually, the first syllable will be stressed.

Take these examples:

open /’əʊpən/ envy /’envɪ/

Bi-syllabic nouns generally follow a different

stress placement pattern.

1. If the second syllable contains a short

vowel, then the stress usually comes on

the first syllable. Take these examples:

labrum /’leɪbrəm/ chimney

/’ʧɪmnɪ/

2. If the bi-syllabic noun does not go by rule

1, its stress will have to be placed on the

second syllable. Nouns that fall in this

category are very rare. Take this

example:

increase /ɪŋ’kri:s/

Multi syllable words

1. Prefixes and the adverbial suffix -ly (used

to make adverbs) usually do not change

the pattern of stress. Take the following

examples:

capitulate /kə’pɪʧəleɪt/

recapitulate /ˌri:kə’pɪʧəleɪt/

moderate /’mɒdərət/

moderately /’mɒdərətlɪ/

2. Verbs that end in –ate or –ize receive

stress on their antepenultimate (i.e., last

but two, or the third from right) syllables.

Notice that the endings are pronounced

as /eɪt/ and /aɪz/ respectively. Take the

following examples:

conviscate /’kɒnfɪskeɪt/

demonstrate /’demənstreɪt/

recognize /’rekəgnaɪz/

3. Verbs that end in –ify usually take stress

on the syllable prior to the –ify ending.

Take the following examples:

beautify /‘bju:təfaɪ/

testify /’testəfaɪ/

4. Other verbs usually take stress on their

last syllables, unless when the last

syllable contains a short vowel. Take the

following examples:

intervene /ˌɪntə’vi:n/

intercede /ˌɪntə’si:d/

5. Adjectives that end in –ate receive

stress on their antepenultimate syllable

(like verbs) but the –ate ending is

pronounced as /ət/. Take the following

examples:

moderate /’mɒdərət/

elaborate /ɪ’læbərət/

6. Adjectives that end in –ese usually

receive stress on the syllable containing

–ese. Take the following examples:

japanese /ˌʤæpə’ni:z/

javanese /ˌʤævə’ni:z/

7. Adjectives which end in –ious, -uous, -

eous, -ieous, -ic, -ical, -ian, -ible, –ial, or

-ive (except for those ending in -tive)

usually receive stress on the syllable

prior to these endings. There are a few

exceptions in connection to the ending –

ic (e.g., Arabic, lunatic, and rhetoric).

Take the following examples:

impressive /ɪm’presɪv/

public /’pʌblɪk/

spontaneous /spən’teɪnɪəs/

comprehensible /ˌkɒmprə’hensɪbəl/

8. Adjectives that end in –able, -al, and –

ous usually take stress on their

antepenultimate syllables (i.e., the third

from right). Take these examples:

corporal /’kɔ:pərəl/

admirable /’ædmərəbl/

9. Nouns that end in –ity, -ety, -al, -ion, -

ence, -ance, -acy, and –ian usually take

stress on the syllable prior to these

endings. Take the following examples:

piety /’paɪətɪ/

ability /ə’bɪlɪtɪ/

proposal /prə’pəʊzəl/

historian /hɪs’tɔ:rɪən/

10.Other heavy nouns usually receive

stress on their antepenultimate

syllables. Take these examples:

photography /fə’tɒgrəfɪ/

democrat /’deməkræt/

11.The endings –ist, and –ism do not

change stress. Take the following

examples:

organ /’ɔ:gən/ organism

/’ɔ:gənɪzəm/

physics /’fɪzɪks/ physicist /’fɪzɪsɪst/

12.Nouns ending in –ee usually receive

stress on the ending itself; there are

some exceptions though. Often the

exceptions are those nouns that include

double consonants prior to the –ee

ending (e.g., committee, coffee, etc.).

Take the following examples:

referee /ˌrefə’ri:/

absentee /ˌæbsən’ti:/

13.–ly does not change stress. Therefore,

for adverbs ending in –ly, the easiest

way is to ignore the –ly ending and to

identify the stressed syllable of the

adjective. –ly in adverbs is usually

pronounced as /lɪ/.