Prosody

(Suprasegme
ntals)
BEYOND SEGMENTALS~

Prosody
Phones, phonemes are segments
Segments are not sufficient for representation of speech sounds
The same segmental string can have more than one meaning
eg. yes [jEs] can have at least six meanings

Thus, we need something else

-> suprasegmentals (prosodic features)

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(cntd.)
Speech communication is done via
segmentals
phonemes, phones

suprasegmentals
pitch, loudness, length
necessary for speech communication
independent of segmentals

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Prosodic features
Stress

Relative prominence in the levels of words, phrases, sentences

Intonation

Pitch variation in utterances

Tone

Example: four tones of Mandarin Chinese

Extra high:
[] mother
Falling:[] scold
High rising:
[] hemp
Low falling rising:
[] horse

Length

Example: Japanese vowels & consonants

/tooru/ pass vs /toru/ catch
/katta/ won vs /kata/ shoulder

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Prosodic units
Prosodic units: units at which prosodic features are
realized.
Hierarchy of prosodic units

Utterance
Intonational phrase
phonological phrase
prosodic word
foot
syllable

The basic unit: syllable

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The syllable
Easy to identify
Example: minimisation 5 syllables
However, secretary, temperate

Hard to define
No agreed definition
Most frequent way: in terms of sonority

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The structure of syllable

Syllable ()
Syllable ()
(onset)*
(onset)*

nucleus

rime
nucleus

(coda)*

(coda)*

onset
onset

nucleus

coda

rime
nucleus coda

p
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The structure of syllable

(cntd.)
Diphthong

Syllabic consonant
word

Word

See p266 for more

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Types of syllables
open / closed

Open syllable: a syllable with an empty coda

Eg. /gu/ /naw/ /E/ /k/ /mej/

Closed syllable: a syllable with a filled coda

Eg. /Sin/ /Eg/ /wajps/

heavy / light

Heavy syllable
Syllables with

[a V & coda],
[a tense V (& coda)], or
[a diphthong (& coda)]

Eg

VC: pin, six, are

V[tense] (C): tea, clue, food
V[diphthong] (C): toy, cow, right

Light syllable

Syllable with [a lax vowel and no coda]

Eg
V: direct, career

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Syllable structure
constraints of English
Possible maximum structure (in phonetic level)
CCCVCCCC
Cf) CVC (in Korean)

Onset phonotactics of English syllables

Onset may be empty: egg, ice, on
// does not occur
// rare: gigue, genre
Clusters: see P89

Coda phonotactics

Coda may be empty

Word finally, only when the syllable ends with a tense V

/h/ does not occur

Clusters: see P90

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Syllable division
(syllabification)
Determining boundaries between syllables
Eg) dictate /d$ktet/ or /dk$tet/ or /dkt$et/

Principles
Maximisation of onsets
Onsets as large as possible: not /dkt$et/
Only permissible clusters: not /d$ktet/

Ambisyllabicity
In an unstressed syllable, the first C of the onset also serves as the coda of
the preceding syllable
seven //, city //

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Syllable division:
ambisyllabicity

Initial
syllabification

[-stress]

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Re-syllabification

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The foot
A unit of rhythm
English foot
One stressed syllable + any number of unstressed
syllables
English feet tend to be of equal length isochrony

The basic rhythm of spoken English:

Left-headed or Trochaic
Strong + weak

Example
Here is the news at nine o clock

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More on
suprasegmentals
Stress
Length
Rhythm
Intonation

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What is stress?
A prosodic feature of utterances
Applies not to individual vowels and consonants but to
whole syllables
A stressed syllable
has a greater amount of energy
is more prominent
than an unstressed syllable

Germanic languages use stress a lot

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Degrees of stress &

transcription
Levels of stress
primary, secondary, (tertiary), unstressed

Transcription
Primary: []
Secondary: []
(Tertiary: [ ])

Examples
[tElgrQm] [Elvejtr] [El vejtr Ap rejtr]

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Phonemic stress: in
words & phrases
Word level (lexical stress)
insult, pervert

Phrase level (phrasal stress)

[Black board] eraser vs. black [board eraser]

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Phonemic stress: in
sentences
Content words tend to receive sentence stress
Content words

words with salient information

N, A, V, ADV

Example 1

I want iced coffee.

I want iced coffee.

(not hot coffee)

(not iced tea)

Example 2

Sheila purchased a new red sedan. (Paul didnt buy the car)
Sheila purchased a new red sedan. (Sheila didnt sell the car)
Sheila purchased a new red sedan. (Sheila didnt buy a used car)
Sheila purchased a new red sedan. (Sheila didnt buy the green car)
Sheila purchased a new red sedan. (Sheila didnt buy the station
wagon)

Stress affects segmental identity

That [] is the book that I wanted

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Length
Temporal variation of segments
In English variations in length are allophonic

Example) in bad and bat

Languages with length contrast

Danish, Estonian, Finnish, Arabic, Japanese

Danish Example)
vilde (wile)
hvile (rest)

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Length (cntd.)
Consonantal length contrasts are not common but exist

Example in Italian
[nno] nono (ninth)
[nnno] nonno (grandfather)

Such double segments are called geminates

In English geminate consonants can occur only across

morpheme boundaries

Unknown [-nn-], guileless [-ll-]

But no geminates in summer, manner

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Stress-timing vs. syllabletiming

(Isochrony types)

Prosody characterizes types of

language
syllable-timed language

duration between syllables are considered

the same
Korean, Japanese, Italian

stress-timed language
duration between stresses are considered
the same
English, German

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Illustrating the rhythm

difference
Consider the sentences read by a native speaker and a
Korean learner of English
Dogs eat bones
The dogs eat bones
The dogs eat the bones
The dogs will eat the bones
The dogs will have eaten the bones

Counting the number of syllables and sentence stresses

will reveal the differences

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Intonation
Use of pitch in a phrase or sentence
Intonational phrase (IP; intonation group, tone group)

Part of an utterance over which a particular intonation pattern extends

The unit of an intonation pattern

Intonational events in IP
Pitch accent

A pitch event which places prominence on an intended lexical item

Boundary tone

A pitch event which signals the edge of an intonational unit

Other concepts of intonation

Tune

A complete intonational pattern consisting of pitch accents and a boundary

tone

Declination (dowdnrift)

The tendency for the pitch to fall throughout an IP

Nuclear accent (tonic accent)

The most prominent accent in an intonation group

Eg: Sophie adored her gorgeous new motorbike
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Intonation as a
phonemic feature
A segmental string can be ambiguous in meaning
intonation disambiguates meanings
Example
Marge has a new computer. (H: declarative)
Marge has a new computer. (L: interrogative)

Example
Did you get the mail?
Who ate the last cookie?
Are you sure you studied?
Take out the trash!
Did you know you left your headlights on?
Did you know you got an A on the exam?
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I did.
I did.
I did.
I did.
I did.
I did.
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Intonation event: pitch accent

A pitch event which places prominence on an
intended lexical item
Presence of a pitch accent marks the work or
phrase as focused
Example

X
X
He would never go see a football game.
Q: Whats her name?
A:
X
Winona.

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Pitch
accent
(cntd.)
This word is
These words

also nuclearaccented
(tonic syllable)

are pitchaccented

OK, They have a cup of flights

X

These words
are not
accented
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Intonation event: boundary tone

A pitch movement on the edge (last syllable in English) of
an intonational unit
Intonational typology
Falling
Rising

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Intonation typology: falling

Falling
The general default trend in English intonation
Statements
William knew the yellow room.

Wh-questions
What did Nancy buy?

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Intonation typology: rising

Rising
Yes-no questions
Marge has a new computer?

Uncertainty or incompleteness
A: Do you know a Miss Monica Lewinsky?
B: Yes

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Intonation typology
See more on p.97ff

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